Thanks for taking care of my clubs @Delta… pic.twitter.com/rVjvPT1tZz

— Matt Fitzpatrick (@MattFitz94) August 30, 2021

In the immortal words of Pete Campbell: NOT GREAT, BOB! It’s one thing for an airline to misplace your bathing suit. Money doesn’t grow on trees. You liked the cute lobster print. We get it. But an airline guillotining a professional golfer’s 5-wood is another level of incompetence. Will Fitzpatrick get another one promptly and at no cost to himself? Probably, but these are tools of a professional trade, not sunscreen, and should probably be treated as such.

We loved Eddie Pepperell’s response too:
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That bloody variant knows no bounds

— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) August 30, 2021

Lee Westwood was on Fitzy’s side as well:

Been shafted there Fitzy!!!

— Lee Westwood (@WestwoodLee) August 30, 2021

Thankfully for Fitzpatrick, there’s a whole support group of airline-scorned pros waiting to console him. In 2017, United Airlines wrecked not one but three of Web.com player Mat Goggin’s clubs. That same year, Michael Buttacavoli had to withdraw from sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open after American Airlines lost his sticks, and Graeme McDowell nearly had to do the same after AirFrance misplaced his bag before a 2018 Open Championship qualifier.

See, Matt, it could be worse. When it comes to air travel, it can always be worse.

The post Another day, another airline snapping a PGA Tour pro’s club in half appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
There are a number of players missing from this Open Championship, but—with all respect to those not making the trip to Sandwich—most of the game’s marquee names remain in the field at Royal St. George’s, and a pack of them will be paired together during the Open’s first and second rounds.

Before you ask, no, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau are not in the same group. As discussed at Torrey Pines; this is for the best; better to let that rivalry manifest over the weekend when it matters most rather than during the fleeting nature of a Thursday or Friday. So as we wait and pray for that heavyweight battle to come to fruition, here are 11 pairings to keep us entertained during the first two rounds of the Open Championship.

7:41 am local Thursday/2:41 am EDT — Viktor Hovland, Ryan Palmer, Thomas Detry

Hovland is making his Open debut, and historically this is a tournament that favors—and arguably requires—experience. Conversely, what has made Hovland so good so early in his career is a blissful disregard to his surroundings, beholden to an inner command known only to him. Better yet, compared to the other majors, lights-out putting is not a prerequisite for contention, pacifying one of Hovland’s few weak spots. Throw in Palmer’s continued late-career revival and a red-hot Detry (two T-2s in past four starts) don’t be surprised if these names are on the early board.

8:03 am/3:03 am — Brooks Koepka, Jason Kokrak, Garrick Higgo

There’s a “weapons of mass destruction” joke in here, but these three are more than muscle. Kokrak is fighting like hell for a U.S. Ryder Cup captain’s pick and a top-five finish would move him from the “charming story that, realistically, doesn’t have a shot” category to “about to burst some star’s bubble” list of contenders. … Higgo is in a bit of a slump with three missed cuts in his last four starts; he’s also won three times since late April so maybe we should keep an eye on him, yes? … As for the third player, let’s save our words for later in the week. Because this is a major and this is Brooks Koepka, so you better believe we’ll be talking about him in greater capacity come Saturday.

9:25 am/4:25 am — Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, Branden Grace

Aspiring gamblers could find a worse dark horse than Grace, who is back from the wilderness with a win earlier this year along with a fourth-place finish at the Memorial and T-7 at the U.S. Open. … Augusta National is his playground but the Open has been just as kind to Spieth, and Royal St. George’s profile and past point to that providence continuing this week. The only thing keeping him from contending come Saturday will be finding himself in the wrong weather wave. … As for Bryson, this week ends with DeChambeau winning by three, forcing the R&A to convene an emergency session to declare persimmon and balata will be mandated at next year’s Open at St. Andrews OR Bryson becomes so flummoxed by the wind and ground game that he walks off the course and into the sea. There is no in-between.

9:58 am/4:58 am — Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Louis Oosthuizen

No matter what happens on the score card, this will be a long-overdue victory lap for Lowry. … Rahm will be treated with just as much love coming off his U.S. Open conquest. And amidst that parade Louis will very quietly put together two solid rounds to find himself near the lead because apparently that’s a bylaw for majors now.

David Cannon/R&A

10:20 am/5:20 am — Dustin Johnson, Will Zalatoris, Justin Rose

With two months to go before Ryder Cup rosters are finalized, Rose is shockingly on the outside looking in. He also has top-10s at the Masters and PGA, and a third this week can justify a captain’s pick against a blah record the rest of the year. … Speaking of Zalatoris, despite his strong season he’s trending to be snubbed for Whistling Straits. Yet if he contends at Royal St George’s, that would be four top-10s—highlighted by the Masters runner-up—in his past five major starts. And that is a hard, hard line to bypass. … Sticking with the theme, Johnson has his Ryder Cup spot locked up. He also hasn’t finished better than T-10 since February, which by DJ standards is a drought. Royal St. George’s is the site of one of Johnson’s major misses; can his putter wake up from its slumber (71st in putting this season) to give the 37-year-old his long-awaited payback?

1:04 pm/8:04 am — Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Ryan Fox

Cantlay has finished no better than T-15 in his last eight major starts. Fitzpatrick hasn’t logged a major top-10 finish in his last 21 outings. Both are too talented for these streaks to continue.

1:26 pm/8:26 am — Collin Morikawa, Corey Conners, Sebastian Munoz

Morikawa leads the tour in SG/approach by a mile. Conners ranks top 10 in the category (eighth). Munoz is a fine player coming off a strong performance (T-4 at the John Deere Classic) but legitimately worried the poor guy is going to quit after watching Morikawa and Conners pepper flagsticks for two days.

