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Morning 9: Phil ahead by 4 | The most unusual things about Bryson | Harris English resurgent

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5 years ago

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1. Phil leads by 4
Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner on what very much looks like a Mickelson march to victory…“Phil Mickelson on Tuesday moved into even better position to win in his PGA Tour Champions debut.”
  • “Building on his opening 61, Mickelson fired a second-round 64 that gave him a four-shot lead at the Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National. Mickelson is at 17 under par, four clear of Rod Pampling and Tim Petrovic, heading into the final round of the 54-hole event in Ridgedale, Missouri.”
  • “Mickelson’s 125 total through two rounds is the second-lowest in tour history. Only Bruce Fleisher’s 124 at the 2002 RJR Championship was better.”
2. PopStroke set to open
Greg Hardwig, Naples Daily News…”The Fort Myers facility, the first under his partnership and design team, will open to the public on Saturday, Sept. 12, the company announced Tuesday. Doors will open at 10 a.m. For more information, visit the Popstroke website.”
  • “PopStroke founder Greg Bartoli had previously announced locations were coming to Naples, on Tamiami Trail, and in Sarasota. The Naples site location is still being finalized. PopStroke’s original location is in Port St. Lucie.”
  • “PopStroke is a golf entertainment venue that features two 18-hole putting courses, designed by Woods and his TGR Design Team. These will be the first since Woods bought a stake in the ownership and agreed to design the courses for PopStroke facilities about a year ago. The facilities also include outdoor dining with a full menu, a variety of craft beer and other alcoholic beverages, ice cream, outdoor games and a kids playground.”

Full piece.

