Pumpkin Ridge Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

LIV Golf Invitational Series update: First three events bring a party atmosphere to England and US

Matt Smith — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 05:17:23 +0000

By Matt Smith
On Thursday June 9, 2022, history was made as the likes of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter teed it up for the inaugural Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series event — the first of eight tournaments this year offering a total purse of $250 million and dangling a $4 million carrot to each individual winner.

It all got under way at Centurion Club, just outside London, with a 2.15pm shotgun start in leafy St Albans.

LIV Golf Invitational Series at Centurion Club

This was a tournament more akin to an F1 afternoon in Abu Dhabi rather than a normal PGA or DP World Tour event.

The shotgun start, festival park and full-on access to the players gave fans an unprecedented experience. There were airshows, competitions, activations, golf sims and DJs. There were after-game concerts each night with some big names such as James Morrison, James Bay Jessie J and Craig David rocking the summer sunsets.

Charl Schwartzel was the toast of London as he went home with a collective $4.75 million in his pocket and it was a bit of a South African party in England as the Louis Oosthuizen Stingers team block-booked the podium.

Schwartzel took top spot, holding off the unheralded Hennie du Plessis by a stroke on seven-under. Fellow Stinger and South African Branden Grace took third spot.

Oosthuizen, who himself finished a tidy T10, joked on the podium: “This is why a captain is so important. None of them would be here if it wasn’t for me.”

LIV Golf was well and truly rolling and from London, the series made its first foray into the United States at the beginning of July with its second event staged at Pumpkin Ridge, Portland, in Oregon.

Branden Grace with the LIV Golf Portland trophy

Again it was a South African celebration in the festival-style atmosphere as Grace shot 65 in the final round for the biggest pay day of his 15-year professional career — and the individual title. His 13-under total for the 54-hole event was two strokes better than Carlos Ortiz, with Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson finishing another two strokes back.

Johnson’s 4 Aces GC claimed the team title at 23-under, seven strokes ahead of Stinger.

In winning, Grace claimed the $4 million individual prize, as well as a quarter-share of the $1.5 million second-place prize won by Stinger, making his total payout Saturday at $4.375 million. For the two LIV Golf events, he’s now won $6.4 million.

“I played with DJ at London as well on the Sunday and played really nicely, and just kind of found a groove,” said Grace after winning for the 15th time as a pro. “I’ve been feeling really comfortable. I’ve been hitting the shots that I see and things like that, and that’s really important and gives you the confidence.”

Although Johnson didn’t make the individual podium – he lost the third-place tiebreaker to Reed – he was happy to see his 4 Aces romp to the team title. The other two members are Talor Gooch and Pat Perez and, like all 48 players, they loved the atmosphere at this revolutionary event.

“The fans were electric from start to finish,” Johnson said. “I mean, there was a ton of energy out there. Branden played unbelievable and deserved everything with the way he played. But I thought the fans and the crowd were absolutely amazing.”

Henrik Stenson

The drama certainly did not let up as we arrived at Bedminster, New Jersey, where Henrik Stenson capped a brilliant weekend with victory on his debut — a matter of days after he was stripped of the Ryder Cup captaincy.

The Swede claimed a two-stroke victory over Matthew Wolff, while DJ’s 4 Aces were strong enough for back-to-back wins in the team event.

“I’m super-proud of the focus I managed to have this week,” said Stenson after his famous win. “I’ve been working really hard to get my game back in shape, and it’s certainly going in the right direction as we know now.”

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WATCH: Day 2 highlights from LIV Golf Invitational at Pumpkin Ridge, Portland

Clarkwin — Sat, 02 Jul 2022 06:12:10 +0000

By Matt Smith

Click below to catch the best bits from Day 2 of the LIV Golf Invitational Series at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland

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WATCH: Day 1 highlights from LIV Golf Invitational at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland

Matt Smith — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 10:16:47 +0000

By Matt Smith

Click below to catch the best bits from Day 1 of the LIV Golf Invitational Series at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland

[parone_video_player hide-logo=”true” hide-description=”true” autoplay=”true” campaign=”298″ defaultlang=”en” feed=”51-all-videos”/]

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LIV Golf: Wolff, Chacarra and Ortiz sign up to set field for Portland

Matt Smith — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 05:26:53 +0000

By Matt Smith
LIV Golf has set its field of players for the second leg of its series in Portland Oregon with the announcement of the final three playing spots.

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Rising American star Matthew Wolff joins the ranks, along with World No. 2 amateur Eugenio Chacarra and Mexican favourite Carlos Ortiz . All three will make their LIV Golf debuts on Thursday in Portland at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, where they will contend for $25 million in prize money.

Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra. NCAA

One of golf’s longest hitters off the tee, the 23-year-old Wolff has quickly established himself among the game’s top competitors. An All-American at Oklahoma State University and winner of the 2019 NCAA Division I individual championship, Wolff then turned pro in 2019 and secured his first professional win less than one month later. He has continued to make an impact within golf’s elite, reaching a career-best No. 12 in the world in October 2020 and earning seven top-10 finishes, including runner-up at the US Open and fourth at the PGA Championship.

Chacarra will make his first appearance as a professional with LIV Golf after turning pro this week. The 22-year-old is a two-time All-American at Oklahoma State University, where he was a finalist for both the Ben Hogan Award and the Haskins Award as the NCAA’s top collegiate golfer. Chacarra made 14 collegiate starts in 2021-22, winning three times with six additional top-six finishes.

Mike Ehrmann

Ortiz, winner of four professional tournaments, has been a standout since turning pro in 2014. He has spent 80 weeks of his career ranked in the top 100 and reached 44th in the world in February 2021. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico and a collegiate golfer at the University of North Texas, Ortiz represented his country in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021.

“Our impressive roster of LIV golfers continues to grow with incredible young talent and international stars. Matthew Wolff and Eugenio Chacarra have both made a name for themselves as two of golf’s most promising talents, exhibiting impressive success at an early age. I’m eager to watch them play alongside Carlos Ortiz, one of Mexico’s most consistent pros who along with many of our other golfers represents LIV Golf’s continued commitment to growing the game on a global scale,” said Greg Norman, CEO and Commissioner of LIV Golf. “LIV Golf is providing new opportunities for the best players in the world to compete, and our field in Portland reflects that. We can’t wait to kick off our first U.S. event with these incredible golfers.”

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Reports: Brooks Koepka makes his move to quit PGA Tour for LIV Golf Invitational Series

Matt Smith — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 12:14:39 +0000

By Matt Smith
Brooks Koepka, the four-time major winner, is set to announce his departure from the PGA Tour to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series, according to Sky Sports News.

Koepka, the back-to-back US Open champ in 2017-18 and PGA Championship winner in 2018-19, has long been linked with the money-spinning tour, where such big names as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood teed it up at the inaugural event at Centurion Club just outside London earlier this month.

Koepka — who has removed all references to the PGA Tour from his social media profiles — has long been strongly linked with a move to the LIV Tour, despite the threat of a ban from the PGA for any of its players that compete in the rival series. His brother, Chase, was also in the field at St Albans for the $25 million tournament, won by South African Charl Schwartzel, who pocketed a total of $4.75 million for thee days’ work.

Now Brooks, the world No. 19, will line up alongside his brother at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, Portland, Oregon, in the US for the second event from June 30. Mexican Abraham Ancer is also reported to be announced imminently.

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One of Tiger Woods’ U.S. Amateur victims sends out perfect tweet during championship match

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 06:03:32 +0000

By Alex Myers
Doc Redman’s incredible closing flourish at the 117th U.S. Amateur had the golf world buzzing on Sunday. But for at least one golfer, Redman’s comeback win over Doug Ghim was a reminder of his own heartbreaking loss to Tiger Woods in the same event two decades before.

Steve Scott took Tiger to extra holes in the 1996 U.S. Amateur final at Pumpkin Ridge. And Woods needed some heroics of his own to send the match past regulation. So after CBS’ Kyle Porter tweeted “A 60-foot eagle you had to have on the 35th hole of the U.S. Am at freakin Riviera? This is unbelievable,” Scott had this perfect response:

Never seen that before…oh, wait…. https://t.co/tDQmr5cUzF

— Steve Scott (@sscottpga) August 20, 2017

Although, it wasn’t quite as long or quite as late in the round, Scott, now the head pro at Paramount Golf Country Club outside New York City, was referring to the eagle putt Woods dropped on him in their epic 38-hole match. Scott held a five-up lead with 16 holes to go, but Woods drained a 45-footer on Pumpkin Ridge’s par-5 11th hole to best Scott’s birdie and cut the lead to one. Sound familiar?

Scott held a two-up lead with three to play, but after a memorable moment of sportsmanship (Scott reminded Woods he had moved his mark out of his line before he putted from the wrong spot), Woods birdied 16 and made another birdie on 17 from 35 feet to tie the match. Woods eventually won with a par on the 38th hole to claim his third consecutive U.S. Am title. He turned pro with his famed “Hello, World” press conference the following day.

“That was probably the best Amateur final match ever,” Scott said after. “Just to be a part of it, I feel completely a winner.”

Twenty-one years later, Ghim had similar thoughts, calling it “an incredible match” and saying, “As disappointed as I am not to win, I still had a lot of fun. I’m definitely gong to look back at this as one of the best accomplishments that I’ve had and move on.”

Like Scott, at least Ghim walked away with an incredible story to tell and a pretty nice consolation prize: A trip to the Masters.

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