Matthias Schwab Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

Brooks Koepka’s creative Christmas card, inspirational holiday gifts and the funniest Anthony Kim sighting yet

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 22:00:38 +0000

By Alex Myers
Welcome to another edition year of The Grind where we have discovered a foolproof way to keep your New Year’s diet resolutions: get an incredibly painful tooth infection. For the second consecutive year, an old root canal is wreaking havoc with my mouth, but if I’m being honest, my chompers could use a break. It’s been a bit of a break in this space as well, but I’m excited to be back for a ninth(!) year. To think, Charlie Woods was only 3 when The Grind started. Time flies, huh? Anyway, we’ve got a lot to catch up on so let me pop a couple more pain meds and let’s get to it.

WE’RE BUYING

Masters invites: ’Tis the season for a lucky few golfers to get the greatest piece of mail ever. No matter who you are, it never gets old. And it never gets old watching reactions like this:

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A post shared by Michael Thompson (@michaelthompsongolf)

By the way, we’re already inside 100 days until the Masters. Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed that patrons will be back in April. And if I’m lucky enough to go, fingers crossed I’ll be able to chew again by then. As Dustin Johnson noted, those Augusta National sandwiches are incredible.

Valentino Dixon: While we’re on the subject of Augusta National, a rendition of the famed 12th hole by our favourite artist wound up in the hands of Barack Obama:

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A post shared by Barack Obama (@barackobama)

It’s the latest chapter in Dixon’s tragic, yet inspiring journey. The man who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit and was freed thanks in part to Golf Digest’s Max Adler, is now creating art that’s hanging in the home of a former President of the United States. Amazing. Speaking of Christmas gifts …

Josh Allen: In his third NFL season, the Buffalo Bills QB hasn’t just morphed into an MVP candidate, but one of the best teammates you could ask for. Just look at how he treated his offensive line for Christmas:

Bills QB @JoshAllenQB’s gift to his offensive linemen this year: a set of Callaway golf clubs and lessons at Crag Burn Golf Club pic.twitter.com/QCRsxPagFm

— Marcel Louis-Jacques (@Marcel_LJ) December 22, 2020

Just give this guy the MVP right now. What a great gesture. And a smart one as well for team bonding. Yep, the future looks bright in Buffalo. Speaking of bright futures …

Charlie Woods: Yeah, yeah, it’s been a couple of weeks, but how cool was seeing this young dude playing with Pops? And playing so well? The kid made his first eagle on national TV! And gave us the moment of the tournament with this familiar-looking fist pump:

?Charlie Woods fist pump ?

The low uppercut. A Woods special. pic.twitter.com/KhJPSC1Sw4

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 20, 2020

He’s also already getting kids all over the country into the sport:

My motto for 2021: pic.twitter.com/nx5AnSlsX1

— Alex Myers (@AlexMyers3) January 1, 2021

OK, so my daughter had no interest in watching one second of the PNC Championship, but she’ll get there. Hopefully. In any event, no matter how Charlie’s golf career winds up going, he’s already got better highlights than 99.999 percent of golfers. And after performing so well under such pressure, those sixth-grade finals are going to be a breeze.

WE’RE SELLING

People knocking people getting excited about Charlie Woods: Unfortunately, much of Golf Twitter clutched its collective pearls and couldn’t allow themselves to just enjoy this. “He’s just a kid! Stop putting all these expectations on him!” First of all, who exactly was seriously saying Charlie is going to win 100 PGA Tour titles and 25 majors? No one! Also, if the most private person on the planet wanted to trot his son out there for the world to see, then that’s all you need to know. It was awesome to watch. End of story.

People knocking Kyle Berkshire’s chances: In case you haven’t read or heard it (Subscribe to our Local Knowledge Podcast, please!), I put together a story about the reigning World Long Drive champ’s decision to pursue a second career as a tour pro.

And so far, about 90 percent of comments are that the 24-year-old is wasting his time or has no chance. Look, would I bet on him making it to the PGA Tour? No. But I think it’s pretty cool that a guy who dropped out of college before cracking the starting lineup would put so much on the line to give this such a serious try. And considering Berkshire’s staggering length and the importance of distance in today’s game (SEE: DeChambeau, Bryson), now seems like a good time to give it a go. At the very least, it should be fun to watch. So good luck, Kyle, and bombs away.

