19th Hole
Did Tiger Woods screw up by hitting iron off the tee at the 72nd hole?

Tiger Woods, as we know, finished one stroke behind Paul Casey in his bid to return to the winner’s circle at the Valspar Championship.
Woods arrived at the 72nd hole needing birdie to tie Casey. Electing to avoid flirtation with fairway bunkers left and right, Woods hit a long iron 258 yards down the fairway, leaving himself a 185-yard approach shot to the back right pin. His approach shot ended up 38 feet, 11 inches, from the hole. Unsurprisingly considering the distance, he didn’t make the putt.
Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but some questioned Woods not taking on the bunkers with a 3-wood or driver, and thus allowing for the possibility of a much shorter approach shot he would have been statistically more likely to get close.
Scott Fawcett, founder of the Decade course management system, didn’t question Woods’ decision however. In fact, Fawcett took to Twitter to laud Woods’ decision. The responses to Fawcett’s tweet were both interesting and insightful, spearheaded by our own Rich Hunt.
You can find a portion of this excellent conversation below.
Tiger is the GOAT for a host of reasons, his course management is likely the top of the list though. How many Tour players could go to 18 *needing* birdie and NOT ABANDON HOW THEY PLAYED THE HOLE ALL WEEK? #GOATdiscipline pic.twitter.com/ZGNPWk6mDP
— Scott Fawcett (@scottfawcett) March 11, 2018
My problem is the strategy on 18 today. Had to have birdie, lays up 185 yds. 185 yds/fwy yields a Tour average prox 2 cup of 33.3 feet which has make % of ~6%. A 'good shot' from 185/fwy for Tour players is about 27.8 feet which has a make % of ~8%.
— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) March 12, 2018
If he hits driver ~50 yards past his lay up shot (135 yds), a 'very good shot' would put him to about 16 feet which has a 20% make percentage.
— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) March 12, 2018
Basically gave himself a 6% chance to make birdie by laying up. Had greater odds of finding the fairway with the driver than making birdie by laying up. Again, this is a different situation. He had to make birdie or he goes home unlike the 3 previous rounds.
— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) March 12, 2018
Essentially, laying up is the right move over the long haul because the projected score is lower for Tiger if he lays up off the tee than if he hits driver. But, this wasn't a 'long haul' situation. He had to have birdie and laying up greatly hurt his odds in doing so.
— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) March 12, 2018
If he had a 40% chance of hitting the fairway, that's greater than a 6% chance of making birdie by laying up. Like I said, over the long haul it's wise for him to lay-up on 18 cuz expected scores will be lower. But when you have to have a birdie, laying up is a bad choice here
— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) March 12, 2018
This was a different situation. If I'm playing 18 in any other situation, the odds are to lay up because of the narrow fwy and the trees. But this situation was make birdie or lose. Having 185 yds out, even if you WELL above the Tour avg gives little odds of making birdie.
— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) March 12, 2018
And as promising as Tiger looks…he's not the performer with the irons that he was in his prime years. I was actually surprised so many people thought he would win today given his track record of not winning events coming from behind.
— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) March 12, 2018
I agree with this. I just don't think that in THIS particular situation it applies. Kinda like the basketball team that is down by 3, goes for the easy 2 pt layup with less than 5 seconds to go instead of shooting a 3. They may be a great team but it was poor strategy & they lost
— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) March 12, 2018
Absolutely. It's a completely different scenario. He's down by 1, he has to make at least a birdie. Needs to play the shot that will give him the best chance of making birdie. If he had almost NO chance of hitting the fwy w/driver I can see. But that wasn't nearly the case.
— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) March 12, 2018
Odds based on performance are based on past history. It's very unlikely he would hit a 185 yd shot to 3.3 feet while it's much more likely he would hit that shot closer to 33 feet. I don't understand people thinking it was impossible for him to find the fwy with the driver.
— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) March 12, 2018
Sure. But if he hits it to 25 feet that's still a really good shot from that distance and odds are low. And this year Tiger has made ONE putt from outside 25 feet the entire season (1.85%)…which occurred on the 71st hole.
— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) March 12, 2018
What do you think, GolfWRX members, do you agree with Woods’ approach off the tee at the final 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.