2:48 pm/9:48 am — Phil Mickelson, Tyrrell Hatton, Kevin Kisner

In one sense it’s unfair to Mickelson to view what happened at Kiawah as proof the man can still get it done, rather than recognize what he did defied all we thought we knew about age and sport. In other words, to treat that moment for just that, a moment, instead of extrapolating what is next for Phil. HOWEVER, experience matters at the Open. Creativity matters. Understanding bad breaks are inevitable and possessing the fortitude it takes to bounce back from them really, really matters. In short there’s a decent chance the magic from Kiawah comes alive again in Kent, where Mickelson finished T-2 the last time the claret jug visited Royal St. George’s … As for Hatton and Kisner, our only wish is that Kisner pays tribute to Hatton with his own disgusted club toss at some point. Game recognise game, after all.

GLYN KIRK

2:59 pm/9:59 am — Xander Schauffele, Robert MacIntyre, Rickie Fowler

With Rahm capturing the U.S. Open Schauffele is now the best under-40 player to not have a major. That he’s ditching his ill-fated arm-lock experiment should help the cause … Fowler has shown signs of life over the past six weeks, and did contend at the 2011 Open (T-5). Fowler’s success in the wind is a bit overstated but it’s also not wrong, which is why this week could be the turning point so many hope comes … The Euro cognoscenti desperately wants MacIntyre to be the next big thing. He’s not far away from such status, proving his mettle at the 2019 Open (T-6) and playing well at a number of venues this year. His game is not necessary pretty, yet it’s at its best when things get ugly, the type of game that so often decides who grabs the claret jug.

3:10 pm/10:10 am — Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood, Adam Scott

I know the golf gods are not just but it seems criminal these three men have a combined two majors.

3:21 pm/10:21 am — Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed, Cameron Smith

Rory McIlroy is an Open champ. He is the fulcrum of the European Ryder Cup team. He is everything a fan could want in a player avatar. So we have no idea what McIlroy did or who he betrayed to get thrown into the crossfire of Reed and Smith, two players who have an interesting past. (Smith called out Reed for his penalty for moving sand at the Hero World Challenge in 2019, then the two exchanged words shortly after at the Presidents Cup.) But if McIlroy traverses this minefield without incident, no one is stopping him from snapping his seven-year major slump.

The post DeChambeau-Spieth, a trio of bombers and a bad-blood pairing highlight our 11 favourite groups at Royal St. George’s appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
NORTH BERWICK, Scotland—He’s a man with a mission. Two actually. Joint-leader with Thomas Detry after three rounds of the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club, the next 24 hours are going to be more than a little hectic for Matt Fitzpatrick. But win, lose or draw, the former U.S. Amateur champion won’t be hanging around in Scotland. As soon as he is able to escape (worst case scenario being involved in a lengthy playoff following the expected 5.15 p.m. finish to the final round) he’ll be off to London, nearly 400 miles away, in an attempt to catch at least the second half of the England versus Italy final of soccer’s European Championship (kickoff 8 p.m.)

Indeed, after completing a four-under par day of 67 that Fitzpatrick felt hardly represented his “A-game,” it was sometimes hard to tell where the patriotic Yorkshireman’s real priorities were lying. While he was making all the right noises about “one hole at a time” and expressing his propensity for seaside golf in this part of the world (he won the silver medal as leading amateur in the 2013 Open Championship next door at Muirfield), Fitzpatrick’s eyes lit up at any mention of “Euro 2020.”

Which is not to say he didn’t view the prospect without at least a tinge of regret. Playing well—and therefore late on Sunday—was something he felt might just be inevitable as soon as he availed himself of match tickets.

“I’m going,” he said, with a big smile. “Regardless. I’m just going to try. Even if just for the second half, I’ll get in. My mates will be there. My brother and three of my pals and I’ll just join up with them. It’s quite funny because, literally the whole week once England got through on Wednesday, I was just telling the lads: I have to try and go. I don’t care how, I’ll just get there and, hopefully, the tee times work out. I literally could not have put myself in a worse position though. I know I’m going to switch my phone on and I’m going to be a million texts from my mates. You couldn’t write it. The funny thing is that, deep down, I just knew it was going to happen.”

The same can’t be said for the final round of this $8 million Rolex Series event. Detry sits alongside Fitzpatrick on 14 under par after a 68, and as many as 25 others are within five of the leaders. That lengthy list most prominently includes the ominous figure of Jon Rahm. The U.S. Open champion is one shot back following a 69 uncharacteristically marred by a pair of 6s on par 5s. Last week’s winner of the Irish Open, Australian Lucas Herbert, is alone in fourth place on 12 under, with the likes Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington and Justin Thomas dotted amidst the crowded chasing pack.

First things first though. While he wasn’t giving much away about how exactly he was going to make his way from southern Scotland to London—“I’m going in a plane, then a car,” he said with another smile—Fitzpatrick was more forthcoming about what he has done well to get himself into position to win what will be his seventh European Tour title. It was a mixture of things.

“I feel like everything, at least in streaks,” he said. “I drove it very well on the first day. Then I hit my irons really well on Friday. And today I putted well. I hope that doesn’t mean I’ll chip well on Sunday because that’ll mean I’m miles behind. But the biggest thing for me is, having looked at stats earlier in the year, I’ve just been making too many bogeys. So far this week, I’ve only had three. So damage limitation has been a big thing.”

There was a bit of luck too. At the short 14th, Fitzpatrick’s tee shot was headed “miles from where I was aiming” until it struck the dry dyke behind the putting surface and rebounded onto the green. That slice of good fortune didn’t lead to a birdie, but two did follow at 16 and 17. Clearly the 26-year-old was fully focused on the matter in hand, football or no football. Well, maybe not fully. Fitzpatrick did concede that thoughts of the big final were actually helping his demeanor by diminishing his normal—and sometimes damaging—level of on-course intensity.

