Smylie Kaufman Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

NBC Sports adds two fan favourites to broadcast team after departure of Maltbie and Koch

Matt Smith — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 06:02:30 +0000

NBC Sports have announced that former PGA Tour players Brad Faxon and Smylie Kaufman are joining the network’s golf broadcast team for the 2023 season.

The news, first reported in December by multiple outlets, comes after long-time voices Roger Maltbie and Gary Koch saw their extended runs with the NBC Sports come to an end.

Faxon, 61, is an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour and known as one of the best putters in the history of the game, serving as a short-game whisperer to a number of pros, including Rory McIlroy. He briefly worked for NBC Sports last decade and was the lead golf analyst for Fox Sports’ US Open coverage for five years. Faxon has also been an on-air contributor to Sky Sports’ golf coverage in Europe and made a number of appearances last year on Golf Channel’s “Live From” show during its major coverage. Faxon will take over a hole announcement during the broadcast and continue to be a part of “Live From”.

Kaufman, 31, won the 2015 Shriners Open and is perhaps best known for playing in the final group at the 2016 Masters. The LSU product has transitioned into broadcasting and worked for ESPN, Golf Channel and NBC’s Peacock channel last season, earning rave reviews for his on-course reporting. Kaufman is expected to be an on-course reporter in his new role.

“We have the deepest roster in the game and are excited to showcase our new voices in Brad and Smylie as well as familiar faces in new roles as we start the 2023 PGA Tour season this week at Kapalua,” said Molly Solomon, executive producer at Golf Channel.

NBC also announced that Golf Channel contributors Damon Hack and Cara Banks will serve as interviewers for the upcoming season. They will replace Kathryn Tappen, who is not expected to return to NBC Sports’ golf coverage in 2023. Dan Hicks and Paul Azinger are back for their fifth consecutive year as play-by-play commentator and lead analyst.

Kaufman is expected to work this week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui, while Faxon will make his debut next month at the Honda Classic.

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Reports: More broadcast changes as Brad Faxon, Smylie Kaufman in and Kathryn Tappen out at NBC/Golf Channel

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 06:26:23 +0000

Former player Brad Faxon, shown with Rory McIlroy at the 2022 Players Championship, will join the NBC/Golf Channel. David Cannon

By Joel Beall
More broadcast changes are coming to the NBC Sports/Golf Channel broadcast, according to multiple reports.

A month after longtime voices Roger Maltbie and Gary Koch saw their extended runs with the network come to an end, former PGA Tour players Brad Faxon and Smylie Kaufman are expected to fill the vacated roles. The news was first reported by Golfweek, with a source confirming the move to Golf Digest.

Faxon, 61, is an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour and known as one of the best putters in the history of the game, serving as a short-game whisperer to a number of pros, including Rory McIlroy. He briefly worked for NBC Sports last decade and was the lead golf analyst for FOX Sports’ U.S. Open coverage for five years. Faxon has also been an on-air contributor to Sky Sports’ golf coverage in Europe and made a number of appearances last year on Golf Channel’s “Live From” show during its major coverage. Faxon is expected to take over a tower spot during the broadcast and continue to be a part of “Live From,” a source relayed.

Along with Maltbie and Koch, Kathryn Tappen is not expected to return to NBC Sports’ golf coverage in 2023, according to Golfweek and The Quadrilateral. Tappen served as the post-round interviewer this past year. Also stepping aside is Justin Leonard, who is expected to take a reduced role in favour of playing on the PGA Champions Tour.

In a statement to Golf Digest, an NBC Sports spokesperson said, “We’re focused on celebrating Roger Maltbie and Gary Koch at the PNC Championship later this month and will be announcing any additional changes to our lineup early in the new year.”

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Smylie Kaufman taking baby steps in bid to return to the PGA Tour

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 02:24:50 +0000

Michael Reaves/Getty Images

By Brian Wacker
First place in last week’s South Carolina Open, a 54-hole mini-tour event on the GPro circuit, was $10,000. Smylie Kaufman didn’t win, but he did shoot what he figured was his first bogey-free round in two years, a four-under 68, in the second round.

Augusta National is less than 90 miles away from Columbia Country Club, but it might as well have been on another planet. Three years ago, Kaufman entered the final round of his first Masters a stroke off the lead and playing alongside his good pal Jordan Spieth. Of the 30 players who made the cut last week, Kaufman finished 24th. His haul: $820.

It’s something.

