So, he’s trying something new this week. Something different. Something he hopes will lead to an exciting new chapter of his competitive life.

The 2013 PGA Championship winner is arguably the most decorated player of the 73 competitors at this week’s LIV Golf Promotions event at Abu Dhabi Golf Club. He’s the only player with a major win, and he also has Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup experience, along with the most PGA Tour wins of anyone (5).

Now he has a chance to join the 2024 LIV Golf League if he can finish in the top three after Sunday’s 36-hole final day. It would be a considerable career U-turn for Dufner, who has spent the last 18 years playing an American-based schedule. He’s certainly embracing the possibility; otherwise, he wouldn’t be here.

“For me, it would be a new experience, obviously,” the 46-year-old Dufner said Thursday on the eve of a first round that he doesn’t need to play, thanks to a tournament invite directly into Saturday’s second round.

“At this point, maybe something new, maybe something different might refresh me a little bit. … Looking forward to the week of qualifying and seeing where I stack up.”

The decision to play in the Promotions tournament, Dufner said, is mostly related to his category status on the PGA Tour. “I’d be in the past champion category,” he explained. “I think that’s going to be very limited starts with the way things have changed on the PGA Tour, and I just looked at it like maybe I could come over and play this tour. Maybe that would be an opportunity for me.

“I’m an independent contractor, so I’m always looking for opportunities to play. … If I could come over here and have a good week, that would open up some doors for something new and something different for me to be part of LIV Golf.”

Although Dufner has competed against many of the current LIV golfers, he said he doesn’t have close relationships with any of them. But he certainly is aware of the success of the league’s biggest names, including Brooks Koepka, who has won three of the 10 PGA Championships played since Dufner’s victory at Oak Hill.

“There are great players on this tour. I know that,” he said. “I’m familiar with these guys, and when I do see these guys, they always have good things to say about this tour.”

LIV Golf’s global schedule certainly is appealing to Dufner. The 2024 regular-season schedule was recently released; of the 12 tournaments announced, seven will be held in nations outside the United States – Mexico (Mayakoba) in February, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong in March, Australia (Adelaide) in April, Singapore in May, and Spain (Andalucía) and England in July.

Dufner’s appearances outside North America have been rare in recent years, although he did play the Saudi International in 2022. He’s even played at Abu Dhabi Golf Club before, in 2013 when he tied for ninth.

“When I was in my prime for that decade or so, I played a lot around the world and I enjoyed it,” he said. “I enjoyed going to different places. I enjoyed bringing the game of golf to places.

“I think in the States, we’re spoiled because every week is almost a new event in a different location that is in the United States. But people in Hong Kong or Australia or in Abu Dhabi don’t get to see the best players in the world on a week-to-week basis, so I always thought it was important when I was one of the best players in the world to kind of go and play globally. I think that is very interesting to me that this tour kind of plays that global schedule and hits all these different spots.”

Asked what kind of form he’s in, Dufner called it “reasonably well” since the U.S. Open in June. He tied for 19th recently in Napa, California, one of his top results in recent years. Once he committed to playing LIV Golf Promotions, he’s put in proper prep time.

“I feel like we see it in all professional sports – guys that struggle or aren’t playing great,” Dufner said. “Every week is a new opportunity. I think that’s the great thing about professional golf. Things can change pretty quickly.”

If Dufner finishes inside the top 3 this week, things will definitely change quickly for him as the next chapter begins.

Main Image: Turk Pettit, Jason Dufner and Jed Morgan (l-r). LIV Golf

The post Major winner Dufner embraces opportunity for ‘new experience’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The PGA of America has announced that Dufner has pulled out of the PGA Championship. No reason was given for Dufner’s exit.

Dufner, 46, has played in 19 events on the PGA Tour this season, including at this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson. He has missed the cut in 11 of those appearances and is expected to miss the weekend at the Nelson after a 71-74. Since winning the 2013 PGA Championship Dufner has been in the tournament every year, but has missed the cut in his past five tournament starts.