“This does show me that, in a way, you have to go out there and not care,” he said. “That’s been a big thing, to be honest. Every time something hasn’t gone my way, I’m genuinely thinking: Oh well, I’ve got more chance of getting to the match. I think it just shows that, in my personal attitude, I have to be more like that. It’s just golf at the end of the day.”

The post Matthew Fitzpatrick trying to win Scottish Open … and then travel 400 miles to root on England in Euro football final appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Two weeks ago, golf fans were treated to Every Shot Live technology at the Players Championship, a glorious invention that allows you to see (and hear) whoever you want, whenever you want at the click of a mouse. Monday’s annual Seminole Pro-Member will be a little different, featuring exactly zero shots live.

That’s a shame, because golf fans would pay top dollar to tune in to what remains the most exclusive and elite member-guest in all of golf. Of course, that exclusivity is precisely the reason we don’t get to watch it, though we do get to hear and read all the legendary tales the event has produced over the years.

Every year, on Sunday evening after the Honda Classic, we get a glimpse into how strong the field is in the Seminole Pro-Member when someone playing in it reveals the tee times and pairings. That someone this year was Korn Ferry Tour pro Michael Miller, who posted the groupings to his Instagram account Sunday night. Any particular pairing jump out at you?

For us, it’s the 9:12 a.m. off No. 1, which features Bryson DeChambeau (guest) and member Tom Nelson, and Matthew Fitzpatrick (guest) and member Jimmy Kenny. You may recall, these two have a bit of recent history.

In October, Fitzpatrick struck first by claiming DeChambeau had made a “mockery of the game,” at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, though he did also give him credit for taking advantage of his length. But it was quite obvious in the Englishman’s comments that he was concerned with where the future of the sport was going. “We’re going to see people going harder and harder at it,” Fitzpatrick added. “Look at the college kids coming out now, Matt Wolff, Viktor Hovland. They just smash it, basically. Matt is a great player, but it seems to me the game is smash it and get after it and play the next one from wherever it is.

“In my opinion, it’s not a skill to hit the ball a long way. I could put on 40 pounds. I could go and see a bio-mechanist. I could gain 40 yards; that’s actually a fact. I could put another two inches on my driver. But the skill is to hit the ball straight. That’s the skill. He’s just taking the skill out of it in my opinion.”

RELATED: Pebble Beach’s short course designed by Tiger Woods is ready to open

DeChambeau was made aware of Fitzpatrick’s comments the next day at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, and he took them in stride, even offering to “help out” his fellow former U.S. Amateur champion.

“I appreciate that comment,” DeChambeau said. “It’s a compliment to me honestly. A year ago, I wasn’t hitting in anywhere near as far as I am today. It took a lot of work, a lot of hours to work through the night to figure out a lot of this stuff.

“I would say it actually takes more skill to do what I’m doing, and albeit I may have—my fairway percentages are a little bit down, I still believe I’m hitting it straighter than what I was last year with the distances that I was hitting back then. So I actually appreciate those comments. I think he’s looking out for certain set of players, and I appreciate that.”

DeChambeau went on to add that other pros may see a distinct advantage in what he was doing, and, as Rory McIlroy recently admitted, the Mad Scientist’s methods may have influenced him and other pros. Fitzpatrick has not joined the revolution, instead sticking to what he does, which has worked out nicely in 2021, as he’s finished T-17 or better in five straight starts worldwide. Of course, DeChambeau’s way is working out, too.

Since they traded verbal barbs in October, neither DeChambeau nor Fitzpatrick has spoken much more on the matter. On Monday, however, the subject could be unavoidable given they are playing in the same group. Funny enough, they almost got paired together twice on the weekend at TPC Sawgrass, where we would have been able to see and hear everything. This time, though, it will be left to our imaginations.

RELATED: Watch pro shockingly three-putt from three feet at the Honda Classic

The post Golf fans would pay top dollar to see this spicy pairing at the annual Seminole Pro-Member appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif.—It was one of those days—when you play away from flags with wedge in your hand, when you back off putts just to be sure the ball isn’t oscillating, when an even-par round sends you soaring up the leader board.

In other words, just how Matthew Fitzpatrick likes it.

On a brutally difficult, stop-and-start day at Riviera—there were 23 players who still needed to complete their third-round after 30-plus mph winds stopped play for nearly four hours—Fitzpatrick somehow found seven birdies in 17 holes, playing those in three-under and in the process emerging as the largest object in Sam Burns’ increasingly crowded rearview mirror.

The five-shot lead Burns slept on Friday night held steady for much of the afternoon, but a late birdie from Fitzpatrick and back-to-back bogeys from Burns on his last two holes of the day saw that advantage shrink to two. Burns will return when play resumes at 6:50 a.m. Sunday to hit his tee shot on the tricky par-3 14th. Fitzpatrick had the option to finish his round because one player in his group teed off the 18th tee, but he chose the early wake-up.

“Pretty long day,” said Burns, who arrived at the course at 8:15 a.m. only to have the horn sound as he stood over his opening tee shot. He parred his first seven holes before making three bogeys in his last six.

Game on. There were three players one-shot further back at seven-under—including World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who continues to hang around the top of the leaderboard despite seemingly not having his A-game.

Posting scores that make other pros say I didn’t see that out there has become a bit of a habit for the 26-year-old Fitzpatrick. His 69 was the low round on another barely playable day at last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, then he did it again with a preposterously good 68 on Sunday of the Memorial when the field’s scoring average neared 76. His lower ball flight certainly helps, and any distance he gives up to fellow pros is neutralized when it’s this difficult. The key, though, dates back to his days as a youngster at Hallamshire Golf Club in Sheffield, England.

