Drake Archives - Golf Digest Middle East https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/tag/drake/ Golf Instruction, Equipment, Courses, Travel, News Wed, 26 Jun 2019 05:42:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.2 https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/gd-favicon.ico Drake Archives - Golf Digest Middle East https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/tag/drake/ 32 32 An epic victory celebration, Michelle Wie’s tearful goodbye(?), and a caddie blasts his former boss https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/an-epic-victory-celebration-michelle-wies-tearful-goodbye-and-a-caddie-blasts-his-former-boss/ https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/an-epic-victory-celebration-michelle-wies-tearful-goodbye-and-a-caddie-blasts-his-former-boss/#respond Fri, 28 Jun 2019 07:00:26 +0000 https://golfdigestme.com/?p=27321 Welcome to another edition of The Grind where we almost got killed at the Travelers Championship last week. An American golfer who shall remain nameless nearly drilled me with a drive on No. 15.

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]]> By Alex Myers

Welcome to another edition of The Grind where we almost got killed at the Travelers Championship last week. An American golfer who shall remain nameless nearly drilled me with a drive on No. 15. He shall remain nameless because he was only concerned with his lie as he walked right by me and a few others to get to his ball. Meanwhile, European golfers continue to display better manners in these situations. A week after Henrik Stenson laid down on the ground to pose for a selfie with a fan he plunked, Jordan Smith bought his victim (multiple) drinks at the BMW International Open:

What’s next, dinner and a movie? Seriously, fans might start trying to get hit by these guys. Anyway, kudos to Smith, Stenson, and others who actually care about the well-being of us little people in the galleries—or, at least yell “Fore!” when they hit an errant shot. And it’s good to know karma exists because of the player in question. . . never mind. He had a good week. Karma is officially dead, but The Grind lives on! Let’s dive into everything else happening in golf.

WE’RE BUYING

Chez Reavie: Is this the dawn of the Chez Reavie Era?! Probably not, but no one should be shocked by Reavie’s Travelers Championship triumph after his T-3 performance at Pebble Beach the previous week. I just hope the guy who bet on Chez to win the U.S. Open bet on him this past week.

Rob Carr/Getty Images

And rejoice, short hitters! His average swing speed is only. . . 108! OK, that’s still a lot faster than mine. . . The diminutive Reavie is never going to overpower a golf course like the typical tour winner, but he has always been one of the best iron players in the game. The most puzzling part of his second PGA Tour title is how long he waited for it. First Tiger snaps an 11-year drought in the majors and now Chez ends his 11-year drought in non-majors. What a time to be alive!

Zack Sucher: This was the rare week on the PGA Tour where you could declare two winners. Sure, Sucher blew a five-shot lead on Saturday in stunning fashion, but his rally to finish T-2 was awfully impressive—and important. Consider that in six years as a pro he had earned about $850,000 and had needed “to take out some credit cards” during a seven-month stretch two years ago in which he made no money. Well, he earned $633,600 on Sunday. “It’s life-changing, to be honest,” Sucher said.

Hannah Green: Also life-changing? How about the 114th-ranked player in the world going wire to wire? In a major? Congrats to this Australian for doing just that, instantly becoming one of the more surprising major champs in golf history. What’s even more surprising is how calm she remained throughout.

Can you imagine Brooks Koepka doing that? Better yet, how about Tiger Woods in his prime? That is wild. Of course, considering the pace of play issues during the event, Green could have read a novella between holes.

Andrea Pavan: There was some shaky play from both Pavan and Matthew Fitzpatrick during their playoff at the BMW International Open, but the 30-year-old Italian finished in spectacular fashion with a winning birdie. Even better was his celebration (Check out the 27-second mark) with caddie Alejandro Molina.

So good. Reminiscent of Yogi Berra jumping into Don Larsen’s arms. And this isn’t Molina’s first epic celebration:

Also, this dude has some serious soccer skills:

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByF9uFsH59K/?utm_source=ig_embed

OK, so we’re buying Molina as much as Pavan. That guy is awesome.

WE’RE SELLING

Brooks Koepka in non-majors: It was good of Koepka to keep his commitment, but seriously, why bother showing up? Koepka couldn’t have looked more disinterested to be playing at the Travelers and you can’t blame him. That has nothing to do with the tournament itself, but to tee it up at TPC River Highlands just four days after nearly winning the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach? And after a long cross-country flight?

Michelle Wie’s career: Sadly, we’re getting to the point of there being no point for Michelle Wie to show up at any tournament—and she knows it. “I’m not entirely sure how much more I have left in me, so even on the bad days, I’m just like trying to take time to enjoy it. But it’s tough,” said an emotional Wie after shooting an opening 84 at the KPMG PGA Championship. To Wie’s credit, she didn’t WD and spoke to the media the following day after an 82. If this is the end of the road (and hopefully, it’s not), Wie has been a pleasure to watch. Well, not during the table-top putting phase, but you get the point.