This shirt:

It’s actually a hilarious concept. Get a shirt to memorialize a golf buddy’s worst blowup hole. But it instantly gave me nightmarish flashbacks to the double bogey I made on the 10th hole at Mid Pines during the final round of last year’s HGGA Championship. And the triple bogey I made on the 14th hole when I was still in the hunt. I am such a choker it’s not even funny. But this shirt on someone else kind of is. OK, maybe I’m buying.

This jackass:

Very sorry for a Bledge and the RCP team. Course in outstanding nick despite this. Let’s hope the Kent Constabulary catch them? pic.twitter.com/swxd9BO5qh

— Tim Checketts (@CheckettsTim) December 28, 2020

Now that is someone who deserves to spend a long time in prison.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour is back! And it’s calendar-opening Sentry Tournament of Champions is more loaded than it has been for a long time. Almost all of 2020’s winners accepted their invite and because of the weird season, anyone in the top 30 of the final FedEx Cup list got invited as well. So it’s not really a “tournament of champions” this year, but a tournament of champions and really good players.

Random tournament fact: All told, 17 players got the nod who normally wouldn’t, and 42 of the 45 players eligible accepted. A vacation in Hawaii to play for a big purse against a limited field with no cut? Merry Christmas, indeed.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—Kyle Berkshire will win a major by the time he’s 25: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds
—Charlie Woods will win a major by the time he’s 25: 825-to-1 odds (Actual odds!)
—Charlie Woods was the coolest kid in school when he returned from winter break: LOCK

PHOTO(S) OF THE WEEK

There were a couple of Anthony Kim sightings recently. First, with longtime swing coach(!) Adam Schriber:

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A post shared by Adam Schriber (@adam.schriber)

And then the funniest one yet. A sighting in which the person taking the photo didn’t even realize it was an AK sighting, but focused on former Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops instead:

taking a picture of Bob Stoops that accidentally includes Anthony Kim is like taking a selfie on a hike and getting Bigfoot in the shot pic.twitter.com/eIhhtzQxBA

— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) January 2, 2021

That’s how long he’s been gone. Crazy. Also, many have pointed out the comparison to seeing Big Foot, but there’s one key difference. Anthony Kim is REAL. And he was spectacular. And as much as I’m happy to see he’s still out there, each sighting is a sad reminder of what could have been.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Check out Austria’s Matthias Schwab playing golf on his skis:

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A post shared by Matthias Schwab (@matthiasschwab)

How has this dude not won on the European Tour yet? Anyway, love the concept and the Hosung Choi-esque follow-through. See? It really works!

THIS WEEK IN TOUR PRO PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

Props to Brooks Koepka and Jena Sims for coming up with the most creative Christmas card of the season:

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A post shared by Jena Sims (@jenamsims)

THIS AND THAT

Jon Rahm made huge equipment news by switching from TaylorMade to Callaway. I guess rocketing to World No. 1 faster than almost anyone in history wasn’t good enough. … Speaking of equipment, shoutout to Ryan French, AKA Monday Q Info on Twitter, for helping out high school and middle school golf teams in need this year. Here’s more info:

Goal in 2021 is to help 12 high schools or middle school teams in need. 1 is going to be my hometown girl's team, so will need 11 others. If you are a coach or know of a team in need please DM me, I will try to help the teams that are in need the most. Going to do 1 per month.

— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) December 28, 2020

And finally, congrats to Kiawah’s Ocean Course for securing a second major championship of 2021. In addition to May’s PGA Championship, this year’s HGGA Championship—AKA my annual golf trip—will also be held there. What an honor for this spectacular venue!

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

What hole will I choke away this year’s HGGA?
Where will we see Anthony Kim next?
Why didn’t I listen to my dentist as a kid?

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Hill’s confidence unshaken after missed cut: ‘I feel like I can compete with these guys’

Kent Gray — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 18:08:50 +0000

David Cannon/Getty Images
Hill plays his second shot on the 14th hole during the second round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on January 17, 2020.

By Kent Gray
Josh Hill might have missed the cut in his bittersweet European Tour debut but there will be no weekend off for the teen.

Another uncooperative day with his driver stymied any chance the 15-year-old Dubai amateur had of recovering from an opening 74, a Friday score two worse sending him home +6 for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in a share on 117th place in the 132-strong field.

Hill missed the cut by seven strokes but that only served to send him back to Dubai doubly determined to show what he is made of at next week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Asked what he had learned from his second-round 76, Hill retorted: “I learned that Mattias [Austrian playing partner Mattias Schwab who is -4] is a good putter. He holed everything. So I’m going to go away and hit a lot of drives and hit a lot of putts and hopefully that will improve for next week.

