Sending my prayers to @TigerWoods and his family tonight—here’s to a speedy recovery for the GOAT of golf. If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s to never count Tiger out.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 24, 2021

And then there were all the golfers who honoured Woods by wearing his traditional Sunday red shirt. Arizona State alum Phil Mickelson even bought one with the logo of rival University of Arizona because that’s all he could find while playing in Tucson.

Only one way @PhilMickelson would wear red.

To honor Tiger. pic.twitter.com/EN8oZ4bPdq

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) March 1, 2021

Nicely done, Phil. Tiger tweeted how much he appreciated all the gestures, but I’d also like to think that the most competitive person this planet has ever seen took note of who didn’t wear red on Sunday and that he’s already planning another epic comeback. Anyway, I’ve got my red shirt on, too, as we dive into everything else happening in golf. In the meantime, get better, Big Cat. You’ll be missed.

WE’RE BUYING

Collin Morikawa: With a win at the WGC-Workday Championship, Morikawa became the second player to win a major and a WGC before turning 25. We’ll give you one guess who that other player is. Morikawa has now won four times in 39 PGA Tour starts as a pro. That’s virtually the same winning percentage he had in college when he won five times in 48 starts. Remarkable. No wonder this guy is already up to No. 4 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Mike Ehrmann

Speaking of rankings, Morikawa, who entered the week ranked No. 213 in strokes gained/putting on tour, ranked 10th in the stat for his second tournament since switching to that claw grip. In other words, Happy learned how to putt. Uh-oh. And after that mishap at the PGA Championship, he’s also learning how to better handle trophies:

.@collin_morikawa is a seasoned pro now thanks to his 2020 PGA Championship mishap. ?pic.twitter.com/UVgH5AZoTG

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) March 1, 2021

Again, uh-oh …

The Korda sisters: Another week, another win for golf’s sport’s most-talented family. This time it was Nelly Korda holding off Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko at the Gainbridge LPGA for her fourth career LPGA victory. This, just five weeks after older sister Jessica won for the sixth time in her career.

Icon Sportswire

The Kordas matched Annika and Charlotta Sorenstam in 2000 as sisters to win back-to-back tournaments on the LPGA Tour. But the Kordas are also on pace to win every event this season. Hey, you can’t win every event if you don’t win the first two, right? Anyway, did I mention the Kordas and Collin Morikawa were on the cover of recent back-to-back issues of Golf Digest? That bodes well for current cover boy Viktor Hovland …

Annika Sorenstam: Recent headlines hadn’t been particularly kind to the GOAT of women’s golf, but no one could criticize her performance on the course. After being retired for more than a dozen years, Sorenstam returned to action and made the cut at Lake Nona. Yeah, yeah, she was basically playing in her backyard, but that’s still really impressive. Imagine going more than 12 years without doing something and still being able to hang with the best in the world? If I didn’t drive a car for 12 days, I’d probably forget how.

Cliff Hawkins

Branden Grace: First of all, props to Grace for winning with such a heavy heart and for even being able to get through this interview in which he talks about recently losing his dad to COVID-19:

Five weeks ago, @BrandenGrace lost his father.

Today was an emotional win @PuertoRicoOpen. pic.twitter.com/5lq8knytZg

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 28, 2021

So sad. But undoubtedly, his pops would be proud. Talk about someone putting together a sneaky-good career, Grace’s victory at the Puerto Rico Open gives him two PGA Tour wins to go with nine Euro Tour titles. Still only 32, he’s also the only golfer to shoot 62 in a major. And like we’ve mentioned before, with Viktor Hovland recently lifting the Puerto Rico Open curse, there’s a good chance we’ll see him win again soon. If Grace could just get himself on the cover of Golf Digest, then he’d really be cooking.