Also pulling out of the PGA Championship is Martin Kaymer. The two-time major champ, who won the PGA in 2010, is playing this week in LIV Golf’s event in Tulsa. Kaymer also did not give a reason for his decision. Kaymer had not made the weekend at the PGA Championship since 2018.

Dufner and Kaymer join Vijay Singh and Davis Love III has past PGA champs to pull their name from the competition in the past two days.

Filling in for Dufner and Kaymer are David Lingmerth and Callum Tarren. Eric Cole is now the first alternate. One field spot remains open for this week’s winner of the AT&T Byron Nelson.

The post PGA Championship 2023: Two more major winners pull out of Oak Hill appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Mike Stachura
In the early weeks of the PGA Tour’s new driver testing program for the 2019-’20 season, a handful of players appear to have had drivers tested that have exceeded the speed limit. According to a story from Reuters, five tour pros at last week’s Safeway Open were found to have drivers whose spring-like effect was outside the USGA limit.

The tour’s new protocol uses the pendulum test that measures the Characteristic Time (CT) of driver faces to determine whether they flex too much. The Reuters story named five players it says are “believed” to have drivers that did not pass the test: Corey Conners, Jason Dufner, Mark Hubbard, Robert Streb and Michael Thompson.

The tour’s driver testing program grew from concerns expressed over the last year that driver faces are getting springier through use. The issue drew headlines when the R&A selectively tested drivers at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in July and several clubs were found to be over the limit, most notably that of Xander Schauffele.

Tyler Dennis, PGA Tour senior vice president and chief of operations, told Golf Digest earlier this year that the testing program is an effort to investigate whether drivers that were conforming at initial use can be worn into a nonconforming state over time.

“We really want this to be about the driver models currently being played on the PGA Tour, not the players,” Dennis said earlier this month. “We have seen evidence of some models that over time are starting to creep over the limit. The only way to understand what’s happening is to test drivers that are actually being played on tour.”

The protocol calls for random player testing to be conducted during non-competition days at unannounced tournaments. Dennis would not specify how many players would be tested at events or how many events would have testing implemented. According to the Reuters story, 30 drivers were tested in Napa.

Dennis did not immediately return a request for comment on the report of drivers failing the CT testing at the Safeway Open. A tour spokesman told Reuters the tour would not be commenting on the testing program or its results.

Under the testing protocol, drivers receive either a green light for those that measure under the CT limit of 239 microseconds, a yellow light when they measure within the CT test’s tolerance zone of 240-257 microseconds and a red light if the measurement is above 257 microseconds. The testing on the PGA Tour is conducted by representatives of the USGA.

Most insiders agree on two things with regard to the CT testing: First, there are extremely few drivers on the tour that would measure green on the CT test. Most are likely to register yellow, at least. Second, the difference in terms of distance is negligible, and that even if every driver on the tour suddenly measured green, there likely would be no effect on the driving distance average on the PGA Tour.

Driving distance on the PGA Tour was down for the 2018-’19 season by 2.2 yards in 2019 versus 2018. Through the early part of the 2019-’20 season, driving distance is 304.4 yards. That would be 10 yards longer than last year through a similar number of events, and almost 11 yards longer than 2017.

After the 2017 season, golf’s ruling bodies expressed concern about driving distance and announced a Distance Insights research project. The project’s initial report is due later this year.

The post Report: Five players have drivers fail PGA Tour’s new testing protocol at Safeway Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Matthew Rudy
Shooting two over on Sunday to fade from contention isn’t an earth-shattering development. It happens every week on the PGA Tour. But Jason Dufner’s 74 at the Wells Fargo Championship looked a lot more painful than many because of how clearly uncomfortable he is when he’s putting.

En route to a T-4 finish, six strokes behind winner Max Homa after starting the day tied with him for the lead, Dufner fidgeted and delayed and looked generally miserable on the greens all the way around Quail Hollow on Sunday, continuing a trend where lovely shot-making gets obscured by difficulties close to the hole. Dufner averaged 309 yards off the tee and hit 70 percent of his greens for the week on a major-ready course, but was -1.54 strokes gained with his putter on Sunday. His putting stats for the week, -0.3 strokes gained/putting, weren’t atrocious, but it’s hard to play with any confidence when closing out holes looks like having surgery.