“You can’t really miss fairways around here. As soon as you miss a fairway you’re out of position and you’re struggling to make pars and that’s what happened today and yesterday. But that’s been the story for the past 18 months so I need to start working really hard on my driving.”

Hill will still take much from the week, the highlight of which was a partial practice round with Brooks Koepka where the teen beat the world No.1.

“It’s been really fun, it’s been a great experience playing with Charl [former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel] and Mattias. Disappointing the way I’ve played but I’ve learnt a lot from it and hopefully I can take that into next week.

“I feel I handled the pressure or the expectation quite well, feeling nervous on the first tee and just getting out there and having fun. So I’m pretty happy in some places but overall I’m a bit disappointed.

“I’m really looking forward to next week because I feel like I can compete with these guys when I hit fairways. I keep saying…hit fairways and hole putts.”

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After a 74, Dubai amateur Josh Hill still has weekend ambitions

Kent Gray — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 17:59:08 +0000

David Cannon/Getty Images
Josh Hill plays his approach to the 17th green during the first round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on January 16, 2020.

By Kent Gray
Josh Hill opened his maiden European Tour round with a birdie and finished it in similarly spectacular style. All he’s got to do now is sort out the rough stuff in between.

The 15-year-old Dubai amateur eventually signed for a two-over 74 in his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship debut, meaning he’ll start Friday’s second round tied 97th and with much work to do to make the weekend.

But that’s exactly what the MENA Tour star intends on doing, especially if he can get his wayward driver to cooperate. After the impressive start, Hill was punished for missing three fairways, mixing a total of five birdies with as many bogeys and a double on the 9th.

“Two sixes, on 8 and 9, killed the momentum, and then I started hitting my driver bad on the back nine, which didn’t help,” Hill said afterwards.

“Three bad bogeys, but other than that I was hitting it alright. Just three mistakes and three bad drives.

“I’m a bit disappointed, but it was really good out there. I was a bit nervous walking on greens, if I’m going to stand in front of a line or make a spike mark. But once I got into the round I started to feel more comfortable. Not too happy with the end result, but two-over, and a good round tomorrow hopefully.”

How about that 1st hole, the dream start after rolling in a 15-footer?

“On that first tee, I was shaking a bit over the ball and I was just, in my head, [saying] just take it back and it’ll be fine. Took it back and just ripped it, then holed a good putt. So it was very nerve settling.”

Once he got going the youngster even felt like he belonged.

“It felt normal, actually. It felt like I was playing on the Mena Tour. Just with a few people watching. It was nice that a few people watched and hopefully I’ll get the same support tomorrow.

“Probably the support coming down the last [was the highlight], everybody shouting my name. That was quite nice.”

Hill’s driver can expect a stern talking to overnight before his 8.10am (10th) tee time in the company of Charl Schwartzel and Austrian Matthias Schwab. For the record, Hill matched Schwab’s 74 and is only two shots adrift of former Masters champion Schwartzel. As it stands, the top 60 players and ties are at -1 but the cut mark is likely to be lower.

“I’ve just got to make sure I’m in play off the tee. I lost about four or five shots off the tee today. If I’d just hit it somewhere on the grass, I could’ve probably easily shot two or three under. Considering I was hitting my driver bad, two-over’s not too bad. “Yeah up early but I don’t mind that. Fresh greens and hopefully a better score.”

From breaking par aged 9 to beating @BKoepka.

10 things you didn’t know about Josh Hill. #ADGolfChamps #RolexSeries

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 15, 2020

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Matthias Schwab, who conjures comparisons to Bernhard Langer, patiently awaits first victory

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 15 Jan 2020 06:32:43 +0000

Andrew Redington

By John Huggan
ABU DHABI — Listen to Matthias Schwab talk and the monotone delivery belonging to Bernhard Langer springs immediately to mind.

Watch the 25-year old Austrian play golf and a similar comparison is increasingly legitimate. Just like the two-time Masters champion, Schwab’s game is built around consistency, precision and the elimination of error.

All very Germanic. And all, as it happens, more and more successful. No one had more top 10s—10—on the European Tour during the 2018-’19 season than this Vanderbilt University graduate.

