19th Hole
Justin Thomas calls out golf website for this clickbait headline
Morgan Hoffmann returned to competitive action this week at the RBC Heritage, two-and-a-half years after his last appearance at the Shriner’s Hospital for Children Open, and the golf world was more than interested to see how he got on.
Diagnosed with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy at the end of 2017, the 32-year-old has been living in Costa Rica since his departure from the PGA Tour, searching and using ‘alternative’ methods to control the condition, now on his way to somehow controlling what is usually a debilitating illness.
Now on his 16th of 18 medical exemptions granted by the tour, Hoffmann knows he needs to do something good, and something soon to keep his card, and very few could have envisaged such an encouraging opening round: a level-par 71.
His playing partners were always going to be asked, and when reporters asked Harold Varner III for his opinion on Hoffman’s return and first 18 holes, he commented honestly:
“He’s still good at golf. It’s like riding a bike. Obviously it’s going to take a while to get the rust off, but it’s just good to see him,” he said.
“The last time I saw him was actually here, probably three years ago here.”
“We played together, and he wanted to go fly and watch the Canes play and then come back and play a round. I’m like, no, I’m good man.”
Had Varner seen anything different in Hoffmann’s game?
“I did not, but I’m not a very aware person, never have been. I’m out there to beat Morgan.”
“I don’t really care — I get that he’s been through a lot, but everyone on this planet’s going to go through something, and that’s his battle.”
“My battle may come down the road later.”
“When you’re on the golf course, it’s time to compete. I want to win. I don’t know. That’s kind of messed up, but it is what it is.”
Take that as you see fit, but it seemed certainly more of an insistence that he was here to play his own game and win, rather than a slur on his returning playing partner.
One golf magazine, Golfweek, took the chance to make a headline from it, though, making the play more that Varner didn’t care about Hoffmann’s long-term issues, titling a piece “Harold Varner III on Morgan Hoffman’s return: “I don’t really care…that’s his battle”‘
However, Justin Thomas, never a shrinking violet on social media, was one of the first to pick up on the headline:
Nice headline here… really??? ?????
— Justin Thomas (@JustinThomas34) April 15, 2022
The headline was removed, and whilst much of the golf world was arguing about the worth of the so-called ‘clickbait,’ Varner was making more headlines.
The 31-year-old, winner of the Saudi International in February, followed his first round 67 with a bizarre second 18.
At the sixth hole, he was embroiled in a row whether a spectator had moved his ball from in bounds to out of bounds, ultimately costing him a double-bogey six, a contribution to an angry round of 72 containing five birdies, two bogeys and a pair of doubles.
On Saturday, Varner flew through the field to lead after 54 holes, his tournament best of 63 comprising eight birdies and 10 pars, before he fell one short of the deciding play-off last night, his final 36-foot putt just sliding by the edge of the 18th hole.
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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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