Things are different in Los Angeles. The weather, the food, the lifestyle. Heck, even the sidewalks are bedazzled. So you may think you know the US Open, but the truth is you don’t know Jack (he’s the guy sitting courtside at the Lakers game). Don’t worry, though, we’re here to help, breaking down all the West Coast wordplay at this year’s tournament. Just memorise your lines and you’ll be speaking like a native Californian (if there is such a thing) in no time.

Kale cleanse — An up—and—down from the rough
Traffic on the 405 — A backup on the tee box
Walk of Fame — The leader’s stroll up the 18th fairway on Sunday
Barranca — A really fancy ditch
Marine Layer — Really fancy fog
Nip-tuck — The LACC restoration
“Avocado Toast!” — What the idiots yell instead of “Mashed Potatoes!”
Red Carpet — Burnt greens
Box-Office Flop — A perfect flop shot from just off the green
An Anthony Davis — A WD with injury
The Real Housewives of Orange County — Rickie Fowler’s fan club

Four birdies in a row for @RickieFowler. ????

He's -6 on the day. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/qzLZz8aomz

— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 15, 2023

Mulholland Drive — A high, arching tee shot into the wind
Hollywood Bowl — A long birdie bomb
Ensemble Cast — A stacked Sunday leaderboard

The post A very LA US Open glossary appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
Between his acting and producing credits, Mark Wahlberg has one of the most extensive résumés in Hollywood. But beyond the box office blockbusters and award nominations, we’ve long been more impressed by one thing: his backyard golf setup.

The avid (speed) golfer has a five-hole setup that will make your jaw drop more than any scene in “The Departed.” Have a look:

Anthony Barcelo

 

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A post shared by Mark Wahlberg (@markwahlberg)

Yeah, yeah, so what if it’s artificial turf? That makes it easier to maintain. Which gives you even more time to practice. Plus, you think Mark Wahlberg has just any artificial turf? That stuff was probably made by a team at NASA.

Anyway, Wahlberg has put his incredible backyard/turf up for sale. And it can be yours for $87.5 million. The price is a bit steep, but think about how much better your short game will be! Oh, you also get Wahlberg’s house:

Anthony Barcelo

Decent little spread, huh? According to the L.A. Times, it’s 30,500 square feet and includes 12 bedrooms, 20 bathrooms, a full fitness centre, wine cellar, and, of course, a movie theatre to watch your favourite Mark Wahlberg flicks. The six-acre property also features a skate park, grotto, and basketball court (that Boston Celtics logo might be a dealbreaker, though).

We just wonder why in the world Wahlberg would ever sell this amazing property—especially after turning 50. Seems like the perfect place to live if you’re going to make a run at the senior tour.

The post Mark Wahlberg’s incredible backyard golf course (oh, and his house) can be yours for a cool $87.5 million appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
Los Angeles calls itself the entertainment capital of the world, Hooray for Hollywood and all that jazz, though sports in this melange of lights, camera, action has always been hit or miss.

A city of four million in a county of 10 million, for instance, loves its Dodgers but went without an NFL team for 20 years and responded with a collective whatevs.

This is the landscape the LPGA is re-entering this week with the inaugural HUGEL-JTBC LA Open. It will be played in the heart of Hollywood, at Wilshire Country Club, less than a mile from Paramount Studios, the famous Hollywood sign visible in the distance, parking at the Hollywood Bowl.

There’s no business like show business, so they say.

The question is, based on past performance, whether the LPGA has no business returning to a region in which it has never been able to establish traction. We posed it to Los Angeles’ resident LPGA expert, World Golf Hall of Famer Amy Alcott, a native of Santa Monica.

“From my experience in close to 40 years of playing the tour,” she said Tuesday, “I always found that it was the small cities — Corning, New York, Rochester, New York, Birmingham, Alabama, Dubuque, Iowa — those are the cities that have smaller populations where the LPGA becomes the biggest show in town.

“When it’s not the biggest show in town, New York or Los Angeles, where there’s so much going on, it becomes a little different animal. It’s not that it can’t thrive and be amazing. But a lot of it is promotion and just getting the golf people [in the area] behind it.”

The last time the LPGA came to what is called the Southland (incorporating Los Angeles and Orange counties) was seven years ago when the Kia Classic was played one time at Industry Hills in the City of Industry. Before that is was 2005, the last year of a five-year run of the Office Depot Championship, this one at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes.

The previous three were hosted by Amy Alcott at El Caballero CC in Tarzana. “Out at El Cab we drew very well,” Alcott said. “The last year of the contract, out at Trump National, it didn’t draw very well at all.”

That has often been the case since the first LPGA event, the Los Angeles Open, was played in 1955 at Inglewood Country Club (which no longer exists).

Since then, the LPGA has had tournaments in Whittier, Montebello, Buena Park, Pasadena, Calabasas, Los Angeles (Rancho Park GC), Costa Mesa, Simi Valley and Glendale, four years its longest run in any one place.

Now for the optimism on the eve of the inaugural HUGEL-JTBC LA Open. “I have no doubt this tournament will be successful with this sponsor and where it’s located,” Alcott said.

The two sponsors are Korean companies and Wilshire CC is adjacent to Los Angeles’ Koreatown. Moreover, the Southland has the largest population of Asian-Americans in the United States, 10 of the top 21 players in the Rolex Rankings are Korean, and 13 of the top 21 are from Asian countries, including the No. 1-ranked player, Shanshan Feng of China.

The LPGA is returning at the right time in the right place, in more than one way the right place. One of the sponsors, HUGEL, produces Botox, among other beauty products, and intends to expand into U.S. markets.

Could there be a better place to market Botox than on Los Angeles’ west side that includes Hollywood and Beverly Hills?

The post LPGA goes Hollywood in bid to finally crack the code for success in Los Angeles appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.