“It’s the way I’ve been brought up, especially when it’s tough,” Fitzpatrick said. “I grew up on a golf course that’s very much like this all the time. You’ve just got to get it round, and today was another day like that, where you’ve got to stick in. Fortunately had a nice stretch on the front nine of birdies and kicked on from there.”

Riviera was already playing difficult this week—sure, Burns tied the 36-hole tournament record by shooting 12 under, but the cut was even par and Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas combined to shoot 14 over. The main reason for that has been the greens, which many players have said are firmer and running faster than they’ve ever seen them. Those greens help make this course what it is, perhaps the finest on the PGA Tour, but they’re also the reason play was stopped for 3 hours and 51 minutes. Because they’re so slick, balls weren’t staying on putting surfaces.

The wind did subside as the afternoon wore on, but only barely. By the time play was suspended for darkness at around 6 p.m., the gusts were just as strong as they were when play was stopped at 10 a.m.

“It was still so firm, and you’ve got some of these holes downwind, and even if you hit the fairway it’s hard to control the ball,” said Max Homa, who is part of the group at seven under. “So it’s very difficult. You’ve just got to be patient, leave it as many times as you can putting or chipping into the wind and see what you can do. It’s a tricky golf course without wind.”

The wind was the story of the day. Holes into it played forever, and on the downwind ones it was nearly impossible to have a ball land on the green and stay there. Making matters even more difficult is the difference in grass between the greens and their surrounds. The greens themselves are poa annua, which has been cut extremely short and is thus quite hard, while the surrounds are covered by the ultra-sticky and spongy kikuyu. Land a ball one yard on, and it’s likely going over. Land it short, and it’s likely not getting on the green.

“Jordan [Spieth] and I were talking about it, and Alex [Noren], and we said over/under, five guys that held that green,” said Wyndham Clark, referring to the par-3 14th. “We all landed 9-irons and 8-irons as high as you could, middle of the green, and it bounced over. So, I don’t think it was possible.”

Fitzpatrick wasn’t able to hold it. He played safely left of the flag, saw his ball bound through to the back rough, played a sensible chip to seven feet, holed the putt, and walked briskly to the next as if he’d made birdie. It was one of those days.

The post Wind at Riviera doesn’t blow away Matthew Fitzpatrick, and he gains ground on leader Sam Burns appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

All reasonable suggestions and perfect jumping-off points for other end-of-year lists. But sports are about people. So for this list, we’re going to re-live this most strange year through people’s words. From Torrey Pines to Augusta, from Kobe to Bryson to DJ to some more Bryson, here are 18 quotes that defined the wild journey that was golf in 2020.

• • •

“I don’t know if his genetics ever make him look good to be honest. That body issue—he didn’t have any abs. I got some abs.” —Bryson DeChambeau, Jan. 15

This came during one of DeChambeau’s late-night Twitch streams and it set off another back-and-forth in the ever-simmering feud between the noted golf nerd and Brooks Koepka, noted golf cool guy. Bryson was asked about his ongoing body transformation in comparison with Koepka, who had just posed nude for the ESPN body issue. Clearly, DeChambeau wasn’t impressed. Koepka, not the type to look past a slight, fired back by posting a picture of his four major-championship trophies with the caption “2 short of a 6 pack.” I mean, how else did Bryson think this would end?

You were right @b_dechambeau I am 2 short of a 6 pack! pic.twitter.com/aCJ1jimId6

— Brooks Koepka (@BKoepka) January 16, 2020

• • •

“He shot free throws with a torn Achilles. It’s hard to imagine he could have the sniffles, let alone have something like this happen.” —Max Homa, Jan. 26

NBA icon Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open, which led to a bizarre scene in which the golf tournament felt secondary. Most players—including Tiger Woods—found out after their rounds, and many were visibly shaken at the tragic news. Chief among them was Homa, a Southern California native and a diehard Lakers and Kobe fan. Justin Thomas, Matthew Wolff and Tony Finau were among a number of players who paid tribute to Bryant at the following week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open.

• • •

“I’m probably the only one who’s not playing. Same number as the sanitizers in the clubhouse, locker room and dining.” —C.T. Pan, March 12

In a since-deleted tweet, Pan explained his reasoning for withdrawing from the Players Championship prior to the first round. This marked the first real encroachment of COVID-19 on the PGA Tour; there was sparse talk of it the week prior at Bay Hill, but worries mounted as the Players practice rounds wore on and other sports, notably the NBA, put their seasons on hiatus. Pan was the only golfer to withdraw over safety concerns, but by the time Thursday’s opening round was underway, it was unclear whether the tournament would make it to Sunday. At noon on Thursday, just as Hideki Matsuyama was polishing off perhaps the most under-the-radar 63 in golf history, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced that the Players and all events through the Valero Texas Open would be played without fans. Ten hours later a different announcement came.

RELATED: Counting down the top 25 Newsmakers of 2020

• • •

“We’re obviously incredibly disappointed to suspend the PGA Tour season for our players, and our fans.”     —Jay Monahan, March 13

Monahan was speaking at a press conference on Friday, but the brutal news dropped on Thursday night: that all events up through Valero Texas Open had been cancelled. That same Friday, Augusta National announced that the Masters would not be played in April. In the span of 24 hours, the PGA Tour had gone from all systems normal to a full-on cancellation through mid-April. And that, as we now know, was just the beginning.

