After his disappointing finish at the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club two weeks ago, Rickie Fowler could have sulked or taken a mental holiday or even questioned just how much progress he has truly made in what has been a comeback year.

Instead, he has just kept the comeback theme going. And going.

Fowler hardly even seems fazed by that final-round 75 that spoiled an otherwise impressive week at LACC, one in which he opened with a major championship record 62 (equalled soon after by Xander Schauffele) and held at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds of the 123rd U.S. Open before he dropped to T-5. Case in point is his play the last two days at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Thanks to a bounce-back chip-in eagle on the par-five 17th, Fowler carded a seven-under 65 and trails co-leaders Taylor Pendrith and Taylor Moore by a stroke through 36 holes at Detroit Golf Club. Fowler is tied for third with impressive newcomer Ludvig Aberg with a 12-under 132 total. Fowler’s performance comes on the heels of a respectable T-13 showing at the Travelers Championship, where he fired a career-low 60 in the third round.

Since he finished T-13 at The Players in March, Fowler has missed just one cut, that coming at the PGA Championship, while finishing no worse than T-17 in his other eight starts. Last season he missed nine cuts and posted just one top-10 finish and three in the top 25; this year he has missed only two cuts while collecting seven top-10s and 14 top-25s in 19 events.

“I think, obviously, this year there’s been a lot more Thursdays, Fridays where I put myself in a comfortable position going into the weekend,” said the 34-year-old California native, who drew huge galleries playing alongside Joel Dahmen and defending champion Tony Finau. “Yeah, it makes it a lot easier and a lot less stressful on the game to at least be in the mix versus having to go shoot a low one, kind of like what I had to do last week to kind of get up in the mix, even though Keegan [Bradley] was a little too far out.”

Ranked 35th in the world, Fowler won the last of his five PGA Tour titles at the 2019 WM Phoenix Open. Naturally, given his consistency of late, he was asked if he was close to capping his comeback with a victory.

“The biggest thing, we can’t try and press too hard. I definitely know we can win,” he responded. “How I’ve played is some of the best, if not the best, I’ve felt about my game and on the course really, ever. We’ve won a few times, I know we’re capable of doing that. … Continuing to put ourselves in good positions and playing some good golf, we’ll just keep knocking at the door.”

Fluff can’t stay away

Mike “Fluff” Cowan, shown at the 2022 US Open, is caddying for Kyle Reifers this week in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Warren Little

Ohio native Kyle Reifers, who for the second week in a row got into the field via Monday qualifying, also made it worth his while for the second straight start, advancing to the weekend after a second-round 69 gave him a 36-hole total of 139.

The 39-year-old veteran also made it worthwhile for his caddie. Reifers has famed veteran Mike “Fluff” Cowan on his bag this week. The 75-year-old looper usually caddies for Jim Furyk, but Furyk, one of eight players to win the U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open, is not in this week’s field at the 43rd U.S. Senior Open in Wisconsin. He withdrew on Monday night without giving a reason.

Golf Channel coverage reported that Furyk told Cowan “to go get a bag for the week,” and he returned to Michigan, where he made his debut as a caddie. Cowan worked his first PGA Tour event at the 1976 Buick Classic and he was on the bag when Peter Jacobsen won the 1980 Buick Classic to mark his contribution to a victory.

Moore’s Murray method

Taylor Moore hits from the ninth tee during the second round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. NurPhoto

Second-round co-leader Taylor Moore is taking a page out of his playbook from his junior golf days, and the swing key—not that he would know this—is one that actor Bill Murray used to transform himself from a glorified hacker into a decent amateur golfer.

Moore, who won his first tour title at the Valspar Championship, came into the Rocket Mortgage Classic having missed the cut in his last three starts. To remedy his poor ball striking, he decided to start holding his follow-through for an extra second or two. When Murray, the star of “Caddy Shack,” sought to become a respectable player in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he turned to noted instructor Kip Puterbaugh, who among other things advised Murray to hold his finish. Anyone who saw Murray before and after going to Puterbaugh witnessed quite a transformation.

As for Moore, he just revisited a key fundamental from his amateur days.

“I feel like I’ve been a little bit impatient with my golf swing,” Moore said after his second-round 67. “I feel like my golf swing’s been good, but I haven’t necessarily driven the ball great the past few weeks. Really just wanted to hold some finishes, and that’s kind of just always been something for me as a junior golfer all the way through my golf career; that’s kind of brought me back just to hitting better shots, and just kind of staying there until the ball’s finished. That’s something I’ve tried to bring back this week.”

It worked for Murray. It’s working for Moore. No joke.

The post Another week, another shot for Rickie Fowler to end his win drought appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Though he didn’t know when it would arrive, he never lost faith that it would. Even at his lowest ebb, when as a Korn Ferry Tour player Moore’s lung collapsed, setting off a life-threatening health battle.