Matthew Wolff’s pro debut: From the winding down of one phenom’s career to the start of another, I drove up to the Travelers Championship on Thursday specifically to see what was being billed as an important moment in golf history. Apparently, I was the only one. Let’s just say there wasn’t much of a buzz for the pro debut of this DISRUPTOR, but the Wolfpack will certainly grow.

And Wolff will continue to improve, although a T-80 by the 20-year-old doesn’t sound so bad when you consider that a 20-year-old Tiger finished T-60 in his pro debut in 1996. . .

Holey Moley: I hate to pile on Stephen Curry after he had a tough NBA Finals in which his Golden State dynasty crumbled before our very eyes, but. . . wow, was this bad. Not that we should be too surprised considering most thought the show’s announcement was an April Fool’s joke. But. . . I mean. . .

Poor Kenny G. I didn’t think his career could dip any lower than appearing in that Valentine’s Day video for Kanye and Kim. I was wrong.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour heads to Detroit for the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic, AKA that event funded by Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert that replaced the Quicken Loans National on the schedule. Gilbert founded Quicken Loans AND Rocket Mortgage (among other things). He has a lot more money than you do.

Random tournament fact: The tournament will be played at Detroit Golf Club and Rickie Rocket Mortgage Fowler is in the field. And. . . that’s pretty much all we know at this point.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Back to Andrea and Alejandro:

That’s nice to see, especially on a day where Matt Wallace came under fire for berating his caddie during the final round.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Bubba Watson’s son Caleb nearly ended Brandt Snedeker’s season (and ability to have kids) with this line drive:

Kid’s got some pop.

ARCHIVE VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

How about this compilation of Gary Woodland high school basketball highlights set to the “Rudy” theme song?

https://twitter.com/CoreyRHolloway/status/1140720163211210752

Impressive! Then again, even my high school basketball highlights would seem a lot better accompanied by the “Rudy” theme song.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Boom. Roasted. Of course, Vijay has always had the rep as a caddie killer, but Kip added a little more about the experience:

Fair enough.

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS

How about Drake hitting the links? We think. . .

https://www.instagram.com/p/By5icbWgioH/?utm_source=ig_embed

Rory McIlroy’s “Two Gloves Aubrey” comment was classic. And then there’s Dylan Windler, the Cleveland Cavaliers first-round pick out of Belmont who also maintains a one-handicap and practices trick shots in his spare time from shooting jump-shots.

Have a good rookie season, Dylan, and who knows? You could earn a sponsor exemption from Dan Gilbert into next year’s Rocket Mortgage Classic.

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

While Brooks followed up a stressful week at Pebble Beach by playing in another tournament, Dustin and Paulina went to the Bahamas:

Advantage: Dustin.

THIS WEEK IN PHIL BEING PHIL

Introducing the first “Phireside with Phil”:

Please let this be a weekly thing.

THIS AND THAT

If you haven’t read Joel Beall’s (latest) great piece on Max Roberts, a high schooler who went from being homeless to state champ, check it out. What a story. . . . Jay Bilas mentioned Louis Oosthuizen multiple times during the NBA Draft. Jay Bilas is officially the world’s biggest Louis O fan. . . . With the British Open heading to Northern Ireland, NBC Sports commissioned a flute version of Yanni’s classic “In Celebration of Man” theme. It’s a nice little touch, but nothing tops the original. Not even the “Rudy” theme song. . . . And finally, we celebrated Father’s Day a week late in my house (Thanks, USGA!) and the highlight was waking up to this delicious bacon-and-egg on a bagel:

Well, other than spending quality time with my wife and daughter, of course. But yeah. . . that breakfast sandwich. . . mmm. . .

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Who is the most difficult tour pro to caddie for?

Should I wear a helmet to the next event I cover?

How much leftover bacon is in the fridge?

 

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]]> https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/an-epic-victory-celebration-michelle-wies-tearful-goodbye-and-a-caddie-blasts-his-former-boss/feed/ 0 15 Things You Need To Know About Justin Thomas https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/15-things-need-know-justin-thomas/ https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/15-things-need-know-justin-thomas/#respond Tue, 15 Aug 2017 14:53:34 +0000 http://golfdigestme.com/?p=8732 How familiar are you with 2017 PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas?

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]]> By Stephen Hennessey
How familiar are you with 2017 PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas? You’ve probably heard hundreds of times how he’s friends with Jordan Spieth. And how competitive they are with each other (which is true).

But here are a few other things you need to know about the 24-year-old rising star, and the favourite for the 2017 PGA Tour Player of the Year:

Getty Images

Justin Thomas has been dreaming of making it on the PGA Tour since attending, at age 7, Tiger Woods’ win in the 2000 PGA at Valhalla.

JT has a VHS tape of the tournament, which he estimates he’s watched 50 times, motivating the Louisville native to put in the work to one day make it to the same stage.

