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GolfWRX Morning 9: R.I.P. Jarrod Lyle | Bellerive up to speed? | Tiger the underachiever?

Published

7 years ago

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By Ben Alberstadt (ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com)

August 9, 2018

Good Thursday morning, golf fans.
1. R.I.P. Jarrod Lyle
Jarrod Lyle is dead at 36. I think it’s disrespectful to say he “lost” the battle. It’s disrespectful to say anyone cancer kills loses, because it suggests they could have or should have done more/something different to win. Sometimes, saying someone “lost” a battle to cancer is like saying he lost a battle to an oncoming semi. There’s no “fight” there.
  • Jarrod Lyle didn’t lose anything. With his openness and courage he inspired, and he’s a reminder of multitudes suffering from cancer and other horrific diseases every day. We need to do everything we can to fund research, yes, but we also need to support those who are suffering and their families and relegate neither to the shadows.
  • Per an Australian Associated Press report…”Lyle, 36, spent his final days surrounded by loved ones when he decided to go into palliative care after ending treatment for myeloid leukaemia.”
  • “He is survived by his wife Briony and daughters Lusi, 6, and Jemma, 2.”
  • “It breaks my heart to tell everyone that Jarrod is no longer with us,” Ms Lyle said in a statement. “He passed away peacefully at 8.20pm last night having spent his final week in Torquay among his family and close friends.”
There’s aGoFundMe for Lyle’s family, here. Please donate.
Also, kudos to Bryson DeChambeau for choosing the Lyle family as the beneficiaries of his $25,000 PGA Championship Long Drive winnings.
2. Bellerive getting up to speed
Golfweek’s Forecaddie reports Bellerive’s greens are weathering the weather well.
  • “The Forecaddie admires a lot about the work of PGA setup man Kerry Haigh, but never more than when he digs in on his career-long refusal to discuss green speed…With Bellerive’s heat and stressed greens, The Man Out Front asked Haigh if the .125 mowing height was going to be lowered for the first round, as a locker room notice to players suggested.”
  • “We’ve made adjustments during the week, including today, so we have made specific adjustments, and we’ll continue to monitor it,” the stone-faced assassin of public Stimpmeter readings said. “But we’re very comfortable and love where we’re at today.”
  • “Specifically, The Forecaddie spotted rollers for the first time all week Wednesday, thanks in part to yesterday’s 1.5 inches of rain and cooler temperatures. As dreadful as the rains were for keeping the course firm, the moisture and cooler weather allowed superintendent Carlos Arraya to push the sensitive surfaces.
  • “The greens are quicker than they were the last two days, and they’re very close to what we are hoping they will be for the four days,” Haigh said. “We love where they’re at. They’re rolling beautifully. And Carlos Arraya and his team, just unbelievable, great job.”
3. The wrong Tommy
Here’s an outrageous real thing that actually happened.
“Tommy Fleetwood received a surprise this week when noticed that a $154,480 check from the European Tour had been deposited into his bank account..Because he wasn’t that Tommy Fleetwood.”
  • “Turns out the European Tour made a clerical error and sent out the winnings from last month’s Open Championship to the wrong Tommy Fleetwood. Instead of going to the 11th-ranked player in the world, an American club pro at Streamsong Resort in central Florida instead was shocked to find the six-figure check in his account – sandwiched between a supermarket payment of  $14.37 and a service fee of $16.” (Golf Channel report)
4. Golf’s odd couple
Karen Crouse filed an excellent look at a subject you’re likely tired of hearing about: the Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson bomance.
  • “But those earlier versions, of Woods and Mickelson in their 20s and 30s, have given way in middle age to models that are more similar than not. Mickelson, 48, has turned himself into a sleeker machine who nosed out a player nearly half his age, Justin Thomas, the defending champion of the P.G.A. Championship, to win a World Golf Championships event in Mexico City in March for his 43rd PGA Tour victory – and his first in four years.”
  • “And Woods, 42, has become less isolated and more welcoming. The steely focus that made him so intimidating in his heyday is still there, but after the last putt drops, he is quick to smile and socialize with other players. After five years spent battling debilitating back pain that required four surgeries, Woods described himself on Tuesday as “very blessed” and said, “It’s a dream come true” to simply be back playing tournament golf.”