“That was a big step, that he was willing to go,” said Kaufman’s off-again/back-on-again coach, Tony Ruggiero. “If he continues to do stuff like that and just go play, he’ll be OK.

This week, Kaufman is back on the PGA Tour, at least temporarily. With only past champion status—the equivalent of essentially no status—he’s in the field at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas. It was there four years ago when Kaufman’s meteoric rise began in earnest after a surprising final-round 61 propelled him to victory in just his fifth career start.

Life sped up from there: A few months later, that Masters; then the Instagram famous SB2K16 trip to the Bahamas with shirtless shenanigans alongside buddies Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas.

But while the rest of the group’s collective star would continue to shine, Kaufman’s flamed out fast. In 2017-’18, he missed 18 cuts in 22 starts and withdrew once.

Plagued by an elbow injury, Kaufman took a major medical extension and had five starts last season to earn enough FedEx Cup points to keep his card. He missed the cut in four of them and finished 71st in the other. Exempt into the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, he then racked up two more missed cuts before withdrawing from the final event.

Along the way, he spoke of the dark side of social media, saying that it “sucks.” He took a self-imposed sabbatical from Twitter and Instagram for a couple of months and has tried to remain vigilant in that restraint. To wit, over the past 12 months he has posted to Instagram just 25 times, a handful of them superficial sponsor-related posts. By comparison, in the year following his lone PGA Tour victory he had posted more than double that.

Instead, he has tried to focus on enjoying life and the process of finding himself and eventually his game.

“I’m just trying to stay out of the media and social world as I get my game back in order,” Kaufman said via text, politely declining to go much deeper. “I’m just trying to focus on golf.

That’s where Ruggiero comes in.

The two hooked up again after Kaufman texted him following a missed cut at the KFT’s stop in Boise at the end of August.

“He was pretty lost, which is easy to fall into out there,” Ruggiero said. “My thought was, why try to reinvent the wheel.”

Ruggiero noticed a lot of knee action and lateral movement had crept into Kaufman’s move, along with too much face rotation of his club as his arms tried to create all the speed in his swing. So he sent the 27-year-old a few videos of his swing from his senior year at LSU and his first couple of years on tour.

“When he played his best he turned around his spine,” Ruggiero said. “He’d always been a player who was centered, stable and connected to the ground. So we’re trying to get his knees and lower body to be quieter, with his stance a little wider, the ball up in his stance and just let his hips turn.”

That said, Ruggiero didn’t want Kaufman to get overloaded with a bunch of swing thoughts this week so their work on the range was minimal. They instead spent Monday and Tuesday together with most of the focus on Kaufman playing. Ruggiero walked 11 holes with him on Tuesday as he played alongside Sepp Straka. Kaufman didn’t miss a fairway on the back nine at TPC Summerlin, according to Ruggiero, and made a few birdies along the way as well.

It was a step in the right direction. But the first of what figures to be many as Kaufman tries to work his way back to the PGA Tour.

“Golf swing-wise, he’s trending in the right direction,” Ruggiero said. “I think he’s in a good place for turning things around. The key is tempering expectations. He can’t get to the place he’s trying to get to in a week.”

No, but it’s a start.

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Smylie Kaufman, his once-promising career on hold, speaks out about the dark side of social media

Golf Digest Middle East — Sat, 04 Aug 2018 22:43:39 +0000

By Brian Wacker
Smylie Kaufman’s season is over. The 26-year-old former PGA Tour winner told GolfDigest.com that he has filed with the tour for a medical extension, citing an inflamed left elbow that has plagued him for months. He last played at The Greenbrier in early July, where he withdrew following a 79 in the opening round.

An MRI revealed no structural damage, but the pain, swelling and lack of range of motion was too much to bear. Kaufman, who has missed the cut in all but two of 16 starts this year, hasn’t touched a club since pulling out of the event and isn’t expected to be able to play for the next two to five months. When he does return, he’ll have five starts to earn enough points to keep his tour card or secure secondary status.

“It has been the toughest year, year-and-a-half of my life, golf wise,” said Kaufman, whose exempt status from his lone victory, the 2015 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, was set to run out at the end of this season. “It sucks being really good for so long and feeling like I forgot how to play.”

At times it looked like he had.

Kaufman’s rise was the definition of meteoric. In his fifth career start on the PGA Tour, he shot a sizzling final-round 61 that included seven birdies and an eagle over his final 11 holes at TPC Summerlin. He waited a couple of hours to see if it was good enough. It was; he won by a stroke.

