By Brian Wacker
HONOLULU — New year, same outcome. The only difference this time: Brendan Steele didn’t even make it into a playoff.

For a second straight year, the 11-year PGA Tour veteran had the lead on the back nine at the Sony Open in Hawaii. And once again he left Waialae Country Club without the trophy, finishing in a disappointing tie for fourth after shooting a one-under 69 Sunday to finish two back of winner Kevin Na.

In a week where low scores were mandatory, Steele’s final-round number was the highest of anyone in the top 10 on the leader board.

“Obviously super disappointed,” Steele said afterwards. “Playing really well, feeling really good about it. Thought I hit a perfect shot on 10. Got a weird lie there, totally changed the momentum. Every single shot I hit after that ended up with a weird lie, one foot through the fairway, really struggling after that. Completely changed the momentum and super bummed.”

Steele, who began Sunday’s final round with a two-stroke lead, saw his advantage cut to one after he struggled to find momentum early, opening with six straight pars. Still, he birdied the seventh and added a 20-footer for eagle at the par-5 ninth to create a three-shot cushion going into the back nine.

It wouldn’t last.

On the 355-yard par-4 10th, Steele opted for driver. His ball landed on the edge of the left fairway bunker then popped out, resulting in awkward stance above the sand that left Steele with a difficult 60-yard pitch. His next shot came up 85 feet short and he three-putted from there for bogey.

“I think if I lay up 10, I think I win the tournament,” the 37-year-old three-time tour winner said. “So we made a mistake there, and it’s unfortunate. It’s as good as I can hit a shot, so if that doesn’t get over the bunker, then I can’t get over it. Just a mistake and kind of changed everything and everything was hard after that.”

Especially as he struggled off the tee. Steele hit just one fairway the rest of the day, never giving himself much of a chance. After a bogey on the 14th, his lead was gone. One hole later, Kevin Na stuck his approach to five feet to set up a third straight birdie took the lead for good.

Steele still had a chance to tie the lead on the par-3 17th, however, but his putt from just inside 10 feet never touched the hole. It was his only look at birdie from inside 30 feet on the entire back nine.

Sunday marked the sixth time that Steele has held a 54-hole lead on tour. Only once has he gone on to win

“You don’t [get these opportunities often],” he said. “You just try to pick yourself up next week and try to give yourself another chance. I’ve seen a lot of things in my 11 years out here. And I’ve closed well, I’ve closed poorly, I’ve closed in the middle and it doesn’t get any easier. It’s always really hard, and I think anybody out here will tell you that no matter how many times they have won.

“I think you just have to really take some positives out of this; hard to see for me right now and just go and try to put myself right back there next week.”

The post Instead of redemption, it’s heartbreak again for Brendan Steele as a second straight Sony Open title slips away appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
It was no Brady vs. Brees, but the Sony Open had its fair share of drama on the back nine on Sunday.

This was a pleasant surprise for viewers, who may have changed the channel after Brendan Steele made eagle on the par-5 ninth, opening up a three-shot lead. While it felt over, it was far from over, much of that due to Steele’s struggles coming down the stretch. Unfortunately, the three-time tour winner let the Sony Open slip away for a second straight season, allowing Kevin Na to claim his fourth victory since July of 2018, and the fifth of his career.

Kevin Na has become a bonafide closer
It took Kevin Na 10 years to earn his first PGA Tour victory in 2011. It’s taken him less than three to earn four more, a remarkable achievement for a player most remember as the guy who had the swing yips at the 2012 Players Championship. That guy is now a distant memory. The new, current version of Na is a bona fide closer.

His latest victory came Sunday at Waialae, where he birdied the 72nd hole to finish off a 61-65 weekend to win by one over Chris Kirk and Joaquin Niemann. He’s now won once in each of the last four seasons, which he was quick to remind Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis about with a big smile during his post-round interview. Na’s career shift from guy who couldn’t get it done to guy who gets it done regularly, and has a swagger about it (yes, he walked in many a birdie putt on Sunday), has been fascinating to watch.

“I got out here so young and it took me forever to win,” Na said. “It took me forever to validate. I’m so happy at home with my family now, my lovely daughter Sophia, my son Leo and my wife is a very supportive wife. I’m just so happy at home, and that’s showing up on the golf course, that’s been the key.”

That, and slamming the door shut when it matters most: Sundays. At the 2018 Greenbrier, Na shot a final-round 64 to win by five strokes. Less than a year later at Colonial, he closed with a 66 to win the Charles Schwab Challenge by four. The following fall, Na needed extra holes to beat Patrick Cantlay for his second Shriners Hospitals for Children Open victory. He’s become one of the true clutch players on the PGA Tour, which was an unfathomable thought on that one Sunday at TPC Sawgrass almost nine years ago. Golf remains a mystery, as Na’s wild, and wildly long career has shown us.

Gregory Shamus

The Joaquin Niemann win is coming soon to a theatre near you
Unlike Na, it did not take Joaquin Niemann 10 years to capture his first tour win (2019 Greenbrier). And it certainly won’t take him that long to get No. 2. Hell, it might not take 10 weeks. Last week, he lost in a playoff at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, and this week he nearly played his way into a playoff with some late-round heroics. After looking like he’d be a Sunday no-show for much of the day, the 22-year-old Chilean shot a back-nine 31, highlighted by an incredible birdie chip-in at the par-3 17th. Another birdie at 18 put him at 20 under, one shot shy of Na. As my colleague Daniel Rapaport has pointed out multiple times this week, he’s quite literally making “the leap” before our eyes. Would not be the least shocked to see him contend at majors this season. He has that much game, and, more importantly, the proverbial “mental makeup.”