3. Meet the 70

Sean Martin at PGATour.com filed epithets for all the participants in this week’s Wyndham Championship…
1. Dustin Johnson…Has the most wins (5, tied with Rory), top-5s (11) and top-10s (19) in Playoffs history.
2. Justin Thomas…Defending BMW champ is looking to regain his top spot in the standings.
3. Webb Simpson…Enters BMW after a T3 at Wyndham and T6 at THE NORTHERN TRUST.
4. Daniel Berger…Third-place finish in Boston was his 6th top-5 in his past 8 starts.
5. Collin Morikawa…MC at NORTHERN TRUST was just the second of his pro career.
6. Harris English…Was 149th in 2019 FedExCup, but headed to East Lake after runner-up in Boston.
7. Bryson DeChambeau…Was absolutely dominant in 2015 U.S. Amateur victory at Olympia Fields.
8. Sungjae Im…MC at NORTHERN TRUST but only fell three spots in the standings.
4. Simpson out of BMW to rest up for Tour Championship
Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…”Webb Simpson withdrew Tuesday from the BMW Championship to be rested for next week’s Tour Championship, according to his management team.”
  • “It’s an interesting move for Simpson, who is No. 3 is the FedExCup standings. With the staggered scoring start at East Lake, he was set to be three shots behind heading into the season finale. With triple points available for the BMW, he’s likely to drop even further; seeds Nos. 6-10, for instance, will begin the week six shots behind.”
  • “Simpson has played four consecutive weeks on Tour, with top-6 finishes in each of his past two appearances. He’s broken par in 10 of his past 11 rounds and currently leads the Tour in scoring average (68.87).”
5. The 11 most unusual things about Bryson
I mean this in absolutely the most respectful way possible: How could you ever pick 11?
  • Stephen Hennesey at Golf Digest…“1. Bryson developed his first set of single-length irons at 17. He and his long-time coach, Mike Schy, grinded down a bunch of shaft flexes and clubs to build his first set of irons. This year, Cobra, which signed DeChambeau to an endorsement deal after he turned pro following the 2016 Masters, released a consumer product, Cobra King One-Length irons, along with Bryson’s input.”
  • “And it’s not just the length of each iron shaft. Bryson’s clubs, which are 37½ inches long, the length of a standard 6-iron, are set at 72-degree lie angles that are 10 degrees more upright than standard. To achieve a consistent swingweight, all the heads weigh 278 grams.
  • 2. When golf’s rules changed in 2019 to allow golfers to putt with the flagstick in, DeChambeau was quick to deliver the science behind why he’d do it.
  • The amazing thing? Months before the rule went into place, DeChambeau was adament about which events’ flagsticks would be more conducive and beneficial to putting with the pin in: “It depends on the COR, the coefficient of restitution of the flagstick,” he told golf.com in October. “In U.S. Opens, I’ll take it out, and every other Tour event, when it’s fiberglass, I’ll leave it in and bounce that ball against the flagstick if I need to.”
6. The resurgence of Harris English
Shane Ryan with a deep dive into Harris’ quietly brilliant 2020 campaign…“One of the most successful 2020 PGA Tour campaigns, and definitely the quietest, belongs to 31-year-old Harris English. With his second-place finish at the Northern Trust last weekend-thanks to Dustin Johnson, it was a distant second-he moved up to sixth in the FedExCup standings, clinched his spot in the Tour Championship, and has a legitimate chance to win the $10 million first-prize bonus in Atlanta. This is a shocking development, to put it mildly, and the fact that he’s done it despite testing positive for the coronavirus in late June turns English’s story from surprising to jaw-dropping. He’s the ultimate dark horse among the current top 10, which becomes abundantly clear when you consider the names:”
  • “Dustin Johnson. Justin Thomas. Webb Simpson. Daniel Berger. Collin Morikawa. Harris English. Bryson DeChambeau. Sungjae Im. Jon Rahm. Patrick Reed.”
  • “If you played the game “which one doesn’t belong?”, even a casual golf fan would have a quick answer. It’s not just name recognition, either; English is the only man on that list who hasn’t won in 2020, and despite being older than everyone but Johnson and Simpson, he’s had, by far, the most modest career.”
7. U.S. Open coverage details
Geoff Shackelford with the overview…“With the U.S. Open’s surprise return to NBC there will be ups, downs, perks and a few remote-control headaches that might include multiple phone calls with older relatives. Be ready to explain Peacock.”
  • “Good news? …The new Peacock app has a free option and if you’re only casually into the U.S. Open, probably not necessary since it’s largely handling field outlier broadcast windows. Maybe.”
  • “The bad news? If you’re a cord cutter and willing to pay to stay in one place despite Peacock, Golf Channel and NBC Sports existing under the same Comcast umbrella, you’ll be doing some app switching, updating, password entering, yada, yada. But you’ll survive, I promise.”
  • “Here is the schedule retaining the same 45 U.S. Open hours as last year on Fox.  However, with the need to incorporate Peacock, the U.S. Open is losing 90 minutes of cable coverage each weekday round compared to Fox Sports 1.  This year’s event-a one-off played in September at Winged Foot-is down four hours of broadcast television coverage Saturday and Sunday compared to Fox’s 10 hours and 8 hours respectively.”
8. Work smarter not harder
Sean Martin at PGATour.com on how players are using data and technology for more efficient improvement…“Players can only practice for so long, though. Daylight presents a natural limit. Some players have parental commitments to schedule around. Then there’s the law of diminishing returns, and the increased risk of injury that comes from excessive work. Swinging a golf club more than 100 mph can be hard on the body.”
  • “That’s why players turn to data and technology to make their practice time more efficient. Rory McIlroy, the reigning FedExCup champion, is among the players who relies on stats to show him what to work on.”
  • “For example, a report he received after the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship showed him that his sand shots weren’t up to his standards.”
  • “I got a stats report after the three weeks that I had at Torrey Pines, at Riviera, and Mexico, and that’s what I based my practice off going into the next few weeks,” McIlroy said at this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. “My bunker play wasn’t up to the same standards it needed to be. I needed to get better (with putts) from 6 to 12 feet. It’s stuff that you sort of know anyway, but it’s nice when you have that objective data in front of you.”
9. Phil’s WITB from his first PGA Tour start
A fun one here, assembled by our Johnny Wunder as Lefty is perched atop the leaderboard on the Champions Tour.
Driver: TaylorMade Tour Driver (8.5 degrees) with FlexTwist Graphite Shaft X
3 Wood: TaylorMade Tour Spoon (13 degrees) with FlexTwist Graphite Shaft X
Irons: Ping Eye 2 (1) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100, Yonex Tour Forged (3-10) with Yonex LTB 600 Boron XX flex
Wedges: Yonex (56) with Yonex LTB 600 Boron X flex, Ping Eye2 (60) with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100
Putter: Arnold Palmer “The Original” 34 inches w/ Leather Wrap Grip
Ball: Titleist Tour 384 100 Balata

 

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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.

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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

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Jul 29, 2025

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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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News

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

Published

4 weeks ago

on

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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