The following spring, Kaufman, who had been something of a late-bloomer at LSU, entered the final round of the 2016 Masters a stroke back of leader Jordan Spieth after having recorded the day’s best score, a three-under 69, the previous afternoon. The moment proved too big a challenge for the then-24-year-old, who tumbled out of contention with nine bogeys and a double en route to an 81 and a T-29 finish.

Still, Kaufman seemed on his way to becoming a star. In the span of 15 months, he had won on golf’s biggest tour; was the darling underdog story at Augusta National; enjoyed the spoils of newfound fame and fortune with buddies Spieth, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler on a spring break trip to Baker’s Bay in the Bahamas, the hijinks of which were splashed across social media; inked a lucrative deal with a beer company; and infamously (and mostly unsuccessfully) took on the waters of the Pacific in a kayak with Spieth as first mate off the coast of Oahu following a round at the Sony Open.

With all of it came 100,000 followers on Twitter and more than twice as many on Instagram, as Kaufman eagerly lived out his life on both for all to see.

Yet just as quickly as his star rose, it flamed out even faster and more spectacularly. Since that 2016 Masters, Kaufman has missed 38 cuts in 60 worldwide starts. The only cut he made this year was in January at the CareerBuilder Challenge in Palm Springs.

Robert Laberge/Getty Images
Kaufman is taking a medical exemption due to an elbow injury that has caused him to miss all but two cuts in 16 starts in 2017-’18.

Eight times this year he has shot in the 80s. His 74.89 scoring average ranks 203rd on the tour, and he ranks outside the top 200 in every major statistical category in the game, except for one: he’s 198th in strokes-gained/putting.

Along the way, Kaufman changed coaches, changed caddies and couldn’t get out of his own way, unable to process the overload of well-meaning advice and information that was coming in from all directions. In short, he wasn’t able to figure out which direction was up and knew his season (and exemption on tour) was quickly coming to an end.

“I never had to fight for my card before,” he said. “I overdid it. I was trying too hard, which is easy to do. You always run into the same guys on Wednesday afternoon on the range, and you almost never see those guys play well.”

That included Kaufman, whose forearm and wrist throbbed, like the headache that his year was fast becoming. The elbow soon followed. “I was icing them since February, twice a day, just to be able to play the next day,” he said. “It finally gave out on me.”

It didn’t help any, either, that one of his favorite outlets, social media, had turned less, well, social amid his struggles.

“Social media doesn’t help,” Kaufman said. “That place sucks. It was so great for me for so long, but it was never anything good the last six months. When I go to Twitter, it’s like reading the newspaper for me. Well, I don’t wanna see Tom or Joe telling me how bad I suck when I read the newspaper.”

Kaufman took a two-month sabbatical from Twitter and Instagram earlier this year and has tried to be more low key with each since, though he was happy to share some snaps from his wedding in April to high school sweetheart Francie Harris. Settling into married life and a routine at home in Birmingham during his off time has helped as well, providing stability and a bit of clarity, as has working with sport psychologist Dr. Bhrett McCabe.

“It was great to just be able to focus on what I’m trying to accomplish,” said Kaufman, who admits that outside of watching Tiger Woods or keeping up with friends Spieth, Thomas, Fowler and others, he doesn’t watch much golf. “A lot of things about social media are great. I love that I can interact with fans and other players. It’s the way things are moving and a way that you can market yourself. But I need to focus on my golf.”

It took a while to learn that and how to avoid a lot of the other pitfalls that go with success coming so quickly, he admitted.

“I didn’t have one low point, I had a lot of low points,” he said. “It was just a big washing machine cycle every week. Mentally, I lost a lot of confidence.

“If I could do it over again, I wouldn’t have played as much when I was struggling. My bad golf is a lot worse than other guys’ bad golf because I’m an aggressive player. But with the time off I’ve been able to remember all the good golf I have played, and I realised my best golf is in front of me.”

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Patrick Reed’s green-jacket critics, Greg Norman’s interesting dance moves, and the #SB2K crew crashes a wedding

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 06:38:03 +0000

By Alex Myers
Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we were reminded once again that all good things come to an end. Of course, I’m talking about golf’s #SB2K crew, which instead of partying it up at Baker’s Bay this year, attended the wedding of one of its own, Smylie Kaufman. Cue Madonna singing “This used to be my playground,” and hold back the tears for the end of an era.

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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.