Cliff Hawkins

Chris Kirk didn’t win, but he also did win in a big way
As we wrote prior to the final round, Chris Kirk didn’t have to win to have a very productive day on Sunday. Starting at T-4, all he needed to do was finish in a two-way tie for third to retain his PGA Tour card. If he wasn’t able to do that, a top 12 finish would have at least gotten him conditional status.

Both those outcomes appeared to be in jeopardy when Kirk began his day two over through three holes. This was particularly tough to watch given how far Kirk has come. In November of 2019, the four-time tour winner took a leave of absence from the game, citing alcoholism and depression issues. Thirteen months later, he won for the first time in five years at the Korn Ferry Tour’s King and Bear Classic. While that was a big step, Kirk needed to make the most of his limited starts on his Major Medical Extension on the big tour, and he hadn’t been doing that up until this week.

Luckily, there is a happy ending to this story. Kirk fought back after the ugly start, playing his final 15 holes in seven under and finishing in a tie for second, thus retaining his tour card. The result will move him from outside the top 130 in the FedEx Cup standings to inside the top 40, giving him a legitimate shot at the FedEx Cup Playoffs. You may recall, Kirk won a FedEx Cup Playoff event in 2014, the Deutsche Bank Championship. A month later, he played a key role on the winning U.S. Presidents Cup team. Safe to say everyone is rooting for the former Georgia Bulldog to reach those career heights again. Sunday was a key moment in getting his career back on track.

Cliff Hawkins

Marc Leishman has fixed his game in record time
We touched on this Friday evening, but it’s worth repeating just how terrible Marc Leishman was post-restart, and just how quickly he’s turned it back around. He was about as bad as a tour pro could be between June and October, like horrifically bad in every area of his game. Then, in the fall, he tied for 13th at Augusta National and has been a different player ever since. On Sunday, after a very poor start to his front nine, he clawed back to post an even-par 35 and then came home in 30, giving him a third straight 65. It could easily have been a 63 too, which would have gotten him into a playoff. To be as bad as he was for multiple months and to already look like his normal self again is no small task. He’ll be a guy to watch in the coming months, specifically at courses he loves like Torrey Pines and Bay Hill.

The post Kevin Na, now a five-time PGA Tour winner, has become a bona fide closer appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
New season, same story. Brendan Steele hopes the ending is different this time.

A year ago at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Steele led by three going into the final round at Waialae Country Club and was up by a stroke going into the final hole of regulation. He ended up losing in a playoff in a wet and wild finish that included a lengthy wait on the final hole of regulation after Ryan Palmer hit his second shot out of bounds from the group in front of him. Cameron Smith went on to win on the first extra hole.

This year, Steele leads by two after a nine-under 61 in the third round that included seven birdies over his final 11 holes. Kevin Na, who also shot 61, is tied for second with Joaquin Niemann.

“I don’t know if I am [playing inspired], but definitely the first practice round we played was on the back nine and I was remembering some shots, some good and some bad, kind of kicking myself a little bit,” Steele said. “I usually play well coming off of a break, and I had a nice break.”

Through three rounds, Steele has played like it—especially on Saturday. The 37-year-old three-time tour winner hit 13 of 14 greens and was just as deadly with his putter, gaining 3.377 strokes on the field on the greens, good for second-best in the third round.

One difference from a year ago for Steele: His eyesight. Steele underwent Lasik surgery three weeks ago. He said he did so because he had trouble seeing his shots land in the distance but added that he’s also reading greens better than he ever has.

Now he just hopes to finish this one off.

“[Last year’s tournament] definitely I would say was probably the [one that] most slipped away [in my career],” Steele said. “Sometimes it just comes down to what the other guy does, as well. You can’t always pull off what you want to. I would have liked to make birdie on 18 last year. But unfortunately made a par and Cam had a nice up-and-down, and [I] didn’t do so well in the playoff.”

Steele is not the only one looking for redemption, either.

At last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, Niemann came up one short of tying the PGA Tour record for birdies in a week, making 31, and took the clubhouse lead at Kapalua when he closed out a 64 on Sunday. Harris English caught him on the 72nd hole, and then Niemann lost in a playoff when he failed to get up and down for birdie from the rough on the par-5 18th on the first hole of sudden death.

A week after losing in a playoff at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, Joaquin Niemann is just two back at the Sony Open. Gregory Shamus

Saturday, Niemann put himself in contention again. He shot a 63 that was capped off with a birdie on the difficult 17th and an eagle on the 18th, where he stuck his approach with a 7-wood to inside 10 feet and made the putt.

“It was huge,” the 22-year-old Chilean said of his finish. “I wasn’t really satisfied on my first 16 holes. I thought I was playing great. I thought I could put myself in a better position, and then finishing that way and making eagle on 18 made me really happy and gave me a bit of motivation for [Sunday].”

Neither player will have much time to dwell on the opportunity ahead of them. With bad weather forecasted for later in the afternoon, final-round tee times were moved up two hours, with players going off in threesomes between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. local time. The wind is also expected to blow—something it hasn’t done much of all week—and that should make conditions harder than they have been the first three rounds.

Steele will also have plenty of competition with 11 players within four shots of his lead.

“I know guys are going to be coming after me,” he said. “There should be a lot of birdies out there even with the wind picking up a little bit. I know I’m going to have to shoot one of the best rounds I’ve ever shot to go win it. So that’s what I’m going to go try to do.”