Such a record was both lucrative—almost $1.95 million—and frustrating for Schwab, who hails from the ski resort of Schladming and grew up in a sporting family. Father Andreas, now retired from his job as an executive with Adidas, represented Austria in the bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics. So it was golf in the summer and skiing in the winter for Matthias—he rates his handicap as scratch on the slopes and claims he can “get down any hill”—and his brother, Johannes.

“But I was better at golf,” says Matthias, again echoing the Florida-based Langer. “I like the warm weather more than the cold. And I enjoy the discipline of golf.”

Schwab’s four years in Nashville at Vanderbilt produced a management degree and much progress on the golf course, despite having to sit out his first year because of a back injury. The beaten finalist in the 2012 (British) Amateur Championship, he was twice an All-American, twice T-3 at the NCAA Championship and holed the winning putt for the European side at the 2016 Palmer Cup (for which he earned a spot in the 2017 Arnold Palmer Invitational).

“I know college golf in the States is not for everyone,” he says, in advance of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, which begins Thursday. “I have seen quite a few good players go there and come back worse than they were before. But for me, Vanderbilt was the best fit. It is quite a small school. The academics are good, which was important to my parents. So there was never any danger of me leaving early.

“The golf coach, Scott Limbaugh, was great, as are the practice facilities. And I got to play against some great players in tournaments, guys like Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Beau Hossler and Scott Scheffler.”

Schwab turned professional in June 2017 and played the rest of the season on the European Challenge Tour before qualifying for the European Tour proper at the year-end qualifying school. One year later, he had four top 10s and finished a creditable 72nd on the Race to Dubai. And one year after that, he shot up to 17th, courtesy of all those top 10s and 12 months working on his swing under Liam James, an assistant to European Tour player and swing coach, Robert Rock. More than once Schwab came close to victory without crossing the line first. Hence the frustration.

“We started working with Matthias in Turkey maybe 18 months ago,” James says. “All those high finishes are the result of a lot of hard toil on his part. The way that he goes about things is stereotypically Germanic. He’s very smart, very methodical. There is not much wasted time on the range. He’s very specific in what he does.

“His swing now compared with 18 months ago is hugely different,” James adds. “He had a very open and weak position at the top when we started. That meant he had to rely heavily on timing. There was a lot of club face rotation through impact. So he struggled with flight control. The first thing we changed was his left-hand grip, which helped him square-up the club at the top. He is so much better now. Throughout that change he remained very consistent, too, which is hard to do. But he adapted straight away.”

Still, perhaps the biggest improvement in the Schwab game over the last 12 months or so has come on the greens. Working with coach Mike Kanski, the Austrian last year reduced his 2018 putting average of 30.24 to 29.68. That’s more than two shots over 72 holes, a huge difference in a game where margins at the top level are increasingly tight.

“Mike and I changed my setup and my stroke,” Schwab says. “In the second half of last season, I really putted well. The biggest difference is that my stroke is longer and less rounded. Before, because I opened the face so much, I would block my putts to the right, or flip over with my hands. I would always be compensating for the previous putt. It was all over the place.

“I’ve always been consistent,” he continues. “I’m pretty solid thorough the bag. My bad shots have never been too bad. Even on bad days, my ball-striking is generally OK. But, while I never really had any really bad scores, I didn’t go low that often, either. Until last year, that is. I went deeper every now and then. Which is important. At this tour, the game is about hitting home runs.”

So far, to continue the baseball analogy, Schwab has had to be content with triples. But third base is not so far from home.

“Temperamentally, Matthias is the same every day, no matter what,” Rock says. “You can’t tell if he is playing well or badly. Not that I have seen him play that badly yet. So the plan is to keep doing what he is doing. After a good season, I’ve seen a lot of players try to get better by making changes to a swing and method that has already done well. That’s a mistake. For me, it is better to keep going on the same path. Experience and confidence only makes you better. Which is better than trying too hard to be better. That only risks messing things up.

“I know Mathias desperately wants to win. Which he should. That drives him on. The key is not to mess with the balance in his game. If we don’t do that, I think he’ll win soon enough.”

The signs on that front are all good and Schwab’s natural patience is a more powerful force than any vexation he may feel at not having won yet. Things like playing for Europe in the Ryder Cup, making the world’s top 50—he ranks 80th—and graduating to the PGA Tour are all things that can wait for a man who writes down his targets at the start of each season.

“The Ryder Cup is not really a motivation at this stage,” he says. “I have a few goals for early in the season, and we will see where those take me. I am usually one who focuses on the next round or the next tournament. I do want to be part of the Ryder Cup. But it isn’t something I spend a lot of time thinking about. If I play well, it will happen.”