Cliff Hawkins

• • •

“Billy, JT, Charley, whoever else wants to do this Peloton thing while we’re in quarantine, or social isolation or whatever you want to call it … I beat you again.” —Rory McIlroy, March 21

The quarantine period saw a number of PGA Tour players satisfy their appetite for competition with … cycling? Interactive Peloton rides became the new anti-boredom cure, with Rory McIlroy emerging as the leader of the spinning crew. Golfers organized live rides against each other as well as fundraising rides for different philanthropic causes.

• • •

“The R&A has decided to cancel The Open in 2020 due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.” —Joint statement Augusta National, PGA Tour, R&A, USGA, LPGA, European Tour, April 6

If there’s one positive that came from the COVID-19 hiatus, it’s increased cooperation between golf’s power players. On what was supposed to be the Monday of Masters week, six governing bodies released a joint statement outlining a best-possible schedule for the rest of 2020. Some highlights, which seemed to many like they were a little unrealistic at the time: the Masters moving to November; the ANA Inspiration moving to September; the U.S. Women’s Open moving to December; the U.S. Open moving to September; and the cancellation of the Open Championship for the first time since World War II. In hindsight, the best-possible schedule became the actual schedule.

• • •

“Yeah, it’s going to be a tough financial year. There’s no way around it. And it’s certainly not going to be any better on the Ladies European Tour or the Symetra Tour, two tours that we obviously, I think, without giving away any secrets, that we help subsidize and will certainly subsidize more in 2020 than we thought when we walked into the year.” —Mike Whan, May 1

The LPGA commissioner painted an honest and sobering picture of COVID hiatus’ impact on the women’s game. In contrast to the cash-rich PGA Tour, the shutdown put women’s professional game in a precarious position. Whan’s forthright and compassionate brand of leadership has been lauded across the sports world as a model for how a commissioner should behave, and he successfully guided the women’s game through an unexpectedly difficult year. The LPGA Tour returned to play on July 31 at the LPGA Drive On Championship.

• • •

“Want me to use one of my U.S. Open medals? … I should have three of them that you can borrow” —Tiger Woods, May 24

This was one of many good-natured jabs from The Match 2: Champions for Charity, Tiger tweaking Phil Mickelson for his close calls at the major. The Match 2 saw Woods and Peyton Manning take down Mickelson and Tom Brady in a highly entertaining made-for-TV match at Woods’ home track, Medalist Golf Club in Florida. This was actually the second such exhibition during the PGA Tour hiatus, as a quartet of TaylorMade stars faced off in a skins match at Seminole the week before. And it wasn’t the last—Manning and Mickelson were joined by Charles Barkley and Stephen Curry for The Match III in Arizona over Thanksgiving weekend. 2020, among other things, shall be known as the year that golf exhibitions made a comeback.

Mike Ehrmann

• • •

“I pray alongside them for George Floyd and his family. And I also pray for our unity. We’re strong. We can go beyond the trap of one-dimensional thinking. Once we do, our eyes will see the righteous, our hearts will feel the love, and we’ll have done more to honour all those subjected to evil and its vile nature.” —Harold Varner III, June 2

The killing of George Floyd by police officers sparked outrage across the globe, and while our sport is not typically at the forefront of social change, the golf world used the moment to do some honest reckoning with itself. As one of very few black players on the PGA Tour, Varner suddenly emerged as an important voice in a game whose history is rife with exclusion. The PGA Tour held a moment of silence during its first tournament after the hiatus, the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial, at 8:46 a.m.—a reference to the eight minutes and 40 seconds that an officer pinned his knee into Floyd’s throat before he died. In the months since, the tour outlined a plan to combat racial injustice, Augusta National announced it would fully fund a women’s golf program at a historically black college, and The Match 3 raised more than $5 million for historically black colleges and universities.

• • •

“I think there’s a lot of bunkers that are around, like, 290, so hopefully I’ll be able to clear those and take those out of play. So, sorry, Mr. Ross, but, you know, it is what it is.” —Bryson DeChambeau, June 30

As far as actual golf storylines, DeChambeau’s bulk-up dominated discourse virtually all summer. He showed up to Colonial some 30-odd pounds heavier than he had been just three months earlier, a hard-to-believe transformation. A late bogey cost him a spot in a playoff, but it became clear that this was no side-show. He finished T-8 and T-6 in his next two starts, then showed up to the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club, a 1910s-era Donald Ross design that proved no match at all for his thunderous power—he shot 23 under and won by three. The above quote, while undoubtedly humorous, was also rather poignant, underscoring how a player hitting the ball 350-plus yards can nullify so many great architectural challenges of classic golf courses.

• • •

“It’s pretty surreal to think it’s happened this quickly. How many people get to achieve a lifelong dream in their mid-20s?” —Jon Rahm, July 19

Rahm became just the second Spaniard, joining his hero Seve Ballesteros, to become the World’s No. 1 golfer. It happened after a gritty victory at the Memorial, where he tamed a fiery Muirfield Village setup for what looked like a five-shot victory … until the signature moment of the week, his chip-in for birdie on 16, became a chip-in for bogey after a zoomed-in camera showed his wedge causing the ball to move ever so slightly as he addressed it. Good thing margin of victory doesn’t matter on the PGA Tour, or the World Rankings, so the three-shot win was more than enough to see the 24-year-old summit the sport.

Andy Lyons

• • •

“I like my chances—when I’ve been in this position before, I’ve capitalized. I don’t know, he’s only won one.” — Brooks Koepka, Aug. 8

Never one to hide his feelings, Koepka raised some eyebrows with this not-so-subtle dig at his former workout buddy, Dustin Johnson. DJ held the 54-hole lead at the first post-COVID major, the PGA Championship at Harding Park, and Koepka was lurking just two behind when he spoke in his post-round presser on Saturday. He wasn’t wrong, either—Johnson had held three 54-hole leads in majors and converted zero of them, while Koepka had previously had no such problems closing the deal in majors. The controversial comments drew a stark rebuke from Rory McIlroy as well as plenty of golf fans, especially when Koepka shot four over on Sunday to finish T-29. And yet, Johnson’s two-under 68 was also not enough to take home the Wanamaker.