The post Brendan Steele, a year after letting the Sony Open title slip away, has a chance to get quick redemption appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

It’s usually hard to complain about a birdie, but one wouldn’t blame Brendan if he felt that way after what happened to him on the 15th hole at PGA National on Friday. Steele struck a pure tee shot that never left the flag, landed a few paces short of the hole, and seemed to be rolling right into the cup—until a brutal horseshoe lipout. Watch—and cringe:

AROUND AND OUT! ?@Brendan_Steele's tee shot touches every part of the cup but the bottom. He leads by two strokes @TheHondaClassic. pic.twitter.com/UsV9BiTF88

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 28, 2020

How in the world did that stay out?! Even when yielding a rare birdie, the Bear Trap still finds a way to beat you down. Amazing.

And as NBC/Golf Channel’s Dan Hicks noted, adding salt to the wound was the fact an ace would have earned Steele a new Honda. Ouch. On the bright side, the birdie gave Steele a two-shot cushion late in the second round. And if he can maintain that lead come Sunday evening, the $1.2 million winner’s check would cover a stable of Hondas.

The post Watch Brendan Steele get robbed of a hole-in-one—and a new car—in brutal fashion appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
HONOLULU — At last month’s Presidents Cup in Australia, Cameron Smith quickly found himself 3 down to the Americans’ hottest player, Justin Thomas, through the first five holes of their Sunday singles match before he rallied for a gritty 2-and-1 victory to earn, at least in the moment, a crucial point against the Americans. In the end, it ended up not mattering but for the final score. The victory by the 26-year-old Aussie, however, was telling.

There’s a certain rough-around-the-edges toughness to Smith, who came from a blue-collar background in Brisbane, was never the longest hitter amongst his peers, often relying on an impeccable wedge game to wear down his opponents, and didn’t mince words recently when asked about the touchy subject of Patrick Reed’s bunker-gate controversy.

Sunday at the Sony Open in Hawaii, that toughness showed up again. Smith needed it on a wet and wild afternoon at Waialae Country Club, where he began the day three strokes behind leader Brendan Steele before forcing a playoff and winning on the first hole of sudden death.

“You just had to hang in there,” Smith said. “No one was playing good golf today.”

Sometimes just hanging around is enough. Smith just played good enough, too, especially when it mattered most.

Trailing by a stroke when he and Steele arrived at the 72nd hole, and after a 15-minute wait on the tee on the par 5, both men striped their tee shots down the middle into nearly identical position.

That’s when things got wild.

Ryan Palmer, tied with Smith and playing in the group in front, began walking back to the fairway bunker from where he had just hit his second shot, off the top of a large video board on the right side of the hole and out of bounds. Instead of hitting a provisional, Palmer had tried to find his ball, leading to another long delay. He never did, returned to the bunker and made bogey.

Webb Simpson, who was playing in the group with Palmer and also a stroke back, stuck his wedge to 15 feet behind the hole but narrowly missed his birdie try.

After the delay, Smith then hit his second into a greenside bunker left of the green, while Steele hooked his well left of the green, with the ball bouncing off the roof of a grandstand. Blocked by the grandstand, he got a free drop but was unable to get up and down and settled for par. Smith, some 70 feet away in the sand, meanwhile, pitched to eight feet and cooly made the putt for birdie to force a playoff.

In sudden death and with daylight fading fast, the two went to the 10th hole instead of the 18th, which was too water-logged and needed to be squeegeed near the end of regulation. Smith pushed his drive into the right rough while Steele was in perfect position, 87 yards from the flag and in the fairway. But after Smith knocked his shot to 10 feet, Steele hit wedge over the green. Chipping off the mud and wet grass, Steele’s ball scooted 15 feet by and he missed the par putt coming back, opening the door for Smith, who two-putted for par and the win.

The victory for Smith, a two-time Australian PGA champ, was his first individual title on the PGA Tour. His only win prior to Sunday was alongside teammate Jonas Blixt in the Zurich Classic three years ago.

“I’ve always been quite good at not giving up,” said Smith, who began the tournament four over through the first two holes on Thursday before rallying for a respectable even-par 70 that day.

On Sunday he didn’t give up either.

“Just having to make the putts, feeling like something else is on the line, I think I drew a little bit from the Presidents Cup,” Smith said. “I felt as though I played some of my best golf that week, and with such little time between these events I think that’s kind of rolled over definitely into this week.”

The victory gets him into next year’s Masters as well as next year’s winners-only Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui. His four birdies en route to a final-round 68 also helped raise more money for the wildfires that have devastated his home country of Australia the last few months.

That destruction was never far from his mind this week — one of Smith’s uncles lost everything and he fled to the U.S. to stay with Smith, who lives in Florida. Neither was the ability to fight back.

“I’ve never felt the need to kind of mentally check out in any way,” Smith said. “I started [the tournament on Thursday] bogey, triple bogey, and then finished that day even par and progressed from there.”

All the way to a victory.

The post Cameron Smith shows his grit again, rallies to defeat Brendan Steele in a playoff appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Roks was so into the event that he bought a Wake Forest golf shirt to match the one he knew I was bringing. And he drained the last five putts he looked at and we danced around the 18th green as we had just hit the lottery. Good times. Anyway, with a heavy heart, let’s turn to everything else happening in the world of golf.

WE’RE BUYING

J.T. Poston: What a performance by Poston, who is winning the Wyndham Championship matched Lee Trevino at the 1974 Greater New Orleans Open (now the Zurich Classic) by not making a single bogey for 72 holes and winning a PGA Tour event. Remarkable.

Streeter Lecka

A couple of weeks ago, a newspaper spelt his name wrong when he was leading the Barbasol Championship. And just a couple of years ago, Poston tweeted that he was mistaken for a valet at the Honda Classic and that he needed to play better. Now he’s hash-tagging tweets with “playED” better.