More.
5. Speaketh JT
A couple of lines from Justin Thomas as he prepares for his PGA Championship title defense.
  • “The part of defending isn’t as difficult as just winning any golf tournament in general. I mean, any player here this week, it’s very hard to win,” Thomas said. “It doesn’t make it any harder that I’m trying to defend.”
  • “You can learn as much as you want from anything. It’s just the hard part is sometimes recognizing what you learned…I learned from the British Open and I missed the cut. I learned from the Travelers when I finished 50th or whatever I finished. You learn every week. It’s sometimes the lessons are bigger than others.”
6. Latest on PGA HQ move
Geoff Shackelford writes…”In his final PGA Championship news conference as CEO, Pete Bevacqua addressed possible a headquarters move to Frisco, Texas…”That’s still certainly a possibility, but it’s also a possibility that we’ll stay in southern Florida or even look at other opportunities around the rest of the country,” Bevacqua said.”
  • “Opening up the potential for a move to other parts of the country added a new twist to the organization’s push to modernize its buildings in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla…This is something that started two years ago, where we all came to the conclusion that our current headquarters, those current buildings, although they’re in a wonderful part of the country, just weren’t getting – not getting it done for us,” said Bevacqua, who is moving to a new role at NBC Sports overseeing multiple properties, including Golf Channel.”
7. 14 points for golf
Writing for the Armchair Golf Blog, John Coye says…”Joe Kirkwood’s autobiography, Links of Life. Kirkwood was an Australian golf professional who won 13 times on the PGA Tour and was also known as a trick shot artist. His book was published privately in 1973. Kirkwood told his story to Barbara Few and the story has an introduction by Lowell Thomas, the famous news commentator, one-time chairman of the American Golf Hall of Fame and a friend of Kirkwood.”
“Kirkwood took the challenge and dictated 14 points that Thomas had framed on the wall of the locker room at the Western White House golf course…Thomas added the 14 points to his introduction of Links of Life. Here they are:”
1. Relax, relax, relax!

 

2. When addressing the ball, stand almost straight, sitting back slightly on your heels.

 

3. Extend hands, arms and club out straight. That is, don’t drop your hands as though putting them in your lap.

 

4. Grip should always be the same. If you want a hook or a fade, a low shot or a high one simply alter your stance.

 

5. For instance if you want a high shot, open your club face and stand behind the ball.

 

6. Get biggest arc possible. Slow backswing. Slight hesitation at top.

 

7. Stay almost flat footed through swing until after ball is in flight and club head is out where it should be on the follow through. It’s okay to sway a light as you pivot, but your head must not move too much. On your pivot be sure to bring left shoulder way under.

 

8. Imagine you are looking underneath the ball. Avoid closing club face.

 

9. Whatever you do don’t let your body get ahead of your hands and the club.

 

10. Don’t fight the wind. For example, on the Quaker Hill course, in playing the 7th where the wind often is from the West, hit a fade to the left and allow wind to bring the ball around. This way you will get more distance.

 

11. On pitch and chip shots keep arms still. Arms, hands, club all on piece.

 

12. On pitch and chip shots use slow easy rhythmical stroke, with a follow through. Don’t snap at the ball!

 

13. In rough, or any bad lie, open club face in order to cut through trouble.

 

14. In getting out of traps spank the sand with club head. Use light touch; easy stroke. Don’t bang at it. After rain, or in any hard sand, use a very light touch, caress it.

 

8. Tiger the underachiever?
Brandel Chamblee would certainly say he’s done nothing more than offer his honest, reasoned opinions on Tiger Woods throughout his career.
The Golf Channel analysts’s detractors, however, feel Chamblee has an anti-Woods bias at best and makes incendiary remarks that he knows aren’t true for attention, at worst.
  • The most recent example of Chamblee telling his truth regarding Woods came on the Golf Digest podcast.
  • “I would argue he got the least out of his talent of any player, maybe in history,” Chamblee said. “What other player would you have imagined was going to win 30 major championships? Twenty-five, 30 major championships and 100-plus events? There’s no other player that any of us would ever have imagined – I think he was better than any of us ever imagined. But once he got going, we thought, well . . . he’s going to be Genghis Khan to the record books.”
9. Bittersweet for Bevacqua
Golf Channel’s Nick Menta…”For the first time since the news was announced, outgoing PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua addressed his upcoming move to NBC Sports.”
  • “The past, roughly six years at PGA of America have been wonderful,” he said. “As many of you know, I’ll be moving on to NBC Sports. But what made that decision, at least a little bit easier for me, is the fact that I know I’ll still be so involved with golf and still so involved with the PGA of America, such a wonderful organization, and with the friends I’ve made, like Kerry [Haigh], who I absolutely think the world of, my fellow staff, the board, the officers.”
  • “Bevacqua is taking over in the newly created role of NBC Sports Group president. He will oversee NBC Sports programming, marketing and digital, in addition to the company’s regional cable networks and all NBC’s golf businesses.”

Related Topics:

Ben Alberstadt is the Editor-in-Chief at GolfWRX, where he’s led editorial direction and gear coverage since 2018. He first joined the site as a freelance writer in 2012 after years spent working in pro shops and bag rooms at both public and private golf courses, experiences that laid the foundation for his deep knowledge of equipment and all facets of this maddening game. Based in Philadelphia, Ben’s byline has also appeared on PGATour.com, Bleacher Report...and across numerous PGA DFS and fantasy golf platforms. Off the course, Ben is a committed cat rescuer and, of course, a passionate Philadelphia sports fan. Follow him on Instagram @benalberstadt.

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

Published

4 weeks ago

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Jul 28, 2025

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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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WITB

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