• • •

“I feel very comfortable in this spot. When I woke up today, I was like, this is meant to be. This is where I feel very comfortable. This is where I want to be, and I’m not scared from it.” —Collin Morikawa, Aug. 9.

Morikawa delivered a final round for the ages to win his first major, shooting a bogey-free 64 to leapfrog Johnson and join Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only four players to win the PGA Championship before turning 24. It was the third victory of Morikawa’s career, which began only 14 months prior to his first major championship.

• • •

“I almost quit playing last year—thank God I didn’t.” —Sophia Popov, Aug. 23

The biggest upset of the year came at the AIG Women’s British Open at Royal Troon. That’s where the 27-year-old German, No. 304 in the Rolex Rankings, shot a final-round 68 for an unlikely two-shot victory. Popov had trudged through the golf wilderness, struggling both with confidence and health for the past six years—including a bout with Lyme disease—and nearly gave up the game in 2019. It’s a very, very good thing she didn’t.

Richard Heathcote/R&A

RELATED: The best things for golfers to come out of the pandemic

• • •

“It’s not a skill to hit the ball a long way in my opinion. I could put on 40 pounds. I could go and see a bio-mechanist and I could gain 40 yards; that’s actually a fact. I could put another two inches on my driver. I could gain that, but the skill in my opinion is to hit the ball straight. That’s the skill, he’s just taking the skill out of it in my opinion.” —Matthew Fitzpatrick, Oct. 11

The Bryson-distance talk did not cease after his torrid summer that peaked with a six-shot U.S. Open victory, and Matthew Fitzpatrick re-fueled it with these comments at the BMW PGA Championship in England. Not a long hitter himself, Fitzpatrick struck some with his comments as offering the bitter lamentations of a jealous player, but there also were plenty who agreed with his assertion that the game is trending in the wrong direction. DeChambeau, to his credit, took the comments in stride, though he did offer this biting response: “Hey, man I would love to help out.”

Andrew Redington

• • •

“I’m looking at it as a par 67 for me because I can reach all the par 5s in two, no problem. If the conditions stay the way they are, that’s what I feel like par is for me.” —Bryson DeChambeau, Nov. 10

All eyes were always going to be on Bryson at the Masters. He had just bludgeoned the U.S. Openiest U.S Open venue into submission, and he had taken a month off to test a 48-inch driver, and he posted evidence of a 400-yard drive to social media. But he drew even more attention on himself with this comment in the leadup, suggesting Augusta’s four par 5s are par 4s in his head, and the par-4 third is essentially a par 3 because he can drive it so easily. This time, the golf gods punched back—DeChambeau made the cut on the number and was never a factor in finishing T-34. It was not, however, a completely drama-free week …

• • •

“So you’re saying if we can’t find it, it’s a lost ball?” —Bryson DeChambeau, Nov. 13

During the second round of the Masters, DeChambeau took out driver on the third and hit a high hook that found the second cut, which was noticeably longer than usual at this November Masters. The ball was never found, much to the disbelief of DeChambeau, who tried to use every rule in the book to his advantage: Standing water? Nope. Ground under repair? Nope. For non-Bryson fans, there was certainly a hint of gleeful schadenfreude in watching him struggle on the course so many believed he would conquer.

• • •

“I’m sorry. I can’t even talk. I’ve never had this much trouble gathering myself.’’ —Dustin Johnson, Nov. 15

This Masters was so distinctly unusual—in November, and without fans—but through 54 holes, the proceedings had followed a familiar script: Dustin Johnson with the lead in a major heading into the final round. It was the fifth time DJ had been in that position, and he’d gone 0-for-4. This time, however, would be different, even if his original four-shot lead dwindled to one at one point early in Sunday’s round. DJ responded with steady play as the afternoon wore on and cruised to a five-shot victory while setting the 72-hole Masters scoring record. In his post-round interview with Amanda Balionis, the famously stoic Johnson let his guard down, struggling to get a word out as he choked back tears. Clearly, this meant everything to a man who is often portrayed as emotionless and apathetic, and it was wonderful to see. In a year that went so awry, Johnson’s victory stood out as a rare feel-good moment and the culmination of a four-month stretch of dominant golf.

The post The long, strange, surreal year in golf, summed up in 18 quotes appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
At the end of an utterly bizarre year, a crazy old finish to the European Tour season was strangely fitting, peak 2020 if you like.

After bolting out of the blocks with four successive birdies to lead by as many as four before scraping home with a solitary stroke to spare, Matthew Fitzpatrick captured the DP World Tour Championship for a second time.

It was lovely to have two putts on the last for $3 million and until an unexpected bogey on the penultimate hole, it seemed the 26-year-old Englishman might even do the 2020 DPWTC-Race to Dubai double on Earth.

But after a dramatic back nine with multiple projected R2D leadership swings, the season-long prize ultimately ended up in the hands of 47-year-old Lee Westwood for the third time –  11 years after he did the Dubai double in 2009 when Jumeirah Golf Estates first became home to the season-decider and 20 years after winning what was then known as the order of merit.

Andrew Redington/Getty Image
Lee Westwood hugs his former caddie, Billy Foster, who was on the bag for DP World Tour Championship winner Matthew Fitzpatrick this week.