All I can say is WOW!! @PGATOUR winner!! What an unbelievable week in my backyard in NC!! Absolutely loved playing in front of so many familiar faces and to go 72 holes without a bogey. Don’t think I can dream it up any better than that #playedbetter

— J.T. Poston (@JT_ThePostman) August 5, 2019

Well played. By the way, J.T. Poston has a win this season while JT (Justin Thomas) remains winless. Golf is a crazy sport, huh?

Hinako Shibuno: Speaking of crazy, how about this 20-year-old Japanese golfer’s debut outside of her home country at the AIG Women’s British Open? A closing 20-foot birdie gave her a one-shot win over Lizette Salas at England’s Woburn Golf Club. And it’s a good thing it went in because it might have rolled to Scotland if it hadn’t hit the hole:

BANG ?

Hinako Shibuno, " The Smiling Cinderella" drills the back of the cup for birdie to win the 2019 @AIGWBO!

??? pic.twitter.com/2TztfpPT0p

— LPGA (@LPGA) August 4, 2019

Too bad Mike Breen wasn’t on the call … BANG! In addition to her superb play, Shibuno, who became just the second Japanese golfer to win a major championship, was praised for her pace of play and attitude. She’s nicknamed “the Smiling Cinderella,” and we are looking forward to seeing more of her in years to come.

“The Hovland Rule”: First of all, I’m buying Viktor Hovland, who continued his impressive play since turning pro after the U.S. Open with a fourth-place finish in Greensboro. But second, I’m into the new USGA rule clearly made with him in mind that will allow the reigning U.S. Amateur champ to turn pro and still keep his exemption into the U.S. Open the following year. Had Hovland’s T-13 at Pebble Beach counted toward his PGA Tour earnings, he would have still just missed wrapping up his card for next season (he is eligible to play in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals), but at least he would be roughly $250,000 richer. Hopefully, the Masters will allow its amateur qualifiers to turn pro as well, but it’s the Masters, and the people there do whatever they want, so they probably won’t. And again, it’s too bad the Hovland Rule won’t actually help Hovland.

WE’RE SELLING

Dumb penalties: Brendan Steele was docked two strokes for using an alignment stick during a round. This is dumb, A) Because alignment sticks are dumb in general and he could have just used a club or a regular stick instead, and B) Because how did he not realize instantly that using an alignment stick during a round is a penalty? Then there was Josh Teater, who picked up his ball in the fairway because lift, clean and place were used the first two rounds. More understandable, but again, dumb. Not that I should say anything like someone who once just scooped a ball up during a stroke-play event. Unfortunately for Steele and Teater, neither were able to climb into the top 125 and get into the FedEx Cup Playoffs. If they decide to play in the Korn Ferry Finals, we’re betting they won’t commit either of these infractions again.

Jordan Spieth: Seriously, what is going on? A 77 after putting himself in contention heading into the weekend? At the Wyndham Championship?! Why is Jordan Spieth even playing in the Wyndham Championship?!

Tyler Lecka

In any event, the struggle is real.

The Women’s British Open venue: I’m sure Woburn Golf Club is a fantastic track, but it seemed odd seeing a British Open being played on a course that looked like it was in central New York.

Richard Heathcote

Boring.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour’s top 125 head to Liberty National, AKA that place with the views of the Statue of Liberty, for the Northern Trust, the first of three FedEx Cup Playoff events. Yep, that’s three instead of the usual four. Another tweak? That bonus has been bumped up to $15 MILLION. For more about the postseason, check out this postseason preview from GolfDigest.com’s newest hire, Greg Gottfried.

Random tournament fact: Liberty National’s 13th hole was the site of Tiger Woods’ famously falling to his knees in pain at the 2013 (Is that enough 13s for you?) Barclays. It’s also the site of his ominous, “Yeah, definitely,” press conference at the 2017 Presidents Cup when he was asked if he could see a scenario in which he didn’t return to professional golf. Fingers crossed that he has a more positive outlook when he plays for the first time since saying, “I just want to go home,” after missing the cut at the Open last month. And in 2009, he missed a short birdie on the 72nd hole to lose to Heath Slocum, the No. 124 player in the FedEx Cup standings. In other words, this isn’t Tiger’s favourite place in the world.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0rTQAODPPW/?utm_source=ig_embed

What a year for the Woodlands.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (YOUNG STUDS DIVISION)

How about Matthew Wolff going full Sergio Garcia on this incredible approach shot?

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0yn3OuHm7V/?utm_source=ig_embed

To clarify, that’s going full GOOD Sergio Garcia. Not the videos of the Spaniard destroying golf courses and throwing golf clubs that have been going viral of late …

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (YOUNGER STUDS DIVISION)

https://twitter.com/Max_Marcovitch/status/1156232679450431493

SIX-foot-EIGHT at 14?! Good lord, what a beast this guy is going to be.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (EVEN YOUNGER STUDS DIVISION)

?HOLE-IN-ONE ALERT?

Congratulations to Kevin Zhang (10) from Clemmons, NC who made his very first hole-in-one during his very first PGA Jr. League match!! ?? pic.twitter.com/14OvaBuHV5

— PGA Jr. League (@PGAJrLeague) August 5, 2019

A hole-in-one at 10?! And I’m still waiting for my first? Must be nice, kid.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (OLD STUDS DIVISION)

Bernhard Langer has more trophies than you:

He also has a very understanding wife to let him just toss those trophies all over the house.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

J.T. Poston’s caddie, Aaron Flener, when learning his man is paired with Tiger Woods this week:

I’m having a little trouble breathing right now. pic.twitter.com/SMOLGetxih

— Aaron Flener (@AaronFlener) August 5, 2019

THIS WEEK IN PHIL BEING PHIL

I know I need to let go of the past, but when you crush the past like this it can be hard to let go of it. pic.twitter.com/6jxJFL7KgV

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) August 4, 2019

Admittedly, I thought this was Dick Fowler, P.I., when I first saw it. But nope, it’s Phil. Wow. Just … wow.