The snap amateur diagnosis is that Dufner has the yips, but a group of Golf Digest top teachers say they’d adjust a few things about Dufner’s mechanics and mental approach first before calling that the problem.

“His putting stroke really doesn’t look too bad—it’s pretty pure from far away, and gets worse when he gets closer to the hole and tries to over control it,” says Stan Utley, a Golf Digest 50 Best Teacher based at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale. “I just think he needs to quit calling it putting and start thinking about it as shot-making. He has such great vision and an incredible swing when it comes time to pull of any kind of shot. He needs to be in that same frame of mind when he putts.”

RELATED: Wells Fargo champ Max Homa never gave up, even when maybe he should have

Top Georgia teacher and short-game guru Brandon Stooksbury agrees, and says the issues with Dufner’s mental approach and confidence are leaking into the mechanical side.

“People who are too mental in putting are generally trying to guide the putt down the line, and that’s what I see in Jason’s stroke,” says Stooksbury, who is based at the Idle Hour Golf & Club in Macon. “He doesn’t need to work on his stroke. He needs something to get out of the world of technique. I’d ask him to hit a lot of putts to very big targets and bring a little more ‘flow’ to his stroke. Only after he got some of that back would I add something non-technical like a gate drill for him to get the ball rolling on the start line he wanted. A string or chalk line would be a disaster for him.”

“Stuck” is a word Utley, Stooksbury and top Illinois short-game teacher Todd Sones all used to describe Dufner’s putting. Sones adds that elements of Dufner’s setup are actually physically blocking him from making a smooth stroke—which then demands an over-reliance on manipulating the putter to make his stroke work.

“I’d help him to stop squatting and get his knees in front of his shoulders,” says Sones, who runs his Impact Golf Academy outside Chicago. “It sounds funny to say, but he’s blocked, and that’s what’s making him stuck mentally. I think you could solve the setup issue in an afternoon, but it always takes some time to re-develop the self-belief all good putters have, especially when you’ve been missing putts under pressure.”

The post Jason Dufner looks like he hates putting. Here’s what some coaches would do to help him fix it appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

RELATED: Enter the 2018 Golf Digest Middle East Amateur Series today! 

I got this @Twitter thing down pic.twitter.com/gUx8XjNrez

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) August 22, 2018

But then it became painfully obvious that Mickelson’s motivation was to promote THE MATCH with Tiger Woods, who made the Thanksgiving weekend clash of golf legends official hours later. There was some awkward “banter” between the two, but even worse were some of Mickelson’s other ensuing tweets.

Good Morning .@Twitter headed to the gym for a light workout before the opening round! Can’t wait to start pic.twitter.com/HhG0USClTE

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) August 23, 2018

Up early to start round 2

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) August 24, 2018

My game, my hair, and my moves are phlowing into the weekend. PHEELING IT! pic.twitter.com/n4wx1xr9VT

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) August 24, 2018

Oh boy. History could very well end up being defined by two eras: BPT (Before Phil tweeted) and APT. Let’s hope he doesn’t ruin the latter. In the meantime, here’s what else has us talking — and potentially, Phil tweeting.

RELATED: Welcome to the Sand Trap, our answer to the Grind

WE’RE BUYING
Bryson DeChambeau: It looks like the U.S. Ryder Cup team just got a little smarter. DeChambeau would have been hard for Jim Furyk to overlook with one of his captain’s picks, but the physics major is now a lock to make the squad after winning for a second time this season at the Northern Trust. DeChambeau joined Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson as the only players to win a U.S. Amateur, an NCAA individual title and three PGA Tour titles before turning 25. Decent company.

Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour

Perhaps more importantly, Bryson cleared a pretty big hurdle by picking up his first PGA Tour title without using a protractor. And he got to throw out the first pitch at Monday night’s Yankees game:

From the @TheNTGolf to the @MLB.@B_DeChambeau threw out the the first pitch @Yankees game tonight. pic.twitter.com/PD3vQi4grg

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 27, 2018

Looks like Bryson found the proper vector to record a strike. Well done.