WE’RE SELLING

The Tiger tribute police: I was joking about Tiger taking names of those who didn’t wear red. Sort of. But man, Golf Twitter needs to chill a bit. Everyone does things their own way, and whether it was due to sponsors (silly, but I get this is a business) or a delayed shipment (Morikawa), it just wasn’t in the cards for everyone to come out in red and black. I was half expecting someone to complain Justin Thomas’ shirt wasn’t RED ENOUGH!

But as we saw by Morikawa getting emotional talking about Tiger after winning, that doesn’t mean those who didn’t wear red didn’t show their appreciation or support in other ways. We also have no clue which players have been in touch with him directly. And again, thankfully, Tiger isn’t gone for good. So there will be other chances to honour him in the future. And by then, everyone better have figured out how to get a red shirt to wear! Kidding. Sort of.

Playing The Concession: If you’re a weekend hacker like myself, that is. Wow, does that place look tough. Sure, Morikawa wound up winning at 18 under, but the course also lived up to its nickname, The Concussion. Max Homa joked about running out of balls, Viktor Hovland made a quadruple bogey out of nowhere that cost him the tournament and take a look at this absurd scorecard from Matt Kuchar:

Apologies for not getting to this on Friday … Matt Kuchar with a GEM of a #psychoscorecard in his second round pic.twitter.com/gfxtJJ2qIG

— Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) February 27, 2021

That’s an even-par round with seven birdies. And an eagle! How?! That being said, watching the world’s best constantly on edge made for very entertaining TV so I wouldn’t mind this course getting another tournament in the future.

Cam Smith’s mullet: It was fun for a few weeks, but the Aussie continues to show up to tournaments looking like this:

Mike Ehrmann

Rough. And it’s not even practical now that we’re into the Florida Swing. Isn’t that much hair in the heat and humidity uncomfortable?! But now that we know he has a wife and two dogs, though, it makes more sense.

Cam Smith's girlfriend is wheeling their dachshunds around the course and it's amazing.

One of them is named Kendrick, not sure on the other. pic.twitter.com/LNTcyVFQ6B

— Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) February 27, 2021

The dude is totally settled down. Who does he have to impress?

ON TAP

The PGA Tour continues the (extended) Florida Swing by heading to Bay Hill for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, AKA that tournament that Tiger Woods used to basically win every year. Seriously, the guy hasn’t won the tournament in eight years and yet he still has won it eight times. EIGHT! GOAT! No one else has won this event more than two times, by the way.

Random tournament fact: Included in those eight wins are a pair of walk-off putts in back-back years. Let’s take a fun trip down memory lane, shall we?

What a legend.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—Anyone will ever match Tiger’s eight wins here: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds
—Rory McIlroy will win this week: 9-to-1 odds (Actual odds, favourite)
—Phil Mickelson won’t be wearing that Arizona shirt again: LOCK

PHOTOS

Some of Sunday’s sea of red:

Sunday red @ANNIKA59 | @PGATOUR | @GainbridgeLPGA pic.twitter.com/o2FHDPPUGf

— LPGA (@LPGA) February 28, 2021

?? pic.twitter.com/VCWNYA8doI

— Tony Finau Golf (@tonyfinaugolf) February 28, 2021

Rory in Tiger red and black. “Don’t wear it as good as he does, but it’ll be all right.” pic.twitter.com/S8TJze3U47

— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) February 28, 2021

It’s OK, Rory. No one does. And how about this Tiger tribute at St. Andrews?

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Golf Digest Middle East (@golfdigestme)

Beautiful.