Keep an eye out for this quietly ambitious young man. He might not say much, but his ultra-solid game is well capable of making the sort of noise that will attract more and more attention.

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Schwab impresses Ryder Cup captain en-route to first round lead in Turkey

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 01:11:15 +0000

By Joy Chakravarty
Matthias Schwab, a rising star of European golf, refused to get drawn into a Ryder Cup conversation after being paired with captain Padraig Harrington and outscoring the three-time major championship by 10 shots to take the opening round honours at the Turkish Airlines Open.

Schwab, who was impressive in finishing tied fourth in his maiden WGC appearance last week at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, was birdie-hunting once again at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal course as he shot a seven-under-par 65 with an eagle and six birdies to tie for the lead with England’s Tom Lewis.

The 25-year-old Austrian turned professional in 2017 and secured his card on the European Tour after his debut season on the Challenge Tour. In 2017-18, he easily retained his playing privilege by finishing 72nd in the Race to Dubai with four top-10s, but has forced everyone to sit up and take notice of his immense talent this season.

Day One rewind #TurkishAirlinesOpen #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/7osMVUNmdP

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 7, 2019

The Rohrmoos resident is on a hot streak. He was tied second at the Porsche European Open after two straight top-10 finishes and was tied fourth at the Italian Open last month. He is now up to 18th in the Race to Dubai and having started 2018 ranked 572nd in the world, he has leapt to No.102 after the HSBC Champions.

Harrington, who will be leading the European Ryder Cup team when the tournament is played next year at Whistling Straits, had said earlier that he wants to be paired with young European players in the lead-up to the biennial showdown with the United States to get a better understanding of the inventory of players he could call upon.

On Thursday, the two were paired alongside Frenchman Victor Perez, winner of this year’s Dunhill Links Championship. Following the round, Schwab was asked the inevitable question about the Ryder Cup.

Getting to know Matthias Schwab ?#TurkishAirlinesOpen #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/2WIo2a0ACt

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 7, 2019

“Obviously, I thought about it because he’s the next captain. But that’s about it,” said Schwab. “It’s obviously nice, but still, I mean, I’m not really making too much of that. It’s always nice to play with a major champion, someone who has achieved as much as he has, but other than that, I’m just trying to play as well as I can.”

Matthias Schwab’s opening 65 in 5 minutes ? pic.twitter.com/SUfFCd6kAX

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 7, 2019

And even though Schwab may not be trying to impress Harrington, the Irishman, who had a horror quintuple-bogey 10 on a par five before recovering to finish at three-over, loved what he saw.

“Matthias played very well…and I assume he would have been under a bit of pressure too. It was a good sign and he is certainly very able to play the game, that’s for sure,” said Harrington.

“There are plenty of young guys out there fighting and it’s hard for them to set themselves apart, but Victor and Matthias are certainly doing that. I am bound to have two or three rookies at least in the team next year, so we will see how it progresses over the next year.”

Harrington was also asked if he liked putting pressure on the younger players.

“That’s not my plan at all but I find it interesting,” he added. “I quite enjoy being in that position to see how they react. I am not there to test them though, I am just there to go out and play with them and get to know them.

“At the end of the day, if these guys play their way into the team, it’s irrelevant what I think. But if there is experience automatically in the team you are going to be picking rookies and if there are rookies in automatically then you are picking experience. They just need to play golf and let their clubs do the talking. That’s always the best way.”

Sweden’s Alex Noren, Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and American David Lipsky started with rounds of 66 each to be tied third.

Two-time defending champion Justin Rose scripted a rousing finish, turning an average round into a superb five-under par 67 with a hat-trick of birdies from the 16th onwards. He was joined at tied sixth place by the reigning BMW PGA champion Danny Willett of England, Netherland’s Joost Luiten, Belgium’s Thomas Detry, Scot Scott Jamieson and Frenchman Benjamin Hebert.

Rose said he was delighted with his score, especially after how poorly he hit the ball during the pro-am on Wednesday.

“I guess job done. The hot finish was exactly what we needed. I was aware of the leaderboard. Obviously, it was a perfect day to play golf as it normally is here in Turkey and I could see the lads got in low,” said the world No8, the highest-ranked player in the field.

“It’s a 100 percent improvement from yesterday. I was happy I got off to a good start today and I felt positive that I was actually swinging the club much better. I feel like I’m not exactly where I need to be, but I did a good job switching from range to scoring today.”

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