THIS WEEK IN DUSTIN JOHNSON-PAULINA GRETZKY BROOKS KOEPKA-JENA SIMS PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION SORCERY

Remember those white pants Jena ruined last week? Well, apparently, one of her friends saved them somehow:

Amazing.

THIS AND THAT

Congrats to NHL referee Garrett Rank, who won the prestigious Western Amateur. Rank also qualified for the 2018 U.S. Open. Talk about having some serious street cred at the next hockey game he officiates. … Congrats to Jake Beber-Frankel, the son of Oscar-winning director David Frankel, who broke Akshay Bhatia’s scoring record at the Junior PGA Championship. And now 6-foot-8 Tommy Morrison is coming for them. … Long Drive champ Maurice Allen hit one across Niagara Falls 14 years after John Daly failed to do so. To summarize: John Daly hits it hard, but Maurice Allen hits it harder. … And finally, one more shout-out to my fallen friend by looking back to when he won his second green jacket at the 2013 HGGA Championship:

Of course, that was the year he showed up to Myrtle Beach as a “16” handicap. The rest of us had no chance.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Which golfer has the biggest trophy collection?

Can Jena’s friend work on a couple of my golf shirts?

Do sandbaggers go to heaven? (Kidding, Roks. RIP buddy.)

The post A new rule comes too late, Matthew Wolff channels (good) Sergio Garcia, and Phil Mickelson’s groovy photo appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Brendan Steele already was facing a difficult task at this week’s Wyndham Championship. The three-time PGA Tour winner was 169th on the FedEx Cup points list, meaning he had to have a top-three finish at Sedgefield Country Club in order to leap inside the top 125 at week’s end and be eligible to compete in the FedEx Cup playoffs. It was easier said than done considering Steele’s best finish in 21 starts during the 2018-’19 season was a T-14 at the CJ Cup last October, and an opening-round 70 on Thursday meant he had plenty more work to do.

The 36-year-old California native didn’t help himself, however, when he received a two-stroke penalty during Friday’s second round for a relatively rare breach of the Rules of Golf: Using an alignment stick during a round.

As originally reported by GolfChannel.com’s Will Gray, Steele had stumbled at the start of his round, going four over par on his first three holes. After hitting his approach shot on Sedgefield’s par-4 13th hole (Steele’s fourth), Steele turned to his caddie and asked about his alignment. The caddie proceeded to take out Steele’s alignment stick, which is legal to carry during competition. However, Rule 4-3 states that players are prohibited from using golf training or swing aids during a round.

“I thought maybe that would be a problem,” Steele told GolfChannel.com.

Steele consulted a rules official, who confirmed that he needed to add a two-stroke penalty to his score on the hole. Instead of a par, Steele had to take a double-bogey 6. A bogey on his next hole had him seven over on the round after five holes. To his credit, Steele was two under for the remainder of the day, but posted a five-over 75 that cause him to miss the cut.

Interestingly, Steele learned that had he used something different to check himself on the hole, he might have been clear of any penalty. “[The rules official] said that an umbrella and a club was fine to use, but stick’s not,” Steele told GolfChannel.com. “It’s one of those things.”

Indeed, Rule 4-3 specifies that “any type of golf training or swing aid [such as an alignment rod or weighted headcover or ‘donut’] or a non-conforming club to make a practice swing or in any other way that creates a potential advantage by helping the player in preparing for or making a stroke [such as help with swing plane, grip, alignment, ball position or posture].”

The saving grace for Steele? While he’ll finish the season watching the Playoffs at home, he still has his PGA Tour card for 2019-’20 thanks to his victory at the 2018 Safeway Open.

The post Brendan Steele’s final PGA Tour round of 2018-’19 includes two-stroke rules penalty for using an alignment stick appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

What do we know about the U.S. Open, the year’s second major? We know stereotypes—it’s the hardest major. The winning score tends to be close to even par. It’s designed as a “true test” of golf, requiring more variety and creativity than your average putting contest of a PGA Tour event. And, of course, we know the USGA mucks things up to make it artificially difficult on the poor golfers—growing out the rough, tightening the fairways, drying up the greens, turning 900-yard par 5s into par 3s, etc., all to preserve their precious “integrity of par.”

All of these things are true, except when they’re not. Sometimes Brooks Koepka shoots sixteen under. Sometimes Rory does, too. Sometimes Tiger does too, almost. Sometimes the course is just kind of difficult, but the greens are made of extra large Tacoma beach pebbles instead of grass. Sometimes instead of thick rough, they just pick a course that looks like a desert, and Donald Trump gets mad on Twitter…25 times.

Exceptions included, one fact remains constant: Players get mad at the USGA, and the USGA doesn’t care. On some secret level, I suspect they might even enjoy the provocation. The USGA is a troll, and not the fairytale kind that tries to eat the farmer’s goats—they’re the type of troll that subconsciously craves a reaction, and will stop at nothing to engender chaos in the staid ranks of professional golf, intentionally or otherwise.

This year’s U.S. Open will be held next week at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Great Gatsbyland, Long Island, and because I could never dream of matching Guy Yocom’s beautiful description of the course, I’m just going to paste it here:

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WATCH NOW: WHAT’S AT STAKE AT THE U.S. OPEN AT SHINNECOCK

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Shinnecock is unique. Playing to a par of 70, the course at its best is stark, mostly exposed and a bit wild, in mid-summer a gold and pale-green throwback to seaside golf at its most original. Its fairways, no two of which run parallel, are a mix of flattish, bending runs and subtle roller coasters. Its many bunkers, some there for beauty but most strategically positioned, are a little evil. The course is sand-based and bouncy, naturally fast and firm, and almost always wind-swept. Its four par 3s are staggeringly diverse.