TWEET(S) OF THE WEEK

Yes. https://t.co/PciD2V7qZg

— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) March 1, 2021

Good stuff, guys, but show some respect. Tiger is a Stanford guy, after all.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (ON THE COURSE)

Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas became the latest participants victims in the European Tour’s “Chase the Ace” series. Here were the impressive—but not quite impressive enough—results:

50 balls each to make a hole-in-one…

Step up @McIlroyRory and @JustinThomas34.#ChaseTheAce5050 pic.twitter.com/n3rYSPPRKV

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 23, 2021

At least they only hit 50 balls a piece. Anything more might have driven them both mad.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (AWAY FROM THE COURSE)

Props to our Shane Ryan for asking Will Zalatoris about his likeness to Owen Wilson. And props to Will for responding with a darn good impression of the actor:

And the Oscar goes to @willzalatoris. pic.twitter.com/sPExoBbtOF

— Skratch (@Skratch) February 25, 2021

Love me some Owen Wilson. Makes me want to get a “Zoolander”/“Wedding Crashers”/“Shanghai Noon” marathon going. You know, the classics.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Tiger means everything to me. … I don’t think we say thank you enough, so I want to say thank you to Tiger.” —An emotional Collin Morikawa after winning. He’s right. So, thank you, Tiger. You’ve meant more to people than you could ever imagine. Even a lowly golf scribe like myself.

THIS AND THAT

According to an NBC report, a Florida man is believed to have died while searching for a lost golf ball in a lake. Guys, I know golf balls have gotten pretty expensive, but trust me, they’re not worth that. … This is the first time since 1994 that there hasn’t been a player with multiple PGA Tour wins 20 weeks into the season. That’s NFL-like PARITY right there. … Last week marked the first time that Phil Mickelson didn’t win when he’s played on the PGA Tour Champions. It was nice of him to let someone else (Kevin Sutherland) claim the trophy this time. … Xander Schauffele had his streak of 16 straight starts finishing in the top 25 snapped, meaning he didn’t quite catch Rory McIlroy’s 17. Tiger Woods has the longest such streak at 38—actually, he has the four longest streaks. GOAT! … Speaking of streaks, congrats to my former colleague at The Journal News, Kevin Devaney Jr., for picking winners for an incredible four consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour. It might be time to get this guy on our Be Right podcast. … And finally, fingers crossed, we may have a golf fan on our hands:

Just doing my part to try to #GrowTheGame.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Will anyone in my house ever (willingly) watch golf with me?
Is “Wedding Crashers 2” still happening?
Tiger, can I get you anything?

The post Touching tributes to Tiger Woods, Collin Morikawa’s crazy win rate and a PGA Tour pro’s perfect Hollywood impression appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
There’s never been any doubt just how much respect Tiger Woods has had among his peers in pro golf. You hear it whenever PGA Tour players talk about how Woods’ dominance inspired them to take up the game themselves. Or when they tell the story of the first time they got to meet Woods and what a momentous moment that often was in their careers.

But as the saying goes, a picture can speak 1,000 words. And so the visuals from Sunday at the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession—where several players took the time to recognize Woods in the wake of his horrific car accident earlier in the week—reiterated what we all already knew: that Tiger Woods is a respected icon of the game who everybody hopes will recovery from his injuries and maybe even some day compete again on the PGA Tour.

Jason Day

Photo By: Ben Jared

Patrick Reed

Photo By: Mike Ehrmann

Tony Finau

Photo By: Ben Jared

Scottie Scheffler

Photo By: Sam Greenwood

Sebastian Munoz

Photo By: Ben Jared

Tommy Fleetwood

Photo By: Ben Jared

Cameron Champ

Photo By: Ben Jared

Annika Sorenstam

Photo By: Julio Aguilar

Phil Mickelson

Courtesy @ChampionsTour on Twitter

The post Tour pros pay tribute to Tiger Woods by wearing his Sunday red appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
As you’re well aware, Tiger Woods was in a single-car accident earlier this week. So far, each update on his health status has been positive. The road to recovery will be a long one, but one the 15-time major champion will no doubt attack with full force.

Returning to the golf course is at the very bottom of Woods’ list of concerns right now, but we’d all be lying if we didn’t wonder at some point this week “Is this the end” for Tiger’s playing career? Losing Woods, who has been the PGA Tour’s golden goose for more than two decades, would be a big blow. Sure, he’d still be around the game, captaining Ryder Cup teams and hosting big-time tournaments, but his electric presence on the golf course would be dearly missed.

