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19th Hole

Morning 9: PGA: Day, Todd lead (-5) | Koepka (-4) | Woods (-2) | Bryson breaks driver

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5 years ago

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1. J-Day leads the way (-5, tied with Brendon Todd)
Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard rightly mentions that “backwatch” extends beyond Tiger Woods at TPC Harding Park to the current tournament leader….”Jason Day has been spotted in recent weeks slowly plucking his golf ball from the hole in an attempt to protect against re-injuring his back, and he had his share of concerns heading into what promised to be a frigid round on Thursday. Instead, the sun broke through the fog around midday and temperatures climbed into the mid-60s.”
  • “It was nice to be able to have the sun for a change. I mean, it’s been kind of overcast and gray here,” Day said. “You’ve got to be careful. It is a lot colder; 50 degrees pretty much to be precise from last week [in Memphis].”
  • “Whatever concern Day had was quickly eased when he birdied his first hole (he started on No. 10) and made the turn at 2 under. He added three more birdies on his second nine and finished with a bogey-free 65 and the early lead.”
2. Reinvigorated Kaymer (-4)
Excellent framing of the German’s opening-round 66 by ESPN’s Bob Harig…”since that victory at the U.S. Open, he’s had just one top-10 finish in a major, a tie for seventh at the 2016 PGA championship.”
  • Hence, the lack of expectations before shooting 66 in the opening round of the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park.
  • (Kaymer) …”So last night I was watching the U.S. Open actually from 2014, the back nine, trying to get some kind of positivity in my game because it hasn’t been much recently because of no play. On the first tee, I was thinking, obviously this [the 10th] is one of the easier holes right away with a par-5, if I can start off nicely with a birdie, that would be great.
  • “Watching that video of me winning the U.S. Open, that helped me to believe that my putting was good enough, that my ball-striking was good enough, even though it’s a few years back. But it’s always nice to remember those moments and feel the same that you felt that day.’
 
3. Quality start for Tiger (-2)
PGATour.com’s Sean Martin…“Woods wore a sweater all day, but the cold, damp conditions at TPC Harding Park didn’t impact his ability to swing freely. He led the field in driving distance when he walked off the course, averaging 313.5 yards off the tee on the two measured holes.”
  • “He hit just half his fairways Thursday, missing several left after hitting tee shots off the toe. His iron play was strong when he was in the short grass, especially on his back nine.”
  • “The most part of the day, I missed the ball on the correct sides,” Woods said. “This golf course, you have to hit the ball in the fairway. You get a ball in the rough, into the grain, there’s no chance you can get the ball to the green. I felt like I did a decent job of doing that.”
  • “Woods was even par after 12 holes, but hen rolled off three birdies in a four-hole stretch.”
4. Brooks (-4)
Golfweek’s Adam Schupak…”Brooks Koepka is sitting pretty in his quest for a three-peat at the PGA Championship. Koepka opened with a 4-under 66, just one off the pace set by former PGA champion Jason Day and fellow first-round co-leader Brendon Todd.”
  • “Koepka is well aware of the historical significance that is at stake this week as he attempts to become the first in the stroke-play era of the PGA to win three Wanamaker trophies in a row, and the first player overall to win the same major three consecutive years since Australian Peter Thomson achieved the feat at the British Open (1954-56).”
5. How Brooks found his swing
Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…“Poring over swing video with coach Claude Harmon III, Koepka learned that 70 percent of his weight was on his back foot at impact – a subconscious move to alleviate pressure on his ailing left knee.”
  • “The fix was simple – dropping back his left foot “a hair” – and while watching video from the past two PGA Championships with caddie Ricky Elliott, Koepka noticed that from that position he was able to drive off his right foot and not feel any twinges of pain.”
  • “My feet are usually a little bit staggered from a perfect golf swing, too far left,” he said, “but that’s just how we play. It’s nice to feel comfortable over the ball. I’m starting to see it come out of the right pocket, the right window, and that’s exciting.”
6. Queue up your Hulk jokes
Multiple Pulitzer Prize winner and GWAA Writer of the Year Ben Alberstadt writes…“In a situation seemingly conceived of as comic fodder for the internet in general, Twitter in particular: Bryson Dechambeau snapped the LA Golf BAD Prototype shaft of his Cobra King SpeedZone driver during the first round of the PGA Championship.”
  • “Adding to the comic possibilities of the occurrence, which befell DeChambeau on the seventh hole at TPC Harding Park, it was neither American muscle’s vaunted swing speed nor a temper tantrum that caused the fracture.”
  • “Rather, Bryson DeChambeau snapped his driver shaft by...leaning on it with the force of his recent thickness while picking up his tee.”
7. Tour layoffs
Golfweek’s Tim Schmitt…”As the PGA Championship started at TPC Harding Park this week, the PGA Tour confirmed a number of job cuts to staff personnel.”
  • “The Tour did not reveal the number of individuals laid off, but PGA Tour Vice President of Communications Joel Schuchmann said the moves will help position the Tour moving forward.”
  • “As a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the PGA Tour – much like many other organizations – has had to identify ways to streamline our operations,” Schuchmann said in a statement.
  • “While it is never easy to say goodbye to valuable members of the Tour family, this week’s targeted job cuts will allow us to most efficiently deal with the current climate and prepare for 2021 and beyond.”
8. LPGA: Ko, Kang lead
LPGA Communications team…“With a pair of 7-under 64s on Thursday, American Danielle Kang and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko are tied atop the leaderboard at the 2020 Marathon LPGA Classic presented by Dana. Kang went bogey-free around Highland Meadows Golf Club, crediting a strong day with her putter, and is looking to become the LPGA Tour’s first back-to-back winner since 2017.”
  • “I worked a lot on my putting for the last couple days. Didn’t really like how the ball was coming off my putter,” said Kang, who won last week’s LPGA Drive On Championship. “But I think that I kind of got a good feel out of it; then today my putting worked really well. There are days when the ball goes where you see, and that’s what happened.”
  • “Ko carded eight birdies and one bogey at a course that has historically been very kind to her. Ko has two victories and two other top 10s in her five previous tournament appearances, with a scoring average of 68 over those 20 rounds.”
9. Euro: Sharvin stands in front
EuropeanTour.com report…”Cormac Sharvin made sure it was worth the wait as he edged into a one shot lead after the first round of the 2020 English Championship.”
  • “The Northern Irishman teed off in the final group in Hertfordshire and delivered a course record 63 to sit at eight under par, nudging ahead of six players locked at seven under.”
  • “David Howell rolled back the years and looked to have earned his first 18 hole lead at a European Tour event in 636 appearances as he joined Australian duo Jason Scrivener and Min Woo Lee, Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent, Hero Open runner up Thomas Detry and Laurie Canter as co-leader.”
  • “But the 27-year-old Sharvin, who graduated to the European Tour after finishing the 2019 Challenge Tour season in 11th position on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, carded ten birdies and two dropped shots to take the outright lead.”

 

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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.

19th Hole

‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

Published

3 weeks ago

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Aug 4, 2025

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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.”

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.

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19th Hole

How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Published

3 weeks ago

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Aug 4, 2025

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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.

Check out Young’s winning WITB here.

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19th Hole

Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Published

4 weeks ago

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Aug 1, 2025

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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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