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OK, so judging by the photos (some of which have since been deleted …) it looks like the guys simply swapped matching tank-tops for matching tuxes and moved their annual spring fling to Alabama—getting their bar tab picked up by Smylie’s in-laws in the process. Brilliant. But while this foursome attacked the dance floor like a short par 5, there was still plenty happening on golf courses around the world. Here’s what else has us talking.

WE’RE BUYING

Satoshi Kodaira: Introducing the latest golfer I whiffed on when taking a gander at my fantasy league’s free-agent pool recently. A six-time winner in Japan who was fresh off a T-28 in his MMasters’debut (he got in thanks to being top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking), Kodaira surprised everyone, including himself, by winning the RBC Heritage. “I was thinking mostly of getting into the top 10 so I could play next week,” Kodaira admitted afterward. But as the newest PGA Tour member thanks to the victory, which also moved him to No. 27 in the world, he’ll get to play wherever he wants the next couple seasons.

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Jon Rahm: A week after contending at the Masters, Rahm faced a different type of pressure playing in his home country’s open. “This is the hardest Sunday I’ve ever had to play,” Rahm said after his latest victory. We’re not quite buying that the Spanish Open was tougher than the cauldron that is the back nine at Augusta National, but we’re certainly buying Rahm’s record. In less than two years as a pro, he has three Euro Tour titles to go with two PGA Tour wins. What a stud.

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Brooke Henderson: The 20-year-old picked up her sixth career LPGA title and showed poise well beyond her years when she dedicated the victory to those involved in the tragic Humboldt junior hockey bus crash in her native Canada. “For all the survivors that are still fighting through it and all the ones that have passed away, I want to show them that we’re here for them and we’re supporting them. They’re always going to be in our thoughts and prayers.” Well played—and said—Brooke.

WE’RE SELLING

Si Woo Kim’s putting: We’d be celebrating the reigning Players champ as only the sixth three-time PGA Tour winner before turning 23 since World War II if not for some brutal putting down the stretch at Hilton Head. Kim missed from four, seven, five and six feet over the final four holes before losing in a playoff. And this wasn’t just a blip. For the season, Kim ranks 202nd in strokes gained/putting. On the bright side, his performance on Harbour Town’s greens moved him up seven spots on that list.

Tape-delayed coverage: This has been discussed complained about time and time again, but. . .

Sorry if you've heard this already, but I need to join the chorus. So smart to move up the tee times for the @RBC_Heritage when you know bad weather is on the way. But the fact there's no way to watch the event live is crazy. Even the PGA Tour LIVE app will show tape delay #bogey

— Ryan Herrington (@GWcampusinsider) April 15, 2018

Well said, Ryan. By the way, if you know Ryan, you know that’s about as mad as he gets. Hashtag “bogey”? I can practically hear him screaming at his TV. And if you get Ryan worked up like that, you’re definitely doing something wrong. CBS admitted as much on Monday when the network announced it’s “re-examining” its tape-delay policy. Again, don’t mess with Ryan.

Patrick Reed’s green-jacket critics: Not surprisingly, the Masters champ has been wearing his green jacket everywhere—and we mean everywhere—since his triumph at Augusta National.

Patrick Reed has now worn his Masters green jacket at a Knicks game, an Astros game, a Rockets game and at a Chick fil-A Drive Thru. pic.twitter.com/gfU2TKNCRB

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 16, 2018

As he should. However, surprisingly, there are people giving him a hard time for this:

Lol Patrick Reed wore the green jacket to the Rockets game. So this is like wearing your letter jacket to the mall in high school times 100, right? pic.twitter.com/sfyZVynin3

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) April 16, 2018

7 day limit on the green jacket in public?

— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) April 16, 2018

We’re not seeing the problem here, guys. If you win a green jacket, this is what you do! And because you only have a year before you have to return it to Augusta National’s champions locker room, you absolutely live it up. If Patrick Reed wants to be baptized wearing that, he should go for it. If I won a (real) green jacket, the only way you’d get me out of it is if you scraped it off me while I was sleeping.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour heads to San Antonio for the Valero Texas Open, AKA that tournament that used to be a shootout every year until they switched to a tougher Greg Norman (and Sergio Garcia) design (AT&T Oaks) that no one seems to like.

Random tournament fact: Greg Norman couldn’t care less what anyone thinks of his golf course.

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RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

— Patrick Reed is going to stop wearing the green jacket around: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds

— Greg Norman would beat Gary Player in a dance-off: 10-to-1 odds

— A Norman-Player dance-off would get better ratings than tape-delayed golf coverage: LOCK

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

When Reed took home the green jacket but you remember that you shot a 64 at Augusta on Sunday pic.twitter.com/CzQc47K2rA

— Golf Problems (@GolfProblems_) April 15, 2018

Looks like the boys were getting after it at Smylie’s wedding. If I had to guess, this photo was taken after the band played “Shout.” That’s the best/rowdiest part of any wedding reception. Look it up.

VIRAL VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

A few years ago, I was part of a Golf Digest “study” on how alcohol affects golfers. It might have been the best work day I’ve ever had. Sadly, I didn’t get to participate in a similar exercise recently, but the results—this time caught on video—were fantastic. Check it out:

And in the mould of basketball’s “Uncle Drew” as played by Kyrie Irving, here’s golf’s “Grandpa Jamie” as played by two-time world long-drive champ Jamie Sadlowski:

Ever seen an 80-year-old grandpa hit a 400-yard drive?
You’re about to… #GrandpaJamie pic.twitter.com/5qeeQoJSCV

— Cleveland Golf (@ClevelandGolf) April 16, 2018

Great job by Jamie and Cleveland Golf. But let’s all agree to keep from developing this into a full-length feature. . .

PREDICTION: That will NOT do well at the box office.

THIS WEEK IN TOUR PRO-WAGS PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

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Congrats to Smylie and Francie, which sounds like the title of Netflix’s next hit sitcom.

THIS WEEK IN LPGA TOUR PROS PLAYING OTHER SPORTS

Michelle Wie looks like a pretty solid ping-pong player:

Match with @themichellewie vs @JerryFoltzGC at last nights #WieLovePingPong for @hsjga pic.twitter.com/DuAQuc40Un

— Danielle Tucker (@TheGolfClub) April 15, 2018

And here’s Belen Mozo trying a little beach volleyball:

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I’m glad I’m not the only one dainty enough to need socks when walking on hot sand.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“It was probably 30 yards off the tee box and this giant black bird swooped in front of it and hit it, and the ball fell 20 yards short in the water. It would’ve been in the middle of the green. It might have been close. I got screwed.” —Kelly Kraft, whose tee shot on Harbour Town’s 14th hole on Friday, hit a bird and dropped into the water, causing him to make double bogey and miss the cut by a stroke. Golfers will be telling this Friday the 13th horror story by campfires for years.

THIS WEEK IN HUMOROUS YARDAGE MARKERS

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THIS WEEK IN UNFAIR MEMBER-MEMBER SQUADS

Just a couple of Masters champs teaming up.

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Ben and Sergio wound up winning. Shocking.

THIS AND THAT

A drunken argument between friends over golf etiquette resulted in one guy getting stabbed in the thigh. We take golf etiquette fairly seriously, but that’s a pretty severe punishment for walking in someone’s line. … The Major Series of Putting announced it will return to Las Vegas this October. Having covered last year’s inaugural event, I can confidently say this is great news, especially for the surprisingly large number of professional mini-golfers out there. … Speaking of putting, Tiger Woods’ backup putter from 2001 sold for $44,000 at a recent auction (Yep, backup putter). No word on whether Si Woo Kim was the buyer. … And finally, congrats to Golf Digest’s Steve Hennessey for getting engaged—and getting the scene captured on camera:

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Yes, that’s the same Steve who was involved in the drunk golf video above. They grow up so quickly.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

How much would Tiger Woods’ actual putter fetch?