Brooke Henderson: With all due respect to DeChambeau’s dominant victory in New Jersey, no one had a more popular win over the weekend — or maybe all of 2018 — than Henderson, who claimed her country’s biggest event at the Canadian Women’s Open. Check out the reception the young star drew:

An emotional and exciting day in history! Fans singing ‘Oh Canada’ after @BrookeHenderson captures her 7th LPGA victory at the @cpwomensopen! pic.twitter.com/MPl2in3HqI

— LPGA (@LPGA) August 26, 2018

Remember Mike Weir struggling and never quite closing out the Canadian Open on the men’s side? This title means so much to natives of the Great White North that winning under all that pressure is probably more impressive than the major she won in 2016.

THE MATCH: Phil and Tiger (But let’s be honest, mostly, Phil) have brilliantly teased this event for months before finally making it official. Is a $9 million match between two aging stars a total money grab? Yes. But is it still worth watching (At least, the first one)? Yes. It’s Tiger vs. Phil with a LOT of money on the line. And besides, it’s been a decade since the Skins Game went away. This fills that silly season void on Thanksgiving weekend.

WE’RE SELLING
THE MATCH on Pay-per-view: I understand these guys were never going to actually risk that much of their own money, but it’s a shame this won’t be shown to the masses for free. Well, relatively free. My cable bill is a total joke. Here’s what Tiger had to say about it. “I think they can afford it and I think it will be done differently. You know, how many times have we all purchased fights, whether it’s MMA or it’s boxing, whatever it may be. We all purchase those fights.”

It’s on @PhilMickelson #TigerVSPhil pic.twitter.com/PZivYPOEf5

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) August 22, 2018

Actually, Tiger, I’ve only purchased one such fight, Mayweather-Pacquiao in 2015. Let’s just say I’m hoping for a little more bang for my buck if I plunk down the reported $25 price on THE MATCH.

Tiger’s putting: If Woods is to win THE MATCH, he’ll have to putt better than he did at the Northern Trust. Woods ranked 79th out of 80 players to make the cut in strokes gained putting, and he made just nine birdies over four rounds. That’s how many birdies apiece I’m expecting from Tiger and Phil in THE MATCH, so if the mallet magic isn’t there, it’s time for the putter to go.

Ryder Cup injuries: Just when Brandt Snedeker was drawing buzz as a potential Ryder Cup captain’s pick, he withdrew from the Northern Trust with back spasms. Although, in the media center, it was initially announced as a chest injury, something that has plagued Snedeker for more than a year. Let’s hope it’s just the back spasms, which weren’t severe enough to keep Sneds from driving himself away from Ridgewood Country Club in his courtesy BMW. Meanwhile, Rickie Fowler’s oblique injury will keep him out at least one more event. I hope Team USA hired a great trainer.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour heads to TPC Boston for the Dell Technologies Championship, the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. This is that tournament that ends on a Monday (Labor Day), and it’s also where CBS hands off coverage to NBC for the remainder of the playoffs. To CBS, well. . .

Random tournament fact: TPC Boston is actually 37 miles outside of Boston. This would be exactly like Bethpage Black being called TPC NYC.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK
— Phil Mickelson will tweet stock tips: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds
— Phil Mickelson will tweet 2nd-half over/under picks: Even odds
— There will be more golf shots shown the next few weeks: LOCK

THIS WEEK IN DUSTIN JOHNSON-PAULINA GRETZKY PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION
Paulina happened to be watching with her arms crossed as Dustin did a post-round interview with CBS’ Amanda Balionis, thus creating an instant viral WAGs moment:

“I’m not the jealous type”

A post shared by Fore Play (@foreplaypod) on Aug 26, 2018 at 4:30pm PDT

But while funny, there’s obviously nothing here, people. And Balionis squashed any notion of potential beef between the two with this smiling photo of them together the following day:

Our joint statement on a recent meme: Hi Haters ?