Tyler Lecka/Getty Images

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:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhlBIpDjxyc/?utm_source=ig_embed

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?

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Rahm keeps on rolling, Henderson wins for Humboldt, and one of the worst bad breaks you’ll see

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 06:10:47 +0000

(Photo by Quality Sports Images/Getty Images)

By Joel Beall
Welcome to the Dew Sweeper, your one-stop shop to catch up on the weekend action from the golf world. From the professional tours, trending news, social media headlines and upcoming events, here’s every golf-related thing you need to know for the morning of April 16.

Kodaira takes down Kim

Satoshi Kodaira is a name unknown to most fans. He entered last week ranked inside the top 50 in the world, yet had just 14 career appearances on the PGA Tour, his best finish a T-28. However, even if you missed Sunday’s tape-delayed action from Hilton Head, Kodaira won’t be a stranger for long. The 28-year-old from Japan overcame a five-shot deficit to earn his way into a playoff, where he defeated Si Woo Kim to capture the RBC Heritage.

Kodaira started his day with three straight birdies, adding four more throughout his round. His surge, coupled with Kim’s stumble down the stretch and Ian Poulter’s back-nine 40, earned Kodaira a spot in sudden death (the 10th playoff on the tour this season). On the third playoff hole, Kodaira dropped a 25-foot birdie on the par-3 17th to claim victory.

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

The win earns him a two-year tour exemption and invites to the Players Championship, PGA Championship and next year’s Masters. With an OWGR points boost, Kodaira will also earn entry to the U.S. Open.

Sam Greenwood

Friday the 13th strikes Kraft

Every golfer has a story of misfortune. Good luck topping Kelly Kraft’s bad break.

During the second round of the Heritage, Kraft’s tee shot on Harbour Town’s par-3 14th tee struck a bird, causing his ball to drop into a water hazard. Kraft walked away with a double bogey. An incident noteworthy in itself, particularly so given Kraft missed the cut by…one shot.

“There was a helping wind, and I hit a 7-iron, caught it perfect,” Kraft said. “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.”

If you’re wondering why Kraft wasn’t awarded a break—after all, if a ball strikes a power line, a player has to replay the stroke without penalty—chalk it up to the eccentricity of the rules of golf.

“The big difference is a bird is a God-made object,” said PGA Tour rules official Dillard Pruitt. “Whereas a telephone wire is man-made. It’s just a stroke of bad luck. It doesn’t happen very often, but today is Friday the 13th. Freaky Friday.”

Keep this in mind the next time you proclaim your lip-out as the “worst break ever.”

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Rahm keeps on rolling

Patrick Reed’s triumph, Rory McIlroy’s convulsion and charges from Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler grabbed the Sunday headlines at Augusta National. Lost in the madness was Jon Rahm, who quietly posted a fourth-place finish, his first top 10 at a major. The fledgeling superstar continued to show his firepower, this time in his homeland, as Rahm won the Open de España.

Starting the day two back of Paul Dunne, Rahm was tied with countryman Nacho Elvira on the par-3 17th hole at Centro Nacional de Golf. Rahm’s tee shot appeared headed for water but stayed up on a bank, where he was able to get up-and-down. Elvira hit a similar approach but was not as luck, his ball finding a watery grave. Coupled with uneven play from Dunne, it was enough for a Rahm two-shot victory.

“This is hard to describe,” an emotional Rahm said. “The feeling of pride and satisfaction is amazing. This is the hardest Sunday I have ever had to play. Everyone seemed to want me to win. I felt that. And it was hard to deal with. I tried to isolate myself, but I could feel it. So to win here is great.”

It is Rahm’s third European Tour win since July and fifth professional win in the last 16 months. Might want to hop on Rahm’s 18/1 U.S. Open odds while you can.

Harry How

Henderson wins for Humboldt

While wind swept away most of the Lotte Championship field, Brooke Henderson was unruffled. She turned in a final-round 67, one of just three rounds in the 60s on the day, for a four-shot victory in Hawaii.

Of greater note, however, was the meaning behind Henderson’s play, as she dedicated her performance to those involved in the Humboldt Broncos hockey team bus tragedy.

“It’s extremely sad, a terrible tragedy what happened up there,” Henderson said. “I know it kind of affected my whole country. Everybody really took it kind of personally.

“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.”

It was the 20-year-old’s sixth career win, two away from tying Sandra Post for most LPGA victories by a Canadian.

SB2K reunites

Golf’s version of the Rat Pack reunited, albeit under slightly different circumstances.

Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Smylie Kaufman blew up social media feeds again this weekend. But Birmingham subbed in for Baker’s Bay, as the group was together for Kaufman’s wedding.

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Sadly, shirts were (mostly) kept on.

With Kaufman tied down and Spieth recently engaged, the Spring Break endeavours might be coming to a close. Don’t cry that those tank-top, shoeless golf rounds are ending; smile because they happened.

The post Rahm keeps on rolling, Henderson wins for Humboldt, and one of the worst bad breaks you’ll see appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

15 Things You Need To Know About Justin Thomas

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 14:53:34 +0000

By Stephen Hennessey
How familiar are you with 2017 PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas? You’ve probably heard hundreds of times how he’s friends with Jordan Spieth. And how competitive they are with each other (which is true).

But here are a few other things you need to know about the 24-year-old rising star, and the favourite for the 2017 PGA Tour Player of the Year:

Getty Images

Justin Thomas has been dreaming of making it on the PGA Tour since attending, at age 7, Tiger Woods’ win in the 2000 PGA at Valhalla.

JT has a VHS tape of the tournament, which he estimates he’s watched 50 times, motivating the Louisville native to put in the work to one day make it to the same stage.

Add Justin’s win at the PGA Championship to the long line of champions with strong PGA of America ties.

Justin grew up in Kentucky, playing a lot of golf with his father, Mike, being the club pro at Harmony Landing outside Louisville. And Justin’s grandpa, Paul, was also a club pro, serving in Zanesville, Ohio. Paul was a good enough player to play in the 1962 U.S. Open at Oakmont.

The 2017 PGA Championship winner would spend most days in the summer picking the range and hitting shots as his father worked.

At the end of the day, he and his dad would play for dollars as a kid after he was done picking the range, and it got competitive: “We would play for a dollar, and it was pretty heated out there. And I’m a pretty sore loser, so I did not handle it well when I lost and had to give up a dollar,” he said.

Sam Greenwood

Though he hasn’t been on a Ryder Cup team yet, Justin Thomas celebrated the 2008 victory at Valhalla with some VIP access.

One of Thomas’ favourite memories is high-fiving Phil Mickelson behind the 17th green when J.B. Holmes clinched the winning point for the U.S. team at Valhalla. With his father being on the PGA of America board that week, Thomas got to hang out with all the players that week.

Getty Images

Thomas’ win at Quail Hollow might’ve clinched the 2017 Player of the Year title.

This season was already stellar — with three PGA Tour victories, including a 59 in his win at the Sony Open, and a (then) record-tying 63 at the U.S. Open at Erin Hills. The PGA Championship victory gives him the most wins out of all major winners this year.

Photo by Walter Iooss Jr.

At 145 pounds (66kg), Justin Thomas is one of the biggest hitters on tour, pound for pound.

It’s actually insane how far JT hits it, given his size. Thomas ranked first in driving distance at Quail Hollow (328 yards off the tee) and ranks seventh on the PGA Tour this year (310 yards, 10 yards more than the tour average).

He had one of the most impressive collegiate resumes in recent memory.

As a freshman at Alabama, Thomas won the Haskins Award as the nation’s top golfer in 2012. He turned pro after his sophomore year, in which the Crimson Tide won the 2013 NCAA Championship and earned his PGA Tour card after a strong 2014 on the Web.com Tour.

Thomas is roommates with fellow Alabama golfer and PGA Tour player Bud Cauley in Jupiter, Fla.

Their prize possession is a custom, crimson-colored pool table with a Bama logo. Along with so many other tour pros, Thomas and Cauley reside and practice in Jupiter, where they’re both members of Medalist G.C. and The Bear’s Club.

You may or may not have heard, but Justin is buddies with Jordan Spieth.

Since they competed at the Evian Junior Masters in France when they were 14 and 13 (above), they’ve been buddies. Thomas told Golf Digest in 2014: “I don’t think him and I really sit back and reflect on what we’ve accomplished too much, but I probably do more than Jordan does,” Thomas said. “And it’s pretty cool. It’s crazy to think where our careers are gonna end up and how long we’ll be competing on the same level.”

The Spring Break boys now have four major wins with Thomas’ win.

And victories in the final two majors of the year, with Spieth winning his third at The Open, and Thomas taking home the title at Quail Hollow. Spieth’s no longer the only #SB2K16/17 bro with a major win.