“I was super fortunate to get through that moment in my life and get back on my feet and get proper care,” he said “It gave me kind of a new perspective on life and realise at that time that golf wasn’t necessarily everything and there was life outside of this game. I was able to kind of re-frame my life.”

Terrifying as that was, Moore said it make him a thoughtful about his own game. During an interview last year, my question to him was simple: What was his advice to junior golfers — or any golfer, really — who was serious about improving.

“Everyone is obviously a little different,” he said, “But this was the kind of blueprint that I followed.”

Up your athleticism

At 5ft, 9ins, Moore was never the biggest guy on the course, but he’s always been one of the most athletic — something he attributes to being a multisport athlete growing up.
“I would encourage kids to play other sports in their off-season, I think that’s a big deal,” he says. “I played baseball at a pretty high level. I was a pretty small kid, but I hit it pretty far for my size then. Once I concentrated on golf and gained some muscle as I got older, I could hit it farther. It gave a whole new dynamic to my game.”
Moore was so good at baseball he almost played college baseball instead of college golf, and didn’t go all-in on golf until the latter part of high school. But he said playing other sports boosted his overall athleticism — making him both more flexible and stronger.
For many of us, golf is our other sport, so we hardly have enough time to take up baseball on the side. But we can learn the lesson of an active lifestyle: Stretching, mobility work; they can go a long way for your golf swing.

Find daily wins

Something that Moore says has become a hallmark of his success as a professional golfer is focusing on daily wins. These are little habit-forming routines you can do every day that are more about the process, and less about the direct result. The goal is to simply do them.
“For me, it’s focusing on the small daily stuff. My am and pm routines,” he says.
One of his daily wins he was working on at the time was learning to park his worries, and take a moment for himself. That helps put him in a positive mindset before tackling the day.
“I take 10 minutes of stillness or meditation every day,” he says.” If I do that, that’s my little win for the day. I’m happy.”

Taylor Moore. Douglas P DeFelice

Ladder your bigger goals

We all have goals for our games. To get your handicap to single digits, or to gain 20 yards, or to win your club championship. Whatever bigger goal you set for yourself is great, but for Moore, he found it was important to never set a goal that was too big.
“I was trying to be the best golfer in my school first, then the best golfer in my city, then the best golfer in my state. By 17 I wanted to be the best in my area,” he says. “I was trying to hit these little check marks and goals that were attainable.”
It’s the attainability that’s the key here. Set a goal that you’ll need to push yourself to achieve, but one you can actually achieve in short order. That gives you the positive you need to achieve the next one, and be a happier golfer overall.

The post The ‘blueprint’ for golf success, according to the PGA Tour’s newest winner Taylor Moore appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Valspar Championship was just that kind of tournament. Until it wasn’t.

Anyone who followed Sunday’s final round at Innisbrook Resort undoubtedly felt some kind of emotional investment in the fate of Adam Schenk. Soon to be a first-time father, the sixth-year PGA Tour pro was seeking his first victory and making all manner of clutch putts that suggested a destined outcome. Meanwhile, his expectant wife Courtney followed along in the gallery for all 18 holes while being eight months pregnant.

Playing in his 10th straight event before the child arrives, Schenk was out-clutching his playing partner on the greens, quite a feat when that player is Jordan Spieth, who tends to squeeze the most out of his rounds. The popular Texan, who won this event in 2015, dogged Schenk the entire day. It was largely a two-man battle, though England’s Tommy Fleetwood for a time put himself in position to play a spoiler role.

The winner, however, was a man invisible much of the day, a 29-year-old native Texan named Taylor Moore who used a pair of late birdies to steal away with his first PGA Tour title in his sophomore season. Thanks to a four-under-par 67 on an unseasonably cool day in Palm Harbor, Florida, the lowest score in the final 11 pairings, Moore snuck past the leaders, posted 10-under 274 on the Copperhead Course, and watched it hold up to prevent Schenk’s fairy tale from coming to fruition.

Jordan Spieth made a bogey at the 16th and missed a birdie at the 17th to fall out of contention. Douglas P DeFelice

“I might have been under the radar to some people watching, but I felt like I was in the golf tournament from the time I teed off today and was just excited to control what I could control and get it done,” said Moore, who began the day two behind Schenk and never led outright until Schenk bogeyed the 72nd hole. “I have done a lot of good things this year, excited about where my game’s at, for sure, and, yeah, just so happy to get it done today. I mean, that was insane.”

Schenk, 31, had at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds, and led for all but a brief spell, when Spieth nosed ahead with an eight-foot birdie at the eighth while Schenk three-putted. But Schenk answered from 23 feet for birdie at the ninth, one of several remarkable putts he converted in a closing 70. None was more spectacular, however, than his 71-foot beauty he dropped at the par-4 12th that restored his lead to 10-under.