A post shared by Amanda Balionis (@balionis) on Aug 26, 2018 at 3:10pm PDT

At least, we think Paulina is smiling. . .

PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Speaking of PGA Tour WAGS memes, how about Jena Sims running into someone wearing a T-shirt with that viral screenshot of her smiling at Tiger Woods following the PGA Championship?

As we’ve seen with Jena’s interactions with Joe Buck after he infamously misidentified her, Brooks Koepka’s girlfriend has a great sense of humor. Also, where can I get one of those shirts?

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Padraig Harrington tried to sneak a leak during the final round of the Czech Masters and was foiled by a nosy cameraman.

Padraig Harrington vs. The Camerman ???#CzechMasters pic.twitter.com/typOyCghxF

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) August 26, 2018

Poor Paddy. That may have cost him the title. Although, the eventual winner, Andrea Pavan, caused a fun video as well when his diminutive caddie leapt into his arms in celebration:

Congratulations @AndreaPavan89!

Winner of the D+D Real Czech Masters ? pic.twitter.com/7Il23t4wbh

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) August 26, 2018

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (WILDLIFE DIVISION)
There was nothing sly about this fox that stole a golfer’s ball on a course in Massachusetts:

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (TRICK-SHOT DIVISION)
We’ve all seen Phil Mickelson’s close-range flop shots over people, but this dude took the trick to another level by only using one hand:

Trust exercise #wow #CGBgolf #notit @golf_gods @anaismeyssonnier

A post shared by Colorado Golf Blog “CGB” (@coloradogolfblog) on Aug 24, 2018 at 4:06pm PDT

Perhaps, this could be one of those side bets during THE MATCH?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Oh, it is.” — Phil Mickelson in response to a fan shouting “That’s gotta be better than Tiger’s” while his shot was in the air. This is peak Phil right here:

Dialed. In.@PhilMickelson is feeling it early @TheNTGolf. #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/PsCZuXKY8B

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 25, 2018

And exactly the kind of shenanigans we’re hoping for during THE MATCH.

THIS WEEK IN TOUR PROS ARE JUST LIKE US!
A struggling Tyrrell Hatton went to a New Jersey Golf Galaxy after his Saturday round at Ridgewood and bought a putter.

Well that’s the best $172 I’ve ever spent ???
Was so nice to hole some putts again today, new putter worked it’s magic!
-7 64 to finish the week ??
Onto Boston! pic.twitter.com/PrTNv74bsw

— Tyrrell Hatton (@TyrrellHatton) August 26, 2018

Hatton moved up 40 spots on the leader board on Sunday to T-20 and earned $101,160. Money well spent, indeed.

THIS AND THAT
Jason Dufner wound up being this week’s FedEx Cup Playoffs bubble boy in a good way by finishing No. 100 to extend his season. There were no Getty Images of Dufner from this week, but we’re guessing his reaction to this news looked something like this:

Kevin C. Cox

A recreational golfer was turned away from a golf course in England because of the color of his. . . socks. And we wonder why golf gets a stuffy reputation sometimes. . . . A report informing Scotland it should stop advertising its golf came to light last week. We’re wondering if the same company would recommend Las Vegas not advertising its casinos any more. . . . And finally, the Golf Digest squad of Joel Beall, Christopher Powers, Stephen Hennessey, and myself won a media outing previewing the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in dominating fashion:

Although, even playing a shamble, we barely broke par. That course is a beast. Still riding high from the victory, I wore this Hawaiian shirt to the office the following day and it set off the most heated style debate since Phil Mickelson showed up to the Masters looking like he was attending a shareholder’s meeting.

As Phil and I now know, being a trendsetter is tough. Also, I blame all those Magnum P.I. commercials on CBS during golf.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER
What will be the winning score at Bethpage Black next year?
What will be the wining score of THE MATCH?
Should I reconsider this Hawaiian shirt?