Is actual spring ever going to get here?

Will Jordan copy Smylie’s wedding colour scheme?

The post Patrick Reed’s green-jacket critics, Greg Norman’s interesting dance moves, and the #SB2K crew crashes a wedding appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Ask Satoshi Kodaira, who tried to get through the PGA Tour’s Qualifying Tournament in 2014, played a few Web.com Tour events but then retreated to his native Japan, where he started finding some success. Two of his six victories on the Japan Tour came just last year when he also made the cut in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.

Now the 28-year-old is a winner on the PGA Tour after defeating reigning Players champion Si Woo Kim in a sudden-death playoff Sunday at the RBC Heritage. Kodaira sank a 25-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole at windswept Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, S.C., to win in just his 15th PGA Tour start.

“This is a stage I’ve been dreaming about, and to have an opportunity to play full-time on the PGA Tour is a dream come true,” Kodaira said, readily accepting membership and the two-year exemption that comes with the victory.

The Tokyo native received a sponsor exemption into the event because he is ranked among the top 50 in the world. That status also gave him a berth in the Masters a week earlier, where he finished T-28 in his debut at Augusta National.

Kodaira won in just his 15th PGA Tour start after six wins in his native Japan. (Tyler Lecka/Getty Images)

Though he hadn’t recorded a top-10 finish previously in a tour event, that hardly mattered Sunday when he began the day six strokes behind third-round leader Ian Poulter and five back of Kim. Despite the gusting winds, Kodaira posted a closing 66 and 12-under 272 total, and then watched Kim, Poulter and Luke List struggle coming home.

Winning wasn’t even his primary thought entering the final round. “I was thinking mostly of getting into the top-10 so I could play next week,” Kodaira admitted. Then he offered another admission. “To win this quickly is a big surprise to me.”

Kodaira, who shot a tournament-low 63 in the second round, became the sixth straight win at Harbour Town to start from at least three shots behind on the final day. The victory will make him the 27th-ranked player in the world come Monday morning when the newest World Ranking is officially released.

RELATED: The club Satoshi Kodaira used to win the RBC Heritage

He seems to have taken the road less travelled to arrive at this place. But perhaps not. Winning breeds winning, no matter where it occurs.

It’s difficult to win on the PGA Tour. Just ask Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Paul Casey or Poulter, all who ended victory droughts of various lengths this season despite having levels of talent that would seem to prevent them from such extended streaks. But the truth is, winning on any tour demands excellence.

So Kodaira is a surprise. Then again, he is not.

While Japan’s latest sensation revels in his accomplishment, at the other end of the spectrum sits a talented player like Luke List, who tied for third and still seeks his first victory after 109 PGA Tour starts. He began the final round just a stroke behind Poulter, but his up-and-down day in winds blowing 20-25 miles per hour wasn’t the recipe required for victory.

After a third-round 67, List was asked about his chance to break his maiden. “You hear a lot of greats talking about keep knocking on the door,” said the 33-year-old Vanderbilt graduate. “I feel for me, whether it’s tomorrow or next week, I feel like it’s going to happen. I’m playing too well for it not to. I’m just going to keep that attitude.”

A missed birdie try on the 18th on Sunday left List one stroke out of a playoff, and still searching for PGA Tour win No. 1. (Ryan Young/PGA Tour)

List, who closed with a one-over 72 while battling an illness, had a chance to join the playoff, but a 10-foot birdie putt wouldn’t go down. It was the third time this season he knocked on the door but didn’t bust it down, after a second-place finish at the Honda Classic in March and a T-5 at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges last fall.