Also, per Yocom, the USGA has altered it in recent months in order to avoid the tragedy of Erin Hills last year, when the god of wind abandoned them and Brooks Koepka made lots of birdies. (There’s a rumor going around that Mike Davis, USGA executive director, even hired a local shaman to teach him an ancient wind dance, and that video of his fruitless efforts could come out any day.)

And the players are already wary. Phil Mickelson, while praising the course set-up on one hand, had some barbs ready for the USGA:

Q. Do you think 7 at Shinnecock is a good hole?

PHIL MICKELSON: I think it’s a great hole until the USGA gets a hold of it.

Q. When you say that, are you concerned that that could be the case this time around as well?

PHIL MICKELSON: I’m concerned every time they get a hold of it, yeah.

And here was Rory McIlroy on his favorite organisation:

“I think the USGA thinks that we’re better than we actually are, if that makes sense. I think they over think it. I think that and I don’t want to single out Mike Davis here, I think it’s a collective thought process. We were talking about this yesterday. They sort of, I don’t think it should be as much of an exact science to set up golf course as it is…they over think it…it’s been a very reactionary few years.”

Ross Kinnaird
USGA chief Mike Davis.

These may sound like tame reactions, but they’re as tame as the slight rumble in the ground that precedes a Richter Scale-shattering earthquake. These words are harbingers and premonitions, and in a week’s time when the first bloodied players come staggering in to the clubhouse, a few of them will go Full Horschel.

Full Horschel is when you become super petulant and blame the conditions for your round, and then pretend your complaints are actually “for the fans.” Full Horschel is when you get battered by the Chambers Bay gauntlet and say things like this:

Jamie Squire

‘’I think a lot of players, and I’m one of them, have lost some respect for the USGA and this championship this year.”

Or you can go full Brendan Steele, who once implied that a player was going to sue the USGA for their anchored putting ban, and carried the torch of his grievance all the way to Erin Hills (and likely beyond).

Or you can go full Adam Scott, who has some very polite but also very pointed remarks about the USGA’s missteps before Erin Hills, or you can go full Kevin Na and make a video kvetching about the course where Koepka was about to shoot 16-under.

The examples are endless, and this is the hidden brilliance of the USGA. The things they do may be wrong, but they function as a bright spotlight, exposing the most sanctimonious, whine-prone players in the sport. The fact that Davis and his organization have stumbled their way from controversy to controversy for three straight years, with damage control so bad that it makes Hillary Clinton look like Chesley Sullenberger, only makes the whole situation funnier.

And while it can definitely take a human toll—the terrible greens at Chambers arguably cost Dustin Johnson the 2015 Open, and a bizarre penalty situation nearly did the same in 2016—it’s all very on brand. Here I want to make a key distinction: In order for a troll to be a troll, a troll doesn’t need to know it’s a troll. Regardless of the USGA’s intentions, they never fail to antagonise, and by doing so they illuminate the extremely selfish nature of a certain kind of golfer—the kind who flips out when things aren’t perfect.

The best part about the whole dynamic is that the players aren’t afraid to say whatever they want. It’s the kind of thing that would never happen on the PGA Tour, because as Steele pointed out last year, the USGA can’t exclude them from the tournament, and therefore has no real power. The only thing they control is the course and the rules, but my God, do they get their money’s worth!

As someone who believes that golf is not quite weird enough, I hope they never change, and I hope when the players arrive at Shinnecock next week, they find rotating greens, vanishing holes, and 12 feet of dense fescue on the tee boxes. It’s time for the USGA to embrace its inner troll—these are the days of entropy, and they are the unwitting horsemen of the golf apocalypse.

The post U.S. Open 2018: The USGA almost always gets the reaction it wants out of players appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Roger Maltbie and his wife, Donna, were in their hotel room in Napa, Calif., on Sunday night, slowly getting things in order for the ride back to their home south of San Francisco on Monday morning, when the smell from the Silverado Highlands wafted into their condo at the Silverado Resort. Roger went to check it out and saw the orange glow in the sky on the other side of the mountains. “We better start packing,” he told Donna after hustling back to the room.

At another part of the property, PGA Tour VP of rules Mark Russell was seeing, smelling and thinking the same thing. “No one had to tell me when to evacuate,” Russell said when we spoke on Monday afternoon. “I could tell it was already bad, and it was going to get a lot worse. It’s hard to believe something like that can happen so quickly. We got out of there.”

Back-to-back Safeway Open champion Brendan Steele and the tour players traveling to Malaysia for the CIMB Classic received word of the wildfires while awaiting their flights out of San Francisco International Airport. Having grown up in the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California, Steele wasn’t surprised. He had been evacuated from his hometown of Idyllwild several times due to lurking wildfires and remembers his father’s fear of them wiping out his business and home.

Conditions had changed dramatically from when the NBC on Golf Channel reporter, the tour rules official and the tournament champion walked off the North Course at Silverado Sunday afternoon, Steele a two-stroke winner over Tony Finau. The wind had begun blowing in gusts upwards of 50 miles per hour. Maltbie saw fencing blown down, garbage cans flying through the air, and flames dancing on the east side of the golf course. “I ran back in and said, It is time to go now,” Maltbie said. “We just got out of there. It was scary.”