The post Phil Mickelson joins Twitter, Bryson DeChambeau (probably) joins the Ryder Cup, and a WAGs meme goes viral appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

These guys aren’t among the favourites this week at Carnoustie, but under the right circumstances, they could all find themselves in contention come Sunday. Don’t believe us? Two years ago we had Henrik Stenson on this list and, well, that worked out pretty well, didn’t it?!? Then last year, Matt Kuchar was on this list, and if not for Jordan Spieth’s out-of-his-mind finish, we would have been two-for-two. So, if you’re looking to round out your British Open fantasy lineup, you could do worse than picking among these tour pros.

Paul Casey
The Englishman finished T-11 last year at Birkdale, his best Open finish since a solo third at St. Andrews in 2010, and his 2018 season has been impressive even with the disappointment of not closing out a big lead at the Travelers Championship last month. Casey still has a win (Valspar) and five top-10s to fall back on, and he’s ranked fourth in strokes-gained/total on the PGA Tour. Add in the fact that the Open is friendly to 40-somethings, and this 40-year-old has a reasonable shot at finally getting his first major.

Jason Dufner
Dufner’s reverence for Ben Hogan is well-documented, and so he knows all about Carnoustie and its place in Hogan’s journey. Dufner has made the cut in his last six Open starts with his T-14 last year at Birkdale being his best finish. A T-5 at the Players and T-25 at the U.S. Open offers more glimmers of hope on this flyer.

Tony Finau
He has two top-10s in majors already this year (T-10 at Augusta, solo fifth at Shinnecock), and has missed just two cuts in nine career major starts, neither coming in his two previous British Open appearances. His record this season overall is similarly solid and consistent. He’s missed one cut since March and finished outside the top 25 only once in that same time. If he gets on a roll, he could overpower Carnoustie with his length.

Zach Johnson
Consistency, thy name is ZJ. In 18 PGA Tour starts this season, the two-time major winner has missed one cut and finished between 10th and 40th a total of 11 times. He hasn’t necessarily been in contention for any titles, but his game is always in good shape, and his British Open track record makes him an attractive pick. In the last seven Open starts, he is T-16, T-9, T-6, T-47, Win, T-12, T-14.

Marc Leishman
Three of the last four years Leishman has finished in the top six at the Open Championship, including a T-6 last year at Birkdale. It’s an impressive showing that combined with his solid 2018 season—two runner-ups and six top-10 finishes in 18 starts—makes the 34-year-old Australian an attractive Carnoustie choice.

Hideki Matsuyama
Remember when Matsuyama’s break-through major was right around the corner? Well, it still is. Just because he isn’t quite as sizzling hot as he was the last two years doesn’t mean he’s not playing well. He’s missed just one cut this season and hasn’t finished outside the top 20 in his last three starts. His Open record is also pretty good: five starts, three top-20s including a T-6 in 2013.

Phil Mickelson
Exactly where his head’s at right now is unclear, but if there’s anyone who can find a way to collect himself when everything around him seems to be in chaos, it’s Lefty. The most concerning thing about Mickelson when thinking about his Carnoustie chances is that since his mano-a-mano duel with Henrik Stenson at Troon in 2016, Mickelson’s best major finish is a T-22. Still, he’s played well this season up to Shinnecock and there’s no better way to silence his critics than to jump on to a major leaderboard.

Francesco Molinari
The 35-year-old Italian has always been considered a nice little player with the potential to break out under the right circumstances. Perhaps those right circumstances have finally arrived: a Ryder Cup year and a dominant win at the Quicken Loans National has his mind clear and his game in gear. He’s never played majors incredibly well—three top-10s in 36 starts—but there’s no real reason he can’t start now.

Kevin Na
If you believe in riding a hot hand, then Na is a good choice. There’s not just the win at Greenbrier, but a T-6 at the Byron Nelson and a fourth at Colonial. He didn’t play in either of the year’s first two majors, the first two he’s missed since the Masters 2014. He hasn’t missed a British Open cut in the last four years, although his best finish is just a T-22. Says here his current form allows him to play well in Scotland.