RELATED: After six straight wins of golf, Ian Poulter finally ran out of gas

What does it take to break through? A key putt at the right time? A bit of luck? Maybe a lot of luck? Timing? The answer for Kodaira was his ball striking. He topped the field by +1.514 in strokes gained/approach-the-green by leading in proximity to the hole, averaging 29 feet, 6 inches—six feet closer than the field average.

A winner of one Web.com Tour title, the 2012 South Georgia Classic, List is still searching for success at the highest level.

“Hopefully next week,” List replied to a question about when his time might come. “I’m getting better each opportunity. And I feel like my game has risen to the point where I expect to contend every week. So it’s going to happen.”

If he maintains this form, you have to think he’s right. But there are no guarantees, even if a player feels ready. Meanwhile, a guy with hopes of a top-10 finish has added an iconic plaid jacket to his wardrobe for winning at Hilton Head.

When Sam Saunders grabbed the early lead at the Genesis Open in February, folks wondered what his grandfather, Arnold Palmer, might say to him. Said Saunders: “He’d say, it’s about time you started winning some tournaments.”

And he expected to win, too. So did Beau Hossler before Poulter pilfered the Houston Open from him. Every good player expects to win. If they didn’t, there really would be no point in competing.

How one gets started isn’t easily prescribed.

Back to Nicklaus, who had an answer for his players on the U.S. Ryder Cup team that lost to Europe at Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village Golf Club in 1987. The Americans continually lost the 18th hole that week, and Nicklaus, for their own good, challenged them to look inside themselves, figure out what works in their games, what doesn’t, and then play to their strengths when they are in contention. Among the players who responded to the advice were Curtis Strange, who won consecutive U.S. Open titles in 1988 and ’89, and the late Payne Stewart, who won three majors, including two U.S. Opens.

Even if his previous wins occurred on the Japan Tour, Satoshi Kodaira had been there, had figured some things out about himself, about what works. And he is there again.

It’s a surprise, but it isn’t.

The post There is no formula for a breakthrough PGA Tour win. Just ask Satoshi Kodaira and Luke List appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Heading into the final round of the RBC Heritage it was still anybody’s tournament. While Ian Poulter looked poised to grab a second victory in three weeks, a few intriguing names lurked a few shots back in need of low rounds to steal the victory.

It’s fair to say Satoshi Kodaira was probably not one of the names on anyone’s radar.

But it was Japan’s Kodaira who vaulted to the top of the leaderboard with one of the low rounds of the day, a five-under 66 that put him in the clubhouse at 12 under, where he needed help to even get into a playoff. Thanks to the late-round struggles of Si Woo Kim, Kodaira got the necessary help and found himself facing off with Kim in a sudden-death playoff (the 10th on tour already in 2017-’18). On the third playoff hole, Kodaira’s 24½-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th sealed the deal, giving him his first career PGA Tour win.

“I didn’t think it would come this quickly,” said the 28-year-old from Tokyo. “I was nervous going into the playoff. But I’m very very happy to make that putt.”

Entering the final round five strokes back—and with the entire day’s playing several hours earlier than originally scheduled to avoid bad weather predicted for the afternoon—Kodaira closed the gap quickly, making three consecutive birdies to open his round at Harbour Town Golf Links and adding four more on the day.

The victory comes in just Kodaira’s 15th PGA Tour start, something that seems surprising until you consider his resume on the Japan Tour, where he’s won six times since 2013, including twice this past fall. Ranked No. 46 in the world to start the week, Kodaira hadn’t finished inside the top 30 on the PGA Tour until last week, when he tied for 28th at the Masters. He’ll get more chances soon though, as he confirmed he’ll accept a full-time PGA Tour membership after the win.

As for South Korea’s Kim, a win would have given him a tour victory in three consecutive seasons, but his putter failed him late in his round, as he missed putts of four, five, seven and six feet over his last four holes, including a birdie putt on 18 at that would’ve won the tournament.

