19th Hole
Graeme McDowell thanks social media for getting his golf clubs back
Graeme McDowell’s golf clubs were lost in transit from Paris to Manchester Sunday. Air France’s snafu left McDowell sans sticks as he was slated to tee it up in the Open Championship qualifier, Tuesday.
Ultimately, he withdrew, explaining he wouldn’t be able to cobble a set together from the tour trucks.
“My equipment is kind of old generation stuff,” he told the Belfast Telegraph. “My irons are three years old. My driver is a couple years old. I really don’t play with a lot of up-to-date equipment, so a lot of the stuff would have been very difficult to replace. The irons I use, Srixon won’t carry those on the truck anymore. The wedges I use, Cleveland, they won’t be on the truck anymore. The putter is 15 years old.
Now, McDowell must finish in the top 10 at this week’s Irish Open or next week’s Scottish Open to have a shot at making the Open field.
Fortunately, his weapons have been returned to him, and he credits the roles social media played in the return.
“I spent most of Monday on the phone to customer service at Air France which was frustrating to say the least,” he told the Belfast Telegraph.
“We established that the clubs were in Paris but not when they would get to me. It was basically ‘get in the queue, you’re one of many that have lost a bag and you’ll wait your turn.’
“On Monday night, I still didn’t know where my clubs were. It wasn’t until around 10.3am on Tuesday morning that I talked to somebody sensible at Air France who could tell me they would put the clubs on a flight for me.
“Thankfully the story had a happy ending. They landed at Dublin on Tuesday night at 10 o’clock and a courier company had them in the hotel by 3am this morning.
“It was really the power of social media in the end. If it wasn’t for Twitter and the fact that the story gained a huge amount of momentum to where Air France’s PR department had to call me and sort things out, the clubs would still be in Paris somewhere.”
Beyond just losing McDowell’s bag, can you believe he was told “get in the queue?” Dude didn’t just lose his luggage, he lost the ability to do his job…and from a PR standpoint, why step in it, Air France?
Here’s a bit of advice for any airlines losing a pro’s bag (again, this happens more than it should, and will continue to happen): Make a public apology (social media is great for this!) and a diligent search for the clubs! Good riddance!
Thanks for getting the job done guys. Appreciate the assist. https://t.co/MZwyIb6HWY
— Graeme McDowell (@Graeme_McDowell) July 4, 2018
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.
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.
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.
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