Long Drive Championship Archives - Golf Digest Middle East https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/tag/long-drive-championship/ Golf Instruction, Equipment, Courses, Travel, News Wed, 25 Oct 2023 08:39:46 +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 Long Drive Championship Archives - Golf Digest Middle East https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/tag/long-drive-championship/ 32 32 Kyle Berkshire wins a third World Long Drive Championship — by an incredibly small margin https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/kyle-berkshire-wins-a-third-world-long-drive-championship-by-an-incredibly-small-margin/ https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/kyle-berkshire-wins-a-third-world-long-drive-championship-by-an-incredibly-small-margin/#respond Wed, 25 Oct 2023 06:39:26 +0000 https://golfdigestme.com/?p=72313 There was a lot to take in with the biggest drivers

The post Kyle Berkshire wins a third World Long Drive Championship — by an incredibly small margin appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

]]> The sport of long drive doesn’t usually bring to mind the phrase: “It’s a game of inches,” but that’s exactly what it turned out to be for Kyle Berkshire on Sunday. Twice.

The long-haired bomber won a third career World Long Drive Championship, and this time he did it by the smallest of margins.

Berkshire’s best effort of 398 yards in the finals was good enough to defeat Sean Johnson by one yard. And in the quarter-final, his sixth and final attempt barely stayed in the grid to produce a 432-yard poke that allowed him to advance past Justin James.

“I knew I just needed a couple tiny things to go my way and I’d be right there,” Berkshire said after.

This title stands out for Berkshire after a season in which he surprisingly didn’t win any official events despite setting recent world records for highest ball speed and longest drive.

“When you lose that feeling and that kind of mojo, when you get it back it’s much more sweet,” Berkshire said.

Berkshire wasn’t the only winner in Atlanta as Monica Lieving upset No. 1 Phillis Meti in the finals of the women’s division. Meti hit the competition’s longest drive of 382 yards in the quarter-final, but was unable to find the grid in the finals. That left Lieving only needing to put one in play and she did just that to win with a drive of 288 yards.

And Ryan Reisback won the World Long Drive Championship Senior Division earlier in the week with a top drive of 390 yards.

With a third World Long Drive belt, Berkshire joins long drive legends Jason Zuback and Sean Fister as the only competitors to win the event at least three times.

“I respect those guys beyond measure and to even be close to being mentioned in the same air as them, it’s pretty humbling for me,” Berkshire said. “I’m just going to keep my head down, keep training, keep taking care of my body and just keep taking swings. Hopefully, I’m around for another 15 plus years and I can rack up another couple more.”

The post Kyle Berkshire wins a third World Long Drive Championship — by an incredibly small margin appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

]]> https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/kyle-berkshire-wins-a-third-world-long-drive-championship-by-an-incredibly-small-margin/feed/ 0 PGA Championship 2017: Jason Kokrak claims Long Drive Competition https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/pga-championship-2017-jason-kokrak-claims-long-drive-competition/ https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/pga-championship-2017-jason-kokrak-claims-long-drive-competition/#respond Wed, 09 Aug 2017 06:17:54 +0000 http://golfdigestme.com/?p=8291 By Joel Beall The PGA Championship’s Long Drive Competition was held on Tuesday and, thanks to constant rain throughout the week, the numbers posted were a far cry from the rockets launched a week ago at Firestone C.C. Nevertheless, there were still plenty of fireworks at Quail Hollow, and when the smoke cleared, it was Jason Kokrak […]

The post PGA Championship 2017: Jason Kokrak claims Long Drive Competition appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

]]> By Joel Beall
The PGA Championship’s Long Drive Competition was held on Tuesday and, thanks to constant rain throughout the week, the numbers posted were a far cry from the rockets launched a week ago at Firestone C.C. Nevertheless, there were still plenty of fireworks at Quail Hollow, and when the smoke cleared, it was Jason Kokrak who stood atop the score board.

Kokrak, perennially one of the tour leaders in driving, carried his tee shot on the par-5 10th 320 yards. Due to the aforementioned wet conditions, his ball rolled all of…one yard.

Still, the 321-yard shot was good enough, besting Tyrrell Hatton by five yards for the title. Dustin Johnson came in third at 315 yards.

The event was resurrected in 2014 after a 30-year hiatus, with Louis Oosthuizen, Anirban Lahiri and Byeong Hun An grabbing the crown the past three years. For his efforts, Kokrak received a gold money clip.

 

The post PGA Championship 2017: Jason Kokrak claims Long Drive Competition appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

]]> https://mot-backup.golfdigestme.com/pga-championship-2017-jason-kokrak-claims-long-drive-competition/feed/ 0