No one would pass Schenk until the end, though Spieth caught him with a 10-footer at the par-5 14th. And then Moore stealthily made it a three-way tie with a five-foot birdie at 15 and a 27-foot dagger at 16. Playing his final 11 holes in four-under, Moore then saved par on the final two holes, including a five-footer at the last. He finished the week converting all 64 of his putts inside seven feet.

“I thought the winner would be around 10-under. Obviously, I got to that today, which was cool,” said Moore, who had himself in position for his first top-10 finish of the year after a third-round 65 at last week’s Players Championship, only to shoot 74 on Sunday and end up T-35. “I was just trying to shoot the best round I could. I think I got a little bit ahead of myself at Players, looking back, trying to have a nice high finish in that field, and went with the mindset this week that Thursday’s the same as Sunday and every golf shot has the same value.”

Spieth, who over the final two days added a few more “yos” to the yo-yo rounds that have become his trademark, somehow cobbled together a remarkable bogey at the par-4 16th to only lose one stroke after he flared his drive into the water. But his miss from six feet for birdie on the par-3 17th to regain a share of the lead stung him, and he three-putted 18 to fall into a tie for third with Fleetwood (70) at 276.

He admitted he was surprised as anybody to see Moore, a Dallas neighbour, in the mix.

“I thought it was me and Adam,” said the three-time major winner, who closed with a 70. “I thought it was down to us two, and I thought I was maybe going to sneak a tie on 16, and Tommy … I don’t know what he did on the end. But I guess he [Moore] made a bunch of putts, got up-and-down from everywhere to finish.”

That was Schenk’s modus operandi until the fateful 72nd hole, when he hooked his tee shot up against a large tree. Instead of taking an unplayable lie and one-stroke penalty, he opted to turn a club over and play his second shot left-handed. His execution was too good, and his ball darted across the fairway into the rough. His third came up just short of staying on the top shelf near the pin and drifted 41 feet below the hole. After Spieth missed his tying birdie try on the same line from 44 feet, Schenk drilled his putt straight at the cup. His ball hit the pin but didn’t fall. He settled for a career-best solo second and earned $882,900.

Naturally, he wasn’t thinking about the nice start to his first child’s trust fund.

“It stinks,” Schenk said. “I hit a really bad drive on the last hole. I toed it. Wish I could have lightly hit somebody and stayed where I had a chance to get to the green, but it did not, and I didn’t deserve it. I had a chance with the wedge shot that came up short, and then I had a chance with the putt, which surprisingly actually hit the pin and came close.

“It stinks to get so close, but a great week all in all.”

Ranked 103rd in the world, Moore pocketed $1.458 million, nearly half of his career earnings to date. He might have been the surprise guest of honour at the end of the week, but the University of Arkansas product, who needed a few years before reaching the PGA Tour, didn’t surprise himself. His self-belief, he said, was the difference.

“I’ve won at the college level, I won on Korn Ferry Tour, and I think when I get myself comfortable and handle my emotions and get into my space where I’m really calm, I can play at the highest level and compete,” Moore said. “And I thought I did a really good job of that today.”

Better than anyone else. Which is a pretty good story, too.

The post Taylor Moore writes his own fairy-tale finish with surprise victory at Innisbrook appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall

Admit it. You saw the name and thought, “Wait, there’s another Jay Haas?”

No offence to the man, the one and only Jay Haas, he accomplished much in his career. But it is a career that is very much in the past tense. Haas hasn’t played a full PGA Tour schedule since 2005. His last tour win was in 1993, three years before Masters champ Scottie Scheffler was born. He’s 18 years older than rookies on the PGA Tour Champions. So while it was charming to see 68-year-old Jay team up with son Bill at this week’s Zurich Classic at New Orleans, it had the hint of a publicity stunt in a game built on meritocracy.

That sentiment isn’t any less true following Day 1 at TPC Louisiana. But make sure to add this: The old guy’s still got it.

The Haas boys turned in a seven-under 65 during Thursday’s four-ball format, a score that tied tournament favorites Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa (who are a collective 58 years younger than the Haas clan) and defending champs Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman, and proved the biggest surprise of Round 1 at TPC Louisiana.

“That’s really impressive. It really is,” Morikawa said of Jay’s performance. “Some of these par 3s are playing over 200 yards, and to have a birdie chance inside 15, 20 feet is a good shot already. So what Jay did today, very, very impressive.”

Jay and Bill had the longest odds of winning entering the week, a byproduct of Jay teeing it up on tour for the first time since 2010. But Bill, playing this year on a one-time money list exemption, hasn’t done much to inspire confidence either, posting just one top-25 finish in 18 starts this season. Nevertheless, Jay and Bill combined for eight birdies against one bogey Thursday. Their score has them just on the fringes of contention — six shots off the lead from Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele — but perhaps more importantly, gives them a legitimate shot to reach the weekend.