Alex Noren
His 10 European Tour victories, including last month’s French Open win, has Noren at 14th in the world, yet the 35-year-old Swede’s track record in majors (five missed cuts in 10 starts since 2015) still scares people off. A T-6 at Birkdale suggests the British Open might be more to his liking, and at some point, he’s too talented not to start playing better in the majors (see Patrick Reed).

Louis Oosthuizen
The 35-year-old South African missed consecutive cuts in May, the first time he’s done that on tour since 2016. But he’s played well since, and finished T-12 and T-16 in the year’s two majors. Oosty’s British Open magic has slowed of late—he’s missed the cut the last two years—but they’re his only two missed cuts in majors since 2013. He always seems to be in the mix in big events, and there’s no reason not to think he’ll do the same at Carnoustie.

The post 11 Sneaky The Open Picks appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Tiger Woods has officially committed to playing the 2018 Memorial, according to tournament organisers.

Following back-to-back tournaments at the Wells Fargo Championship and Players Championship, it was widely assumed Woods would make one more appearance before this year’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, with Muirfield Village serving as the most likely stop. Woods has won the Columbus tournament five times in his career, his most recent victory in 2012. He last played in the event in 2015, when he infamously shot an 85 during his third round.

Woods will likely skip the FedEx St. Jude Classic (he’s never played in the Memphis tournament), which sites between the Memorial and U.S. Open. This will give Woods a week of recovery before traveling to Southampton for the year’s second major.

In his latest comeback, Woods has posted four top-12 finishes in his last six events, and ranks eighth in strokes gained on tour.

The Memorial begins on May 31. Jason Dufner is the defending champ.

WATCH: GOLF DIGEST VIDEOS

The post Tiger Woods has officially committed to playing the 2018 Memorial appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
Jason Dufner’s putting down the stretch at the Players Championship had golf fans across the country cringing. The five-time PGA Tour winner three-putted 16 and 18, and wasted a beautiful tee shot to seven feet on the treacherous 17th. But it was the final hole that really stood out as Dufner stood over a three-foot par putt for an interminable amount of time before another miss.

That putt alone cost Dufner $308,000 as he slipped from T-2 to T-5. On Monday, however, he chose not to focus on his shaky final holes when firing back at those critical of his putting.

Everybody wants to talk about the 3 feet I missed on the last hole, but nobody wants to talk about the 270feet made that had put me in that position. #movingonwithlife

— Jason Dufner (@JasonDufner) May 14, 2018

And he didn’t seem too broken up about only walking away from TPC Sawgrass with a $418,000 payday.

Everybody also wants to talk about the money thing.. I won’t miss it, bc it was never mine… we earn our money each and every week, nothing is given to us until that final hole is completed. #momoneymoproblems

— Jason Dufner (@JasonDufner) May 14, 2018

Both are fair points. And a deeper dive into the stats proves that Dufner actually had a great week on the greens. No, Seriously.

For the tournament, Dufner had a strokes gained/putting of +7.455 (+1.864 per round), which ranked No. 3 in the field at TPC Sawgrass. That was helped by an absurd +4.978 on Saturday as Dufner climbed the leader board with a 66. Not surprisingly, Webb Simpson led the way in SGP for the week at +2.342, gaining more than nine strokes on the field over the course of four rounds.

But what about Dufner’s final round? That had to be a brutal number, right? Not exactly. Dufner posted a -0.026 on Sunday, placing him just below average.

Overall, Dufner’s putting performance at the Players puts him at a respectable +.324 SGP for the season. That ranks him 49th, which would be by far the best ranking of his career in that stat. Always known as a great ball-striker, putting has actually been the best part of Dufner’s game with strokes gained/off-the-tee and strokes gained/approach-the-green ranks of 64th and 82nd, respectively.

In other words, Dufner has been putting for dough this year. And even with those late misses on Sunday, some pretty serious dough at that.

The post Jason Dufner fires back at critics of his putting, makes a terrific point appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
They say there is no cheering in the press box, but how about agonizing? Is it written anywhere in the rules of sports writing if we’re allowed to agonize for a competitor?