“I felt I had a lot of chances to win. And after I started missing some, I got nervous,” Kim said. “But I give props to my opponent, he made a great putt on the last one.”

The solo second is Kim’s best finish of the season, and his second in the top three, the first coming in the fall at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba.

Finishing in a tie for third at 11 under were Luke List and Bryson DeChambeau, who also carded a five-under 66 after Saturday’s four-over 75 that knocked him out of contention. List’s three bogeys on his final six holes ultimately cost him a chance at notching his first tour victory. He’s now finished T-5 or better three times this season.

As for Poulter, a closing 75 included five back-nine bogeys, as the Englishman playing in his sixth straight PGA Tour event fell to T-7.

The post Satoshi Kodaira defeats Si Woo Kim on third playoff hole for first PGA Tour win at RBC Heritage appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By E. Michael Johnson
Satoshi Kodaira, five shots in arrears of Si Woo Kim starting the day, fired a final-round 66 to erase the deficit and then won the RBC Heritage with a birdie putt of 24 feet, six inches on the third extra hole of a playoff with Kim.

After exchanging pars on the first two extra holes, Kodaira—who has won six times on the Japan Tour, including a pair of Japan Tour majors—hit an 8-iron on the 176-yard, par-3 17th at Harbour Town and drained the putt to win the tournament and earn membership on the PGA Tour. The putt was made with a Scotty Cameron by Titleist prototype.

Harbour Town G.L. is one of those courses where the statistics don’t always reflect the play. With its small greens, the Pete Dye course rarely coughs up eye-opening greens in regulation figures, making Kim’s 68.06 percent mark relatively impressive. In fact, Kodaira led the field in proximity to the hole on his approach shots for the week.

RELATED: Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira wins RBC Heritage in playoff

Kodaira’s bag is not one you see from a typical PGA Tour player as it is nearly filled with sticks from PRGR, which is a big brand in Japan but known for little more in the U.S. than signing Corey Pavin at one time and producing pretty good utility irons. Now as Kodaira prepares to play the PGA Tour full time, he has an opportunity to raise awareness of the brand on a weekly basis going forward.

What Satoshi Kodaira had in the bag at the RBC Heritage

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Driver: PRGR RS prototype (Graphite Design Tour AD DI-6S), 10.5 degrees

3-wood: TaylorMade M2 2017, 15 degrees

5-wood: PRGR ID Nabla Black, 18 degrees

Irons (3): PRGR ID Nabla RS; (4-PW): PRGR Forged

Wedges: PRGR ID Nabla Tour (52 degrees); Fourteen RM 22 (60 degrees)

Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist prototype

The post The clubs Satoshi Kodaira used to win the RBC Heritage appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
The Masters, perennially the paramount event of the golf calendar, feels even bigger this year with a host of engaging storylines and return of a certain 14-time major winner. Somewhat ironic, as the Masters field is smaller than it has been in decades.

Four players qualified for the tournament via Official World Golf Ranking following the WGC-Match Play, and one spot is potentially up for grabs at this week’s Houston Open. But with Brooks Koepka officially dropping out of the proceedings—the reigning U.S. Open champion remains sidelined with a wrist injury—the 2018 Masters field will feature no more than 87 players, the smallest amount of entrants since 1997.

Late additions to the field were Cameron Smith, Chez Reavie, Satoshi Kodaira and Dylan Frittelli, gaining entry for finishing inside the OWGR Top 50. The Houston Open winner also receives a Masters invitation if he’s not already eligible. Ian Poulter was informed by various entities after Saturday morning’s Match Play victory that he had accumulated enough OWGR points for a Masters invite, only to discover 10 minutes before his quarterfinals match that one more win was required to earn his spot. Poulter lost that match 8 & 6 to Kevin Kisner, and now needs to win in Houston to play at Augusta National.

Related: The entire line-up for the 2018 Masters and how they earned an invite

The post The Masters is going to have its smallest field in two decades appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.