After his victory at Abu Dhabi in January to become just the third player to win European Tour titles in four decades, Westwood book-ended 2020 in perfect fashion, finishing a shot shy of Fitzpatrick’s winning -15, 273 aggregate. He needed a little help (read misfortune) from others, first from Patrick Reed whose bid to become the first American to win the Harry Vardon Trophy was derailed by a long game diametrically opposed to his wedge wizardry.

At the age of 47 years, 7 months & 20 days, @WestwoodLee becomes the oldest Race to Dubai Champion in the history of the European Tour! ?#DPWTC #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/8qcgDp3I3X

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) December 13, 2020

Unheralded Englishman Laurie Canter, such a massive part of this memorable Sunday, sadly faltered late as well, double bogeying the 17th in the company of Fitzpatrick. An eagle down the last would have denied Westwood but a wayward approach and a chip from the drop zone slightly undercooked saw the Race to Dubai abacus fall Westwood’s way.

Canter eventually finished in a share of 5th place on – 12 with another of this week’s headline grabbers, Finn Sami Välimäki, a stroke further back from Reed and Viktor Hovland.

Francois Nel/Getty Image
RELIEF: Fitzpatrick can breathe after parring the 72nd hole to clinch the DPWTC for a second time.

This was Fitzpatrick’s sixth European Tour win and second Rolex Series gold star after his previous DPWTC win in 2016. It ended a two year title drought that was made all the more frustrating by five runner-up finishes.

“Yeah, amazing. The start I got off to, four birdies in the first four, 5-under through seven, it’s a dream start. Fortunately, I managed to pull away from that and really sort of create some distance,” Fitzpatrick said.

“It was just obviously a bit of a grind on the back nine. For me it was just about finishing one hole at a time and just getting through it. So managed to do that and yeah, finished well.”

With Westwood watching on nervously in the scorers’ hut after birdies on two of his last three holes in a closing 68, attention turned to whether Reed could hang on to the R2D lead he started the week with.

Even Fitzpatrick had no real idea how close he’d come to winning both titles.

“I had no idea about the Race to Dubai because I knew where I started the week at 16 [in the rankings], a lot needed to go my way. When I saw Lee at second, it did enter my head briefly going to 18, even if I win, probably not going to be — it’s probably not going to be enough, anyway.

“But all I was bothered about this week was winning. I turned up obviously 16th, so first, Race to Dubai didn’t really enter my head if I’m honest. I just wanted to win a lot this week. Just the work that I’ve put in the last couple of weeks on my game and just stuff that we talked about, me and Mike, yeah, it just felt like it kind of clicked.

“It’s one of those few weeks in your probably career, where you’re like, it feels really good and I’m playing really well, and you go and win. You can play poorly and win and sometimes you can play amazing and lose.

“To me this is a week in all honesty I felt I’m playing really well and I managed to convert it.”

The post Westwood and Fitzpatrick share the spoils in Dubai as a crazy year meets a fitting end appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 12th DP World Tour Championship, indeed the entire Race to Dubai season, has come down to one final 18-hole, multi-player sprint around Earth at Jumeirah Golf Estates and the permutations for both titles are boundless.

After a scrappy Saturday 71, Reed remains atop both the projected Race to Dubai (nee order of merit) and 54-hole DPWTC leaderboards. But he has company on the latter with Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick (69) and Laurie Carter (68), joining him at -11, and very little wiggle room on the former.

There’s a peloton of proud and pedigreed Europeans pretty determined to ride roughshod over Reed’s dream of becoming the first America to win the season-long Race to Dubai. Just a shot adrift of the co-leaders is Lee Westwood chasing a third R2D title, Victor Hovland trying to win on the PGA and European Tours in consecutive weeks, Spaniard Adri Arnaus – like Canter aiming for a maiden European Tour win – and Scottish lefty Robert MacIntyre who has an outside chance to become European No.1 a year after winning rookie honours. 

Even Tyrrell Hatton and Andy Sullivan, just four shots adrift in a share of 10th place, can’t be dismissed.

It remains, then, advantage Reed. But only just. To clinch the Harry Vardon trophy, Captain America knowns he’ll need to be sharper tee to green after his silky short game got him out of some tight, third round corners.

“It was sloppy,” Reed said of his Saturday circumnavigation of Earth which was in complete contrast to his best of the week Friday 64.

“Didn’t really hit the ball as well as I needed to. Made some putts, but didn’t make the putts also I needed to. It was one of those days I had to lean a lot on my short game, and the good thing is I was able to do that and put myself into position to still have a share of the lead going into tomorrow.”

It must be exciting/nerve-wracking to be so well-positioned to win both the final tournament and the entire season?

“Trying not to really think about that honestly,” Reed said.

“If it happens, it would be unbelievable. It was always a goal of mine obviously to win golf tournaments but to win this one and also to win The Race to Dubai and be the first American would be amazing.

“We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We still have full 18 holes left and you can’t really sit back there and think as much about that as just stay in the present and try to play some good golf tomorrow.”

Pick your runner, grab the popcorn and enjoy the final rollercoaster ride. The Race to Dubai has achieved the marketeer’s dream, climaxing in one final sprint around Earth with the entire season on the line. It’s going to be a tense watch, but not half as stressful as it will be inside the ropes.

The post Advantage Captain America but only just as Race to Dubai season goes to the wire appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
Captain America’s hold on the Harry Vardon Trophy has tightened and he’s developing a scary new golf superpower  — consistency — to help repulse any late pretenders to his rightful throne.

While nearly all around him battled to avoid bogeys and even potentially tournament ending calamity on Friday, Patrick Reed circumnavigated Earth in 64 of the smoothest strokes ever witnessed at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

It moved the 30-year-old Texan to -10 and the summit of the DP World Tour Championship leaderboard through 36 holes. More significantly, Reed is back to being projected Race to Dubai champion for 2020, a position he’s held for large chunks of this year like no other.