When you realize Christmas is only 2 days away…

A post shared by Justin Thomas (@justinthomas34) on Dec 23, 2016 at 8:12am PST

Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler made back-to-back holes-in-one at the 2016 Masters Par-3 Contest.

Paired with Spieth, the trio shared a moment they’ll never forget.

Thomas made sure his girlfriend, Jillian Wisniewski, was at Quail Hollow to see his first major win.

Though we usually don’t get too much inside info about his girl on social media, we found out Thomas didn’t want Jillian to miss his big win: “My girlfriend was supposed to fly out [of North Carolina] at about 7:00 and I was like, ‘You need to change your flight to later, because I don’t know, I just feel like I don’t want you to miss this, I feel like I’m going to get it done,” he said after.

@vokeywedges hooked me up with a few of my favorite (clean) rap lines for my fresh set.. Lovin em! Have to thank @wosellers for some help too

A post shared by Justin Thomas (@justinthomas34) on Feb 24, 2015 at 8:47am PST

You can always find cool stampings on Thomas’ wedges.

Usually, Thomas’ wedges are stamped with “RADAR,” describing his spot-on wedge play. But as seen above, he’ll mix in the occasional hip-hop lyric, such as these from 2015, with Lil’ Wayne, Rick Ross and Drake songs.

The family is very tight-knit: Justin’s mom regularly travels with him on tour—even hanging with him and his friends and going out to dinner with them.

During Thomas’ rookie season, his mom, Jani, would regularly go out to dinner with Thomas’ friends at night. And if you’re at a tour event in which Thomas is playing, you can expect to see her around the grounds each week.

Stuart Franklin

–His father, Mike, has a frame of the golf balls from special moments in Justin’s career.

Moments from this year include Thomas’ record-tying 63 in the third round at Erin Hills, and the 59 at the Sony Open. We’re quite confident at least one ball from Quail Hollow (above) will make it to the display.

The post 15 Things You Need To Know About Justin Thomas appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Gary Player sent the perfect tweet about not being invited to #SB2K17 with the rest of the boys

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 06:26:03 +0000

We feel you, Mr. Player. Just like the rest of us, reserved to watching the #SB2K17 crew on social media as the crew tears up Baker’s Bay for a second straight year, it appears Gary Player is joining us in disappointment.

The nine-time major champion had made it clear that he wanted in for this year’s post-Masters spring break with Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas and Smylie Kaufman.

Looks like he didn’t make the cut.

Mr. Player had made it pretty clear he wanted to hang with the fellas out at Baker’s Bay, sharing this great tweet last year.

#SpringBreak c.1965. @JackNicklaus and I out on safari in South Africa. Good times. How about an invite to #SB2K17 pic.twitter.com/RNJ0S0VPhb

— GARY PLAYER (@garyplayer) April 26, 2016

There’s no doubt in our mind the 81-year-old could’ve kept up with the boys — no one’s in better shape than Player.

Sorry, Gary. You’ll just have to enjoy #SB2K17 as it plays out on Snapchat with the rest of us. Let the FOMO sink in. –– By Stephen Hennessey

The post Gary Player sent the perfect tweet about not being invited to #SB2K17 with the rest of the boys appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler & Co. kick off #SB2K17

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 06:07:55 +0000

By Alex Myers

Last Friday, Smylie Kaufman looked me in the face and said #SB2K17 was in serious jeopardy of not happening.

“We’ve talked, but I doubt we can get anything on paper,” Kaufman said. “Everybody’s got such busy schedules.”

Well, either Smylie was a last-minute invite (unlikely since he was voted the MVP of #SB2K16) or he was just throwing everybody off the scent (there were a lot of thirsty pros looking for an invite), because the boys are back in town. And by town, we mean Baker’s Bay.

On Tuesday, just two days after the Masters ended, Smylie, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas all began sharing photos and videos from their latest brocation to this exclusive location in the Bahamas.

https://twitter.com/JustinThomas34/status/851854470455709696

#SB2K17 is on!! SnapChat ? RickieFowler15

— Rickie Fowler (@RickieFowler) April 11, 2017

And this year, they’ve even got their own Snapchat filter:

The Spring Break boys are back ?

A post shared by Golf Digest (@golfdigest) on Apr 11, 2017 at 12:01pm PDT

So if you care to follow along, hop on Snapchat or check back here for more of this fun foursome’s shenanigans. Prediction: There will be more to come. A LOT more to come.

The post Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler & Co. kick off #SB2K17 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.