Well, acceptable or not, we were agonizing for Jason Dufner on Sunday at the Players. The man who has spent all season rocking the coolest hat collection on the PGA Tour had his impressive ball-striking on full display at TPC Sawgrass. But his struggles over short putts had us covering our eyes like we were watching a Friday the 13th movie.

Despite fighting a balky putter, Dufner still had it going on Sunday, making six birdies offset by one bogey through 17 holes to sit at 14 under par and tied for second place. And he put himself in position for a solo second when he hit his approach on the par-4 home hole to just inside 17 feet. However, his birdie try slid three feet by the hole, leaving him the ticklish kind of putt that we’d been agonizing over with him all day.

Sure enough, he missed that one for par, settling for a bogey to fall into a tie for fifth place.

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Jason, if you’re reading the rest of this you might want to turn your phone off now, because we crunched the numbers to find out just how, well, agonizing the three-putt on 18 turned out to be.

If Dufner makes the birdie and finishes solo second, he wins $1.188 million and earns 330 FedEx Cup points. Instead, he walked away with $418,000 and 115 FedEx Cup points.

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The good news? Dufner’s 115 FedEx Cup points boosted him to 54th on the points list. The bad news? Had he gotten the extra 215 points with the birdie he could have jumped as high as 30th.

There were also Ryder Cup ramifications for Dufner. Every $1,000 earned in the Players gets you one Ryder Cup point, so Dufner walked off with 418 Ryder Cup points but had he made the birdie would have earned 1,188, which would have moved him inside the top 15.

Oh, and one other thing: If Dufner made the par putt, he would have earned $726,000 for making it a four-way tie for second. So, the first miss—from 17 feet so no gimmie, obviously—cost him $462,000. And the second miss, from three feet, cost him another $308,000.

The post Jason Dufner’s Sunday 18th hole three-putt cost him … gulp … $770,000 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By E. Michael Johnson
In team golf, the short game usually plays a huge role in either establishing or keeping momentum and that held true for Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy in winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. After riding the momentum provided by Scott Piercy’s opening-hole hole out Saturday, Billy Horschel hit a solid wedge shot on the 10th to tap-in birdie range and then a key pitch shot on the 11th to kick-in territory for another birdie to put them in position to win the title. A solid eight-foot par save putt by Horschel on the 17th helped maintain their one-stroke cushion over Jason Dufner and Pat Perez.

Piercy’s wedges are Titleist Vokey SM6 for his gap and sand wedge and a TVD 63-degree lob wedge. TVD stands for “Tour Van Design,” as many of the shape’s are derived directly from tour player feedback and done on site at tour events. Typically the TVD shape is lower in the heel area with a more rounded toe.

Horschel’s wedges are PXG’s milled 0311T model with his 52- and 57-degree wedges featuring the Sugar Daddy sole. The sole, inspired by Lydia Ko, has a moderate initial bounce angle with a blended sole design. His 61-degree boasts the Zulu sole, which is based on Zach Johnson’s specs. It features a bounce just off the leading edge with plenty of heel and toe relief and is designed to be used off firm, tight turf such as that seen nearly weekly on the PGA Tour. Also of note is that Horschel is using a prototype PXG driver and the company’s new 0311T Gen2 irons

The equipment used by Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Billy Horschel

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Driver: PXG XXF, (Fujikura Speeder 661 Evolution 4), 10.5 degrees
3-wood: PXG 0341X, 15 degrees
5-wood: PXG 0341, 18 degrees
Irons (3, 5-PW): PXG 0311T Gen2
Wedges: PXG 0311T Sugar Daddy (52, 57 degrees); PXG 0311T Zulu Raw (61 degrees)
Putter: PXG Mustang

Scott Piercy
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: Titleist 917D2 (Accra Tour Z), 8.5 degrees
3-wood: Titleist 917F2, 16.5 degrees
Hybrid: Titleist 816H1, 21 degrees
Irons (4): Titleist 716 AP2; (5-9): Titleist 680; (PW): Titleist Vokey SM6
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM6 (53, 57 degrees); Titleist TVD (63 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron T2

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