With 2016 DPWTC winner Matthew Fitzpatrick just two strokes back at the arrowhead of a formidable peloton including Tommy Fleetwood, Danny Willett, Martin Kaymer, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland and Lee Westwood (all within six shots), Reed still has a way to go to become the first American to be crowned European No.1.

But the way he backed up his opening 70 with nine second-round birdies suggests this event, and his date with history on Sunday, is Reed’s to lose. Not even a bogey at the 12th could derail the American. Indeed, the remarkable up and down par save he made when further dropped shots beckoned on the 13th was arguably the key to his day. And that was saying something the way he went flag-hunting, approaches hit tight to the 8th and 18th (he birdied three of his four closing holes) among an extended highlights reel.

“Anytime you shoot eight-under-par you’re always happy,” he said afterwards.

Low round of the week so far #DPWTC #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/aQwW2cYRIf

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) December 11, 2020

“Today, I got off to a little better start than I did yesterday. The putter was working. Yesterday, I felt like I did a lot of things pretty well, but the putts weren’t really falling. I burned a couple edges and a couple of iron shots weren’t as close as they needed to be. Today, I tightened it all up. I was able to hit the ball a little closer to the hole, which gave me more opportunities. And I was seeing the lines a little better too.”

Reed has been working on “tightening it all up” with coach Sean Hogan. The significant swing change clearly seems to be working as he arrived in Dubai fresh from five consecutive top-20 finishes.

“Ever since I started with the new swing, it has felt a little bit more controllable,” he said.

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

“It feels as if I don’t have as big a curve going on with my irons. Because of that I feel like, whether it’s a right flag or left flag, I can aim closer to the hole rather than trying to aim farther away and trying to sling it in there.

“For me, it’s more of a comfort thing as well as just a consistency thing. With how good the guys are out here, whether on the PGA Tour or European Tour, when they are on, they’re on. It’s the days when it’s not quite feeling right, the ball still needs to be in play, still needs to be on the green if you are to have a chance to make birdies. That’s been the biggest difference so far. My misses are playable as far as I can still handle them, get up-and-down or even have a putt for birdie.”

If Reed continues in a similar vein to Friday, he will win the 12th DPWTC, perhaps in a canter. Scarier still is the American could probably win this without his A-game.

The one caveat? No American has won the Race to Dubai, formally the Order of Merit, and a bevy of fiercely proud European’s on the front page of the leaderboard will battle till the last putt drops on Sunday to try and deny Captain America.

It’s going to be a fun weekend.

The latest Race to Dubai standings ?#DPWTC #RolexSeries

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) December 11, 2020

The post After a sensational 64, the Race to Dubai is Patrick Reed’s to lose appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s perhaps the most anxious position for a professional golfer: Sweating out the cut line at a major championship. Pros take pride in making the cut at any tournament, but missing the weekend at the Masters hurts that much more. And because of a slight rule change and an untimely thunderstorm, five players are going to be stuck in purgatory for a whole lot longer than they’d like.

Prior to this year, a player was guaranteed to make the weekend at the Masters so long as they were inside the top 50 (and ties) or within 10 shots of the lead. That rule changed this year so only the top 50 and ties will make the cut. The 10-shot rule is no more.

And as it stands after Friday’s second round was stopped due to darkness, there are 11 players currently tied for 50th place at even par. In normal years, they’d be good to make the weekend so long as the 36-hole lead is 10 under or higher. But with no 10-shot rule, they are firmly in danger of missing the weekend. Six of those 11 still have at least eight holes of their second rounds, so they control their own destiny when play resumes at 7:30 a.m. Saturday—make birdies and make the cut.

But for the five guys who have already finished their second round—well, they’re in for one uncomfortable night.

The unlucky quintet: Collin Morikawa, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Zach Johnson, Sung Kang and Nick Taylor. They will not find out until around 9:30 a.m. whether their two-day total of 144 was good enough for the weekend. If anyone just from even par to one under, the cutline also moves to one under and they’re all off for the weekend.

While they may never admit to wishing bogeys upon their peers—bad karma—they will privately be rooting against the five guys at even par with holes to play, as well as the five guys at one over and the two guys at one under who can all impact the cutline.

Of course, this is the definition of a first-world problem. There are much, much worse situations to be in than hoping for a chance to make tens of thousands of dollars playing golf.

But as far as major championship golf goes, this is about as stressful as it gets.

More from Friday at the 2020 Masters
• Tiger Woods loses momentum, but holds on to his green jacket chances
• Abraham Ancer continues to prove that he’s a big-time player, he’s just missing one thing
• Bryson DeChambeau in danger of missing cut after disastrous third hole
• Jon Rahm hilariously (perhaps inadvertently) burns Bryson DeChambeau with two simple words
• Rory McIlroy had about as terrible a Friday morning as you could imagine at Augusta National
• Why these five guys are going to have an especially restless Friday night in Augusta
• Brooks Koepka’s play has been ‘super sloppy’ and he can still win
• Alert! Augusta National legend Jeff Knox has been called into action earlier than usual this week!
• Justin Thomas broke his odd Masters curse
• Bernhard Langer keeps building on the sneakiest good record in Masters history
• Bryson DeChambeau lost his ball in Augusta’s second cut, which we all figured was impossible
• Why you shouldn’t be surprised about Rory McIlroy’s up-and-down start at Augusta
• What you think about Dustin Johnson says more about you than him
• Who needs a driver at Augusta? Danny Willett cracks his, uses 3-wood off tee and shoots career low
• How the 36-hole cut is determined at Augusta National
• Bernhard Langer has become the oldest golfer to make the cut in the Masters

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