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GolfWRX Morning 9: Feel-good stories of the year | Quotes of 2018 | Jack: TW’s swing is his best ever

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

December 17, 2018

Good Monday morning, golf fans.
1. Feel-good stories of the year
The whole of 2018 may have been a Tiger Woods feel-good story (on the heels of the 2017 Woods feel-bad story as a foil). However, TW was but a dish in a multi-course meal of homestyle favorites.
  • Golf Digest’s Joel Beall rounded up his top-15 feel-good stories of 2018. Included in his list…JoAnne Carner at the Senior Women’s Open
  • “JoAnne Carner’s legacy was well intact when she arrived at Chicago Golf Club for the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open, but the player known as “Big Mama” left the Windy City by augmenting her legend status. Carner, who won the U.S. Open in 1971 and 1976, birdied the 18th hole to shoot 79, her age, in her opening round. Not bad for someone who hadn’t walked a golf course in 15 years.”
  • ...and Cody Blick
  • “Cody Blick needed to jump 34 spots in the final round of Q-School to earn Web.com Tour status. A challenge daunting in itself, especially so after Blick’s equipment was stolen following the third round. All Blick did is turn in a Sunday 63, highlighted by a back-nine 31, a score that vaulted him into the 25 to grab guaranteed starts next season. Not bad, given the borrowed set in tow. “Hitting bad shots was OK, almost, like, ‘Dude, I have a mismatched set. It’s not expected of me to hit good shots,'” Blick said. “In a weird way, that was comforting.” Sorry Johnny Miller, but there’s a new best all-time 63 in town.”
Matt Parziale, Sang Moon Bae, Lexi Thompson, and more in the full list.
2. Lipsky victorious 
Golfweek’s Alistair Tait…”David Lipsky will enter 2019 as European No. 1 after winning the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa, the last event of 2018. He joins Kurt Kitayama as the two American winners, after Kitayama’s victory in the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open.”
  • “Lipsky earned his second victory following the 2014 Omega European Masters with a two-shot win over Scotland’s David Drysdale. The 30-year-old Northwestern graduate entered the final round one shot behind ex-Augusta State player Scott Jamieson. A closing 4-under 68 gave him a 14-under 274 total and a check for just under $270,000.”
3. A victory for Love(s)
AP Report…”Davis Love III and his son Dru played so well Sunday that they set two scoring records, rallied from a three-shot deficit to win the PNC Father-Son Challenge and then wondered if they would get to play again.”
  • “Team Love shot 27 on the front nine at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club to get in the mix, took the lead with a birdie at No. 11 and finished off their record round with four more birdies an eagle for a 16-under 56, breaking by one the 18-hole record in a scramble format.”
  • “They won by three shots at 26-under 118, another record in the scramble format….”Who knows? This might be our last time playing, so it was fun to finish it off,” Davis Love III said.”
  • “The 36-hole event is for players who have won a major or The Players Championship, and their partner cannot hold a PGA Tour-sanctioned card. Dru Love has played 17 times in the last two years on the PGA Tour, European Tour and Web.com Tour, but he has yet to earn a card and missed out in the qualifying tournament this year.”
4. LPGA Tour: Top 10 moments in 2018
Beth Ann Nichols rounded up the 10 most significant moments on the LPGA Tour in 2018.
  • Here are two…”Michelle Wie drained a birdie bomb from off the green on the 72nd hole in steamy Singapore to win for the first time since 2014. Wie took the HSBC Women’s World Championship, also known as “Asia’s Major,” in stirring fashion with a 35-foot putt that broke her out of a four-way tie for the lead. The LPGA’s resident needle-mover credited her family’s relentless belief for propelling her through a four-year drought.”
  • “Lexi Thompson’s sparkling performance at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship – her first of 2018 – was among the most significant of her young career. Burdened from 18-months of hardship and disappointment, Thompson took a break mid-season to work on herself. It became obvious in Naples that her puppy, Leo, played a key role in helping Thompson feel like her old self. Her golf game looked vintage too, with the stock draw and old putter helping her back to the winner’s circle.”
5. Quotes of the year
The Golf Channel crew did some textual mining and assembled the best quotes of 2018.
  • “I never counted him out. When somebody said, ‘How is your [major] record, Jack?’ I said, ‘If Tiger comes back and plays I still think he’s got a shot at breaking my record.” – Jack Nicklaus on whether or not he believes Tiger Woods can still reach 19 major wins
  • “I would argue [Tiger Woods] got the least out of his talent of any player, maybe in history.” – Brandel Chamblee
  • ”I think I’m going to do exactly the same thing I did (Friday) night. I’m going to have a margarita as an aperitif, and then I’m going to have a nice bottle of Rioja (wine) and smoke a big fat cigar.” – Miguel Angel Jimenez on refusing to change his routine the night before the final round even with a three-shot lead (p.s. It worked.)
  • “Nope … He has my number.” – Patrick Reed, on whether or not he’s spoken to Jordan Spieth after the Ryder Cup.
6. Farewell, Charlie
Charlie Rymer is leaving Morning Drive for the greener pastures of retirement, golf, and charitable involvement.
  • Golfweek’s Forecaddie…”the Tennessee-born, South Carolina-raised Rymer confirmed he is departing the morning talk show for a scaled-back Golf Channel role in 2019.”
  • “Rymer said he’ll next be seen on April’s Drive, Chip and Putt Championship. He plans to relocate to Myrtle Beach, S.C., with wife Carol to play some golf, fish and focus on charity work for his favorite causes: junior golf and military veterans.”
  • “It’s been a wonderful run here, you guys are going to make me cry,” Rymer said at the conclusion of Sunday’s “Morning Drive” as he thanked the “hard-working men and women on the crew” along with his colleagues.”
7. Sports Personality of the Year!
BBC Report…”Italian golfer Francesco Molinari has been named World Sport Star of the Year at the BBC’s Sports Personality show.”
  • “The 36-year-old enjoyed a memorable 2018, most notably winning the Open Championship at Carnoustie in July to secure his first major and become the first Italian to win the title.”
  • “In September, he helped Europe to Ryder Cup victory over the United States. In doing so, Molinari became the first European player to win all five of his matches.”
8. Back on the bag
Brentley Romine writes…”Damon Green wasted no time finding a new boss…The 58-year-old Green and Zach Johnson parted ways last week after nearly 15 years, two majors and 11 total PGA Tour victories. Five days later, Green has agreed to caddie for Schniederjans beginning next year.”
  • “The news was first reported by The Caddie Network and confirmed to Golf Channel by Schniederjans’ agent.”
  • According to a report by Golfweek, Johnson’s agent helped facilitate a meeting between Green and Schniederjans, who played golf together last week at the Golf Club of Georgia before Green headed back home to caddie for Jim Furyk’s dad, Mike, in the PNC Father/Son Challenge in Orlando, Fla. On Thursday night, Green and Schniederjans reached an agreement over the phone.”
9. Tiger’s best swing ever? 
Quothe the Golden Bear…
  • “I think his swing is much better now than it ever was. The reason for that is Tiger was very much up and down with his head and I think that put a lot of pressure on his back.
  • “The fusion that he had, obviously was something he didn’t want but it was something he needed. … I didn’t think he would ever play golf as well as he’s playing.
  • “I never dreamed that he would play quite as well as he has and that the operation actually leveled out his head and leveled out his swing.”

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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Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

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GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

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