A tent structure built for the 2017 Safeway Open burns on a golf course at the Silverado Resort and Spa. (Photo by Josh Edelson)

So scary that Donna left some of her belongings in the closet just ahead of the mass evacuation. As they made their way down Monticello Road and Silver Rock Trail, their hope was that trees wouldn’t be blown over, blocking the road. Even on Thursday, 100 miles away at their home in Los Gatos, the smell the fumes from Sunday night still lingered with them.

Through Friday, hundreds of thousands of acres around Napa, Sonoma and other areas in that region of Northern California had been burned with 31 people killed, making these the deadliest wildfire in state history.

While going through this escape route, Maltbie exchanged text messages with the host of the tournament, part owner of the resort and his good friend, Johnny Miller. On the property was the house overlooking the 10th green where Miller raised five of his six children. Johnny and his wife, Linda, had downsized to a condo at the part of the course where homes burned to the ground.

Locals look through the remnants of their mother’s home in the Silverado Community, which was burned by the Atlas Fire. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

They evacuated at 1 a.m. to Walnut Creek and learned Monday that their property didn’t sustain damage. Same, thankfully, for the house that belongs to Miller’s son Andy. Unfortunately, though, the home of his daughter, Kelly, was part of a row of houses in the Deer Hallow subdivision that didn’t make it.

“Johnny’s pretty sad,” said John Evans, the resort’s managing director. “He tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve.”

As a 21-year-old amateur, Miller finished second to Miller Barber in the 1969 Kaiser International at the resort before going on to win the event there in 1974-1975. Personally, professionally and financially (as a co-owner and renovator of the resort), he was connected to and invested in the property, which he often, ironically, boasted of having the most amazing aroma from the oak trees.

“Silverado will always be special to me,” Miller told Golf Digest in 2011. “It feels like you’re on vacation when you go home. There aren’t that many people who move to Napa and leave.”

The Silverado Mansion was sparred the fire’s wrath. (Photo by Twitter/@SilveradoResort)

According to Evans, Miller was grateful for the efforts put in to save the resort proper during that harrowing first night. For the most part, the oak trees and the buildings of the resort escaped the type of damage that faced homeowners like Miller’s daughter. By using light generators to pump water, by staying up all night and dousing trees, brush, ground cover and buildings, workers and resort managers were able to save the 130-year-old mansion that serves as the resort’s centerpiece, along with the clubhouse, spa and marketplace that were part of the resort’s renovation in 2010.

If there was a blessing in this, it’s that the wildfires didn’t happen on Saturday night, when 6,000 fans were bussed in to a Goo Goo Dolls concert on the event’s front lawn. “As bad as it was, one day earlier would have been a disaster,” said Jeff Sanders, the tournament’s executive director.

Sanders hadn’t yet seen for himself the aftermath. “I’m still waiting for the yellow tape to come down [this coming Monday],” he said. As of Thursday there still wasn’t power or water at the resort and communications were hampered by a reported 73 cellphone towers downed. The resort is targeting Oct. 27 for a re-opening.

Close to his heart, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Steele was sending positive thoughts back to Wine Country. They could certainly use them.

“It was like a war zone around there,” Maltbie said. “It was devastating.”

The post Destruction from Napa-area fire hits close to home at Silverado Resort appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we’re going to have to pace ourselves if the opening week of the PGA Tour is any indication of what we’re in store for this season. There were impressive debuts on the course, impressive performances on the stage and there was Phil (still) being Phil after all these years:

TFW you've hit 15 of 54 fairways on the week. ??#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/QU1VqEthvZ

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 8, 2017

It was quite a start — and that’s before we factor in frightening wildfires, record-breaking performances across the pond and updates on two much-talked-about comebacks. Let’s catch our breaths and break it all down.

WE’RE BUYING

Defending champs: Brendan Steele made it back-to-back wins at the PGA Tour’s Safeway Open and Tyrrell Hatton did the same at the European Tour’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Slight edge to Hatton for getting to celebrate on the Swilcan Bridge …

Well done, guys. Now if all of last season’s winners can keep this up, I might actually do well in fantasy golf this season.

Record breakers: Tommy Fleetwood and Ross Fisher didn’t win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, but what they did at two of golf’s most historic tracks will be talked about a lot more than Hatton’s victory. Fleetwood shot 63 at Carnoustie, and Fisher shot 61 at the Old Course at St. Andrews — with both scores breaking course records. By the way, Carnoustie is hosting next year’s British Open, so based on our new horses-for-courses theory, Fleetwood is basically a lock.

John Daly: Talk about life imitating art. Daly joined Gavin DeGraw on stage to pay tribute to Tom Petty by singing along to “I Won’t Back Down” on Thursday night and then birdied his final hole on Friday to shoot 69 and make his first PGA Tour cut in two-and-a-half years.

The fist pumps. ?
The smile. ?
The crowd. ????? @PGA_JohnDaly makes his first cut on the PGA TOUR since 2015. pic.twitter.com/GsLaT1G3iT

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 7, 2017

Actually, we’re buying Daly’s entire month, from presenting a sport coat to Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, to finishing runner-up at a European Senior Tour event in France, to opening a steakhouse in Arkansas. JD seems to be hitting life harder than ever at 51.

Tiger’s comeback: Tiger Woods is back! To hitting irons. “Smooth” irons, at that:

Smooth iron shots pic.twitter.com/v9XLROZnfW

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) October 7, 2017

Yeah, yeah, I’m getting suckered into another Tiger Woods comeback, but I can’t help myself.

Me: I'm done getting my hopes up for nothing
*Sees Tiger hitting full shots again*
Me: pic.twitter.com/Tup8vlrXCJ

— Golf Problems (@GolfProblems_) October 9, 2017

Tiger, if you’re going to break my heart again, just promise me you’ll do it quickly this time. Please?

