For comments: ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as we gear up for the Wyndham Championship where players will have one last chance to punch their ticket to the playoffs.

1. “Not out here to finish 2nd”

Yahoo’s Jay Busbee…”J.T. Poston, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, stepped to the final tee on Sunday three strokes behind Hodges, but three strokes ahead of the next-closest competitors. All Poston needed was a double bogey on the hole and he would claim solo second place in the tournament, along with its tidy paycheck of $850,200. Not bad for a week’s work.”

• “Poston’s tee shot ended up close to the water, and there, his troubles began…Poston was 213 yards from the pin, with an awkward lie, but rather than try to work his way around the dogleg-right hole, he opted to go big … and, as you can see from the position of the number 2 there, sent his approach shot to a watery grave…”

• “After taking the penalty stroke, Poston laid up to 98 yards. But his second attempt at an approach again came up short, and once he did get onto the green, he missed a five-footer that would have given him that precious double-bogey…”

• “So rather than taking home $850,200 all for himself, Poston had to settle for a “mere” $590,200, one-third of the total prize pool of second, third and fourth places…”

• “Poston, for his part, took the aggressive approach once again on Twitter: “Not out here to finish 2nd,” he wrote. “Trying to win. Would make that decision 10 times out of 10 under circumstances.”

2. Mickelson on the attack

Our Matt Vincenzi…”Over the weekend, “The Fried Egg” published a piece titled “Memo Szn” that discussed the memo that Jay Monahan sent to the players on Wednesday that discussed the proposed agreement with the Saudi PIF…”

• “Andy Johnson of The Fried Egg weighed in on what that might look like.”

• “Players who publicly and loudly went after the PGA Tour and participated in the lawsuit against it will likely be given no favors. Think Pat Perez, Talor Gooch, and Phil Mickelson. Those who left gracefully without parting shots at the Tour like Brooks Koepka, Cam Smith and Dustin Johnson will likely be welcomed back with fewer penalties. Overall, expect a lot of LIV players to be forced to earn back their card through Q-School or the Korn Ferry Tour if they want to play on the PGA Tour again.”

• “That quote was shared on Twitter by user Andrew Kirby, who expressed doubts that any punishment would be given.”

• “Phil Mickelson replied to Kirby’s tweet, saying that “not a single player on LIV wants to play PGA Tour.”

• “What a colossal waste of time.Not a single player on LIV wants to play PGA Tour. It would require a public apology and restitution to LIV players for paying millions to Clout media to disparage all of us. A better topic is future sanctions for the many players who now come to LIV”.

3. Welcome, Wyndham

Adam Woodard for Golfweek…”Wyndham Clark’s breakout year on the PGA Tour has now officially earned him a spot on the 2023 Ryder Cup team.”

• “The 2023 U.S. Open champion will represent the red, white and blue when the Americans take on the Europeans in the biennial bash at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club near Rome, Italy, Oct. 29-Sept. 1, and joins world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler as the first two players to qualify for Team USA.”

4. Porthcawl proven?

Elliott Heath for Golf Monthly…”Players were faced with ‘brutal’ conditions where strong winds and constant rain caused havoc, and lots of bogeys, with two-time Major winner Justin Thomas tweeting how he was enjoying the “absolute carnage.”

• “He’s right, it was fun to watch. It wasn’t a birdie-fest in picture-perfect weather, it was a true ‘last man standing’ kind of grind in a style of golf that the game’s foundations were built on.”

• …”The weekend at Porthcawl was, bizarrely, a brilliant advert for links golf. Any other style of golf and the course would have been flooded, greens unplayable and the action called off.”

5. Nelly’s surprising equipment switch

Our Matt Vincenzi…”LPGA superstar Nelly Korda made a notable equipment change during the Evian Championship…Despite having a full bag deal with TaylorMade, the 25-year-old played with a Titleist driver on Saturday.”

• “Korda had a great deal of success with the Titleist TSR1 in the past but signed with TaylorMade back in January. When she put the Titleist TSR1 back in play early Saturday morning, she shot a 64, which was the low round of the day.”

6. LPGA pro on slow play penalty

Our Matt Vincenzi…”During the second round of the Amundi Evian Championship, Carlota Ciganda was issued a two-shot penalty for breaching the LPGA Tour’s Pace of Play Policy. After the round, Ciganda appealed the penalty, but it was upheld.”

• “In response to the decision, the Spaniard intentionally signed an incorrect scorecard (71 instead of 73), refusing to accept the penalty. She knew it would get her disqualified but did so anyway.”

• “Clearly frustrated with how the situation played out, Ciganda posted to her Instagram story over the weekend explaining her version of what happened.”

• “I got a few messages about the DQ from yesterday. I want to be very clear and the reason I did not sign a 7 on the last hole is because I don’t think I took 52 seconds like the Rules Official said. I had a 10 footer on the last hole, last put [sic] and the group behind they were not even on the tee on a par 5. Very poor performance from the LPGA rules official, they don’t understand what professional golf is about, they only look at their stopwatch like if 20 seconds is going to make a difference. I had family and friends watching and they all said it was impossible I took that long to hit that putt!

• “Yesterday was tough out there with windy conditions and difficult pins and I wish everyone gets treated the same and they don’t pick on the same players all the time! That’s all!”

7. Cink named as vice-captain

Ed Carruthers for Golf Monthly…”Stewart Cink had been named as the US Team’s fifth vice captain for the 2023 Ryder Cup.”

• “The announcement was made by captain Zach Johnson on Monday and will be the first time that the American will attend the tournament in a leadership capacity. “

• “Cink played in five consecutive Ryder Cup teams between 2002 to 2010 and boasts a record of 5-7-7 having won the biennial event just once at Valhalla Golf Club in 2008.”

8. These guys are competitive

Cameron DaSilva for Golfweek…”Los Angeles Rams linebacker Ernest Jones said this offseason that he’s become obsessed with golf, spending a lot of time on the course during the summer when the Rams were off. He’s not going to quit his day job of patrolling the middle of the defense any time soon, but his golf game is coming along.”

• “Eventually, he wants to put himself to the test against one of the best pro athletes to tee it up: Warrior guard Steph Curry.“

• “Curry just won the American Century Championship this summer in dramatic fashion and has played in Korn Ferry Tour events in the past, but Jones is confident he can take down the smooth-swinging Steph at some point.”

9. Oh boy

Someone is in trouble.