News

Morning 9: Pro’s 8-hour drive for 20k event | Cantlay’s coup? | Garcia enters Open qualifying

Published

2 years ago

Jun 27, 2023

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco.

For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as we gear up for the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

1. PGA Tour pro makes 8-hour drive to play for $20K

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”Eric Cole isn’t in the field for this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic. It will mark the first time in 12 weeks that the 35-year-old rookie hasn’t teed it up on the PGA Tour.”

So, how is Cole spending his off week? He’s playing a golf tournament.

Yes, after tying for 24th on Sunday at the Travelers Championship, Cole hopped in a car and drove eight hours to Pittsburgh for this week’s Frank B. Fuhrer Jr. Invitational, a 72-hole tournament at Pittsburgh Field Club.

The Fuhrer has been around for nearly four decades, dating to 1985 when Bob Ford won the inaugural title. The 40-player tournament is the brainchild of Pittsburgh businessman Frank B. Fuhrer Jr., who also was behind the Family House Invitational, a two-day competition for charity that for 14 years featured dozens of PGA Tour pros. Fuhrer died last year at age 96, but his invitational lived on with David Bradshaw winning for a record fourth time last year while claiming the $40,000 first-place prize.

Full piece.

2. Record mark at no. 1

ESPN report…”South Korea’s Jin Young Ko was ranked No. 1 in the world Monday for a record-setting 159th week, and rising star Rose Zhang is now in the top 50.”

“Ko remained atop the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings after a tie for 20th at this past week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, surpassing the 158 weeks spent at No. 1 by Lorena Ochoa of Mexico from 2007 to 2010. Ko, a 15-time winner on the LPGA Tour, has held the No. 1 spot five different times since April 2019. This is the 27-year-old’s sixth consecutive week there.”

Full piece.

3. Garcia enters Open qualifying

The Telegraph’s James Corrigan…”Sergio Garcia has entered next week’s final qualifying for the Open Championship. The record Ryder Cup points scorer will take his place alongside 287 other hopefuls — a mixture of starry-eyed amateurs and lowly-ranked pros — attempting to win one of the 16 berths on offer for Hoylake.”

“However, Telegraph Sport has also learned that Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter — two other Ryder Cup legends who are members of the LIV Golf League — will not feature in the draw when it is released on Tuesday, with the veterans electing to skip the 36-hole shootout. This means that Westwood will miss his first Open in 28 years.”

Full piece.

4. Blair close to keeping his card

Jim McCabe for PGATour.com…”There were two scoreboards in play for Zac Blair during Sunday’s final round of the Travelers Championship.”

“The one that mattered the most – where he stood in his quest to pile up FedExCup points to fulfill his major medical extension – was one he had no control over and one that wouldn’t even come into focus until his round was long over. He needed a solo second to secure his card; a two-way T2 would move him to the precipice.”

“So Blair tried to push that out of his mind and focus on the leaderboards at every green. There, he saw his name prominently placed near the top and he was able to take deep breaths and feel a sense of achievement.”

“There was a time where I was way back,” said Blair, who began the day tied for 15th, nine behind 54-hole leader Keegan Bradley, who proceeded to win by three strokes over Blair and Brian Harman. “So I was just trying to play well and (the putts) kept going in.”

Full piece.

5. “Technology has passed this course by”

Our Matt Vincenzi…”Rory McIlroy, who finished at 18 under and tied for seventh place, spoke after the round about the golf course. The four-time major champion said that he believes “technology has passed the course by.””

“I don’t particularly like when a tournament is like this. Unfortunately, technology has passed this course by, right? It sort of has made it obsolete, especially as soft as it has been with a little bit of rain that we had.”

“So, again, like the conversations going back to, you know, limiting the golf ball and stuff like that, when we come to courses like this they just don’t present the challenge that they used to.”

Full piece.

6. Cantlay’s coup?

Our Jason Daniels…”Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch wrote a piece on Saturday that told of the huge pressures now facing PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan following June’s declaration of “an ill-defined but ignominious deal that promises a future in which the Tour will have to rationalize its proximity to [Saudi] regime atrocities.”

“According to Lynch, the Tour is now having to cope with rebellious players that previously kept quiet, for they now have “no prospects for the lucrative payday to which they feel entitled.”

“Whilst previously, LIV-jumpers were cast as the heinous group, now it seems the new objectors have nowhere positive to go.”

“Lynch is clear, though, “his [Cantlay’s] objections aren’t based on the morality of dealing with human rights abusers.” Rather it’s about money.”

Read Lynch’s full piece here

Full Piece.

7. Wolff returns to LIV

Matt Cradock for Golf Monthly…”At the end of May, it seemed that Matt Wolff was no longer part of Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC team in the LIV Golf League. However, just a month after the rumours broke, it appears that the American is back in the quartet, with Smash GC posting a picture of the four-man squad before LIV Golf Valderrama.”

“Captioned “VAMOS SMASH”, we see Wolff’s picture in the top left corner, with both Chase and Brooks Koepka in the middle and Jason Kokrak on the right hand side as the tournament gets underway from the 30th June to the 2nd July.”

Full Piece.

8. USGA admits mistake in Rory’s controversial drop

Bob Harig for SI…”It ultimately didn’t factor in the outcome, nor did Rory McIlroy take much advantage of the situation.”

“But the ruling he got on the 14th hole during the final round of the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club has still simmered some 10 days later, due in part to the oddity of the situation and his prominence in the game.”

“And a United States Golf Association executive told Sports Illustrated during an interview Monday that while McIlroy did nothing wrong, the spot from which he measured his point of relief from an embedded lie above a bunker was incorrect.”

“The nearest point of relief was mis-identified; it should have been directly behind the ball,” said Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s chief governance officer. “If there’s no area immediately behind the ball, you go to nearest point in the general area. But if you look at where the ball was embedded, there was a grassy area below and that should have been the starting point.”

Full Piece.

9. Framework sent to senators

Rex Hoggard for Golf Channel…”The “framework” agreement that united professional golf following the most tumultuous divide the game had seen in decades was, as officials have explained, a broad stroke.”

“PGA Tour officials turned the agreement over to lawmakers late Monday as part of a review of the deal by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.). A copy of the five-page agreement obtained by GolfChannel.com outlines the “long-term strategic partnership” between the Tour, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and the DP World Tour.”

“According to the agreement, the for-profit assets of the Tour, DP World Tour and the PIF (LIV Golf) will be combined into what is tentatively being called NewCo. After an evaluation of those assets, the PIF, which owns 93 percent of LIV Golf, will make a minority investment into the new entity.”

“Per the agreement, the Tour’s for-profit assets will include “contracts/agreements and equity interests” but do not include player retirement plans, corporate reserves or any of the circuit’s tax-exempt assets.”

Full Piece.

News

Tour Rundown: Bend, but don’t break

Published

3 weeks ago

Aug 4, 2025

Ronald Montesano

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.

Card III and Bacha both miss their birdie tries on the first playoff hole.

We’ll play 18 again @OspreyOpen. pic.twitter.com/vNpHTdkHDg

— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) August 3, 2025

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2025 Wyndham Championship

Published

4 weeks ago

Jul 29, 2025

GolfWRX Staff

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.

News

BK’s Breakdowns: Kurt Kitayama’s Winning WITB, 3M Open

Published

4 weeks ago

Jul 28, 2025

Brian Knudson

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)