Should that come to pass, Jay would have the honour as the oldest player in PGA Tour history to make a cut, a record held by Sam Snead (67 years old) at the 1979 Westchester Classic. But from the sound of it, this week’s mission has already been accomplished.

“Obviously just being out here and teeing it up and hearing our names called tomorrow, hopefully I can hit some good shots and make some birdies and everything,” Jay said on Wednesday. “But ultimately this is just … to be with my son, again, on the grandest stage here, that’s what I’m trying to take from it.”

“It’s just a good opportunity to play golf and enjoy it and have fun, but also inside the ropes be competitive and him be able to see what I’m talking about when I say either I’m struggling or here I hit a good one, what do you see here?” Bill echoed. “To have him inside the ropes on my team, it’s just a great opportunity, and it’s just a special week. Something I’ll remember forever.”

An interesting pairing near the top

Robert Garrigus picked an interesting time to stage a comeback.

The 44-year-old has spent the last five years in golf’s wilderness, his last top-10 on tour coming in January 2018. In a vacuum, seeing his name along with teammate Tommy Gainey on the Zurich leader board after an 11-under 61 would be quite the shock.

But what makes their Thursday performance especially noteworthy is what happened earlier in the week. Golfweek reported that Garrigus became the first tour player to apply for a conflicting event release from PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan for the Saudi-back LIV Golf series that begins in June, a report that Garrigus confirmed to the Golf Channel.

“I am grateful to have been given a sponsor exemption into this week’s event and I just want to focus on playing the best I can,” Garrigus said.

On that end, Garrigus fulfilled his promise, contributing five birdies on the round.

“We had a great day today, made a bunch of birdies,” Garrigus said after the round. “I chipped in. He was making everything on the front nine.”

Chris Graythen

Moore bounces back from ER visit

According to Matthew NeSmith, Thursday’s aim was pretty low.

“We were just trying to finish 18 holes upright,” NeSmith said. “I mean, finish 18 holes upright, and all of a sudden, we started catching a touch of a rhythm, started making a few putts, started finding the round a little bit. We finished 18 holes, and that was the goal.”

Rhythm was caught and putts were made, as he and Taylor Moore combined for a 12-under 60. But should you think NeSmith is merely being humble, it sounds like reaching the finish line was legitimately a goal.

That’s because Moore spent Wednesday morning at the hospital.

“I had food poisoning Tuesday night up until midday yesterday,” Moore explained on his emergency-room visit. “So just got an IV and some nausea medicine. Finally ate something this morning, which was nice. Like he said, just tried to finish every hole. That was kind of a win within its own right.”

Moore did, ahem, more than stay upright, lighting up TPC Louisiana with six birdies and an eagle on his day. It’s been a somewhat shaky rookie year (which rookie years tend to be) for Moore, making seven cuts in 14 starts and ranking 123rd in strokes gained entering New Orleans. A good week could help him secure his card for next season.

But first things first, particularly with the difficult alternate shot on tap. In terms of how the team will approach Friday, it sounds like Moore has a solid game plan.

“No more Cajun for the next couple days,” he said.

MacIntyre hates shot, still makes hole-in-one

Robert MacIntyre is a fortunate man.

That’s because the pride of Scotland struck, judging by his dejected and disgusted look after contact, a poor tee shot at the par-3 14th on Thursday, to the point that MacIntyre glanced away from his ball in flight. Which is a shame, as he missed that ball finding the bottom of the cup:

He didn't love it, but he ??????.

ACE from @Robert1Lefty! pic.twitter.com/Tq5mfQnH24

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 21, 2022

Look at that smirk; MacIntyre knows he got away with one. Conversely, there are plenty of shots that are good until they aren’t, so no need to apologise.

Cantlay, Schauffele: Still good at golf

We should probably discuss the leaders, yes? That would be Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, who shot the round of the day with a 13-under 59.

The duo, which has quickly become a Team USA staple, was bogey-free in the afternoon playing alongside Scheffler and Ryan Palmer, with Cantlay’s birdie on the final hole giving them the first sub-60 round in Zurich Classic history.

While Schauffele and Cantlay were one of the marquee groups, there was a bit of a question mark on how they would play. Or more specifically how Schauffele would play: He is having an odd season, ranking 17th in strokes gained but turning in just one top-10 in 10 starts. But the X-Man more than did his part on Thursday with six birdies.

Friday will be a captivating watch, as last year’s alternate shot format did them in to the tune of a 74, ultimately finishing T-11. If Thursday’s round was any indication, there seems to be little that will get in their way.

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The post An interesting pairing near the top, a 59, an emergency room visit and a 68-year-old highlight Day 1 at the Zurich Classic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.