WE’RE SELLING

O.J.’s comeback: On the first full day of the Juice being loose (again), Simpson was seen putting on a backyard green at the Las Vegas home he’s staying in:

We’re not knocking his effort — and at 70, he still has a few good years on the course — but his return to golf isn’t exactly great PR for the sport. Also, we’re pretty jealous of his backyard setup.

Phil’s fall policy: Remember a couple years ago when Phil Mickelson pushed for fall events in the wrap-around season to not count towards a person’s Ryder Cup point total? Well, that came back to bite him. Mickelson’s T-3 at the Safeway Open was his best finish since a runner-up at the 2016 British Open, but he’ll earn as many Ryder Cup points for his efforts as I did for sitting on the couch watching his efforts.

Unmarked golf balls: I’m not accusing anyone of taking advantage of the Rules of Golf, but every time something like this happens, it raises eyebrows and causes an uproar. At least, in the little world of Golf Twitter:

One of the worst #ProtectTheField examples I've ever seen. Finau 2 shots off the lead, ended up saving par from a plugged lie. pic.twitter.com/TsKHqHLrNK

— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) October 8, 2017

It also probably only seems like it’s happening more now because people are making a point to point it out. Regardless, now that it’s become an issue, you’d think players would be even more careful about marking their golf balls — or telling opponents to do it — just to avoid this sort of controversy.

Silly penalties: This week’s “Hey, tour pros are just like us sometimes!” honor goes to David Howell, who teed off from in front of the marker. On No. 18 at the Old Course at St. Andrews. The gaffe resulted in an embarrassing two-shot penalty on one of the most famous holes in golf.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour heads to Malaysia for the CIMB Classic, AKA that event Justin Thomas wins every year.

Random tournament fact: This snake was spotted during last year’s tournament:

Last year at the CIMB Classsssssic …

?? pic.twitter.com/SlMXfvLOqR

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 9, 2017

Players better keep their heads on a swivel …

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

— Tiger Woods will win a major this year: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds

— Phil Mickelson will win a major this year: 100-to-1 odds

— I will have nightmares about that snake: LOCK

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

State of emergency declared as three fast-moving wildfires totaling 44,000 acres burn north of Napa, California https://t.co/OZZoeBrj5l pic.twitter.com/5XURlVTw6E

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) October 9, 2017

This was taken at Silverado Resort & Spa, which was evacuated just hours after the final round of the Safeway Open concluded. Wow. We wish the best for everyone in the area.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (TOUR PRO DIVISION)

The European Tour is up to its old tricks of creating fun videos, this time, getting Edoardo Molinari to take 500 attempts at making a hole-in-one. SPOILER ALERT: He doesn’t get it done!

How many shots would it take a pro to make a hole-in-one?

We gave @DodoMolinari 500 balls, here's what happened… pic.twitter.com/AcTwKiplYp

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) October 10, 2017

If you sense excitement from me, that’s because I’m happy to see another golfer – and a really good one, at that – get frustrated by not making a hole-in-one. It also just confirms that making an ace is 99 percent luck. Thanks, European Tour.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (TOUR-PRO TALENT DIVISION)

If this is really a nun, then she has the swing of an angel:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ052MvBG1v/

Talk about a potential ringer to bring to your next member-guest!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I’m sorry, but f— cancer.” – Cristie Kerr, playing with a heavy heart, after winning the LaCoste Ladies Open de France. No need to apologize, Cristie.

THIS WEEK IN DUSTIN JOHNSON-PAULINA GRETZKY WAGS PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION ATHLETICISM

Things got dangerous at one WAG’s 30th birthday party:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaAWkcbhvRn/

There’s so much going on here in this quick clip from Ashley Perez’s (Pat Perez’s wife). First off, why was there a fake cake? Second, why were they sitting on it? And finally, was there really an official videographer for the occasion? Impressive.

THIS WEEK IN TOUR PROS MAKING US FEEL BAD WITH THEIR TRAINING

Apparently, normal crunches aren’t enough of a challenge for the LPGA’s Gaby Lopez:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ7yN5oA6ZK/

That’s some Rocky IV-level stuff, and it goes without saying that you probably shouldn’t try that at home. Then again, that would require you having a punching bag at home. And actually having the motivation to work out.

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITIES PLAYING GOLF (NON-O.J. DIVISION)

Soccer star Gareth Bale has a replica of TPC Sawgrass’ par-3 17th in his backyard:

First look at Gareth Bale's replica of the signature par three, 17th at Sawgrass in his own back garden. pic.twitter.com/acXm7YmEZJ

— GOLFNEWS (@golfnewsmag) October 2, 2017

Take that, O.J.

THIS AND THAT

Justin Thomas was officially named PGA Tour Player of the Year. It seemed like a lock, but you never know with votes these days. . . . Hunter Mahan’s T-13 at the Safeway Open was his best PGA Tour finish in more than two years. Mahan’s comeback isn’t getting quite the attention of Tiger’s (or O.J.’s), but he’s got the best chance of the three when it comes to winning this season. . . . Sergio Garcia and TaylorMade Golf are splitting up after 14 years. This one’s not quite as sad as Phil and Bones breaking up. . . . And finally, congrats to co-worker Joel Beall getting married over the weekend.

The only disappointing part of the wedding was that Jerry Rice didn’t crash it.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Why do wedding receptions go by so fast?

Why do playoff baseball games go by so slow?

Does that nun give golf lessons?

The post Tiger Woods’ latest tease, O.J. Simpson’s return to golf, a WAG’s scary b-day moment & an LPGA star’s intense workout appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.