Add Justin’s win at the PGA Championship to the long line of champions with strong PGA of America ties.

Justin grew up in Kentucky, playing a lot of golf with his father, Mike, being the club pro at Harmony Landing outside Louisville. And Justin’s grandpa, Paul, was also a club pro, serving in Zanesville, Ohio. Paul was a good enough player to play in the 1962 U.S. Open at Oakmont.

The 2017 PGA Championship winner would spend most days in the summer picking the range and hitting shots as his father worked.

At the end of the day, he and his dad would play for dollars as a kid after he was done picking the range, and it got competitive: “We would play for a dollar, and it was pretty heated out there. And I’m a pretty sore loser, so I did not handle it well when I lost and had to give up a dollar,” he said.

Sam Greenwood

Though he hasn’t been on a Ryder Cup team yet, Justin Thomas celebrated the 2008 victory at Valhalla with some VIP access.

One of Thomas’ favourite memories is high-fiving Phil Mickelson behind the 17th green when J.B. Holmes clinched the winning point for the U.S. team at Valhalla. With his father being on the PGA of America board that week, Thomas got to hang out with all the players that week.

Getty Images

Thomas’ win at Quail Hollow might’ve clinched the 2017 Player of the Year title.

This season was already stellar — with three PGA Tour victories, including a 59 in his win at the Sony Open, and a (then) record-tying 63 at the U.S. Open at Erin Hills. The PGA Championship victory gives him the most wins out of all major winners this year.

Photo by Walter Iooss Jr.

At 145 pounds (66kg), Justin Thomas is one of the biggest hitters on tour, pound for pound.

It’s actually insane how far JT hits it, given his size. Thomas ranked first in driving distance at Quail Hollow (328 yards off the tee) and ranks seventh on the PGA Tour this year (310 yards, 10 yards more than the tour average).

He had one of the most impressive collegiate resumes in recent memory.

As a freshman at Alabama, Thomas won the Haskins Award as the nation’s top golfer in 2012. He turned pro after his sophomore year, in which the Crimson Tide won the 2013 NCAA Championship and earned his PGA Tour card after a strong 2014 on the Web.com Tour.

Thomas is roommates with fellow Alabama golfer and PGA Tour player Bud Cauley in Jupiter, Fla.

Their prize possession is a custom, crimson-colored pool table with a Bama logo. Along with so many other tour pros, Thomas and Cauley reside and practice in Jupiter, where they’re both members of Medalist G.C. and The Bear’s Club.

You may or may not have heard, but Justin is buddies with Jordan Spieth.

Since they competed at the Evian Junior Masters in France when they were 14 and 13 (above), they’ve been buddies. Thomas told Golf Digest in 2014: “I don’t think him and I really sit back and reflect on what we’ve accomplished too much, but I probably do more than Jordan does,” Thomas said. “And it’s pretty cool. It’s crazy to think where our careers are gonna end up and how long we’ll be competing on the same level.”

RELATED: My Shot: Justin Thomas goes deep on Alabama football, Nick Saban’s chipping, and putting games with Jordan Spieth

 

The Spring Break boys now have four major wins with Thomas’ win.

And victories in the final two majors of the year, with Spieth winning his third at The Open, and Thomas taking home the title at Quail Hollow. Spieth’s no longer the only #SB2K16/17 bro with a major win.

When you realize Christmas is only 2 days away…

A post shared by Justin Thomas (@justinthomas34) on

Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler made back-to-back holes-in-one at the 2016 Masters Par-3 Contest.

Paired with Spieth, the trio shared a moment they’ll never forget.

Thomas made sure his girlfriend, Jillian Wisniewski, was at Quail Hollow to see his first major win.

Though we usually don’t get too much inside info about his girl on social media, we found out Thomas didn’t want Jillian to miss his big win: “My girlfriend was supposed to fly out [of North Carolina] at about 7:00 and I was like, ‘You need to change your flight to later, because I don’t know, I just feel like I don’t want you to miss this, I feel like I’m going to get it done,” he said after.

You can always find cool stampings on Thomas’ wedges.

Usually, Thomas’ wedges are stamped with “RADAR,” describing his spot-on wedge play. But as seen above, he’ll mix in the occasional hip-hop lyric, such as these from 2015, with Lil’ Wayne, Rick Ross and Drake songs.

The family is very tight-knit: Justin’s mom regularly travels with him on tour—even hanging with him and his friends and going out to dinner with them.

During Thomas’ rookie season, his mom, Jani, would regularly go out to dinner with Thomas’ friends at night. And if you’re at a tour event in which Thomas is playing, you can expect to see her around the grounds each week.

Stuart Franklin

–His father, Mike, has a frame of the golf balls from special moments in Justin’s career.

Moments from this year include Thomas’ record-tying 63 in the third round at Erin Hills, and the 59 at the Sony Open. We’re quite confident at least one ball from Quail Hollow (above) will make it to the display.

 

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