However, if Sunday at The Concession is any indication, the future of the sport is in very good hands, with or without the GOAT.

The final round of the WGC-Workday Championship was as good as golf gets without Woods, whose presence was still felt with a number of pros donning his signature red and black. Collin Morikawa came out on top, completing an epic Friday-Saturday-Sunday performance with a closing 69 to win by three.

Not enough can be said about Morikawa’s putting turnaround. The 24-year-old lost 7.5 strokes on the greens last week at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera. This week, he finished 11th in the field in SG/putting, and when he couples that with his elite approach play he is borderline unbeatable. As stats guru Justin Ray points out, Morikawa joined an elite class with this WGC victory, a class that includes that Woods guy:

4+ @PGATOUR wins, including a major, before age 25 – since World War II (wins/majors below)

Tiger Woods, 24/5
Jack Nicklaus, 12/3
Jordan Spieth, 11/3
Rory McIlroy, 6/2
Justin Thomas, 8/1
Jerry Pate, 5/1

Morikawa can join with a win tomorrow.

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) February 27, 2021

Morikawa’s a certified stud. And making the win all the more impressive was who he closed out—a charging Viktor Hovland, who has become a junkyard dog on Sundays; Brooks Koepka, who has four majors; Scottie Scheffler, last season’s Rookie of the Year; Webb Simpson; Billy Horschel; Rory McIlroy; Patrick Reed. The list goes on. It was one of the better Sundays you’ll see all year.

In short, it was a final round that highlighted just how good the sport is right now, and why it shouldn’t have to rely on one or two legends, but rather an ensemble cast that can deliver the goods. The future of the game is in good hands (and it will welcome Tiger back with open arms whenever he’s ready).

Here’s three other takeaways from a fun first week of the Florida Swing.

Mike Ehrmann

We don’t want more Concession, we NEED more Concession

Excuse me … THE Concession. We regret the error.

Honestly, unlike Ohio State, it might be worthy of the “THE.” What else could you want from a championship golf course? There was plenty of carnage, but not the unfair kind. If you play like Morikawa did—AKA perfect, pinpoint golf—the course is gettable. If not, you’ll be in big trouble. Great run off areas around the greens, bad shots penalized, risk-reward holes out the wazoo. Most importantly, Golf Twitter loved it. Last time everyone agreed on something on that stupid website was … never. It was never.

Because everyone loves it, we’ll probably never see it again (that’s usually how this works). Let’s hope that’s not the case, because this place is a legit championship test worthy of another look. Given how it played and the history and the name of the course, it’s a LAYUP Ryder Cup venue. Unfortunately, next open spot for that is 2037. Maybe bring the match play here? Rotate the Honda between Concession and PGA National? Let’s just make it the WGC-THE CONCESSION and call it a day.

Mike Ehrmann

Rory McIlroy stalls (again)

To even force a playoff, McIlroy would have needed 65, a tall order on this golf course, but not an impossible task. Morikawa and Bryson DeChambeau shot 64s this week, and a number of players, McIlroy included, threw up 66s. Given McIlroy’s history in Florida (wins at Honda, Bay Hill, Players), The Concession would seem perfect for him, and yet again he stalled out on a Sunday, shooting a closing 71, when he had a chance to seriously threaten. It feels misguided, and maybe even downright incorrect, to say the 18-time tour winner is not a winning golfer right now, but that has been the case since the restart. He’s put himself in position enough times, but his weekend performances have left a lot to be desired: 73-71 at the BMW last August to finish T-12, 75 on Sunday at Winged Foot in September, 74 on Sunday at the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek in October, 73 on Sunday at Torrey Pines in January, just to name a few. McIlroy will recapture the magic again at some point, but that’s what makes these final rounds so much more frustrating from the former World No. 1.

Ben Jared

Don’t quit on Billy Horschel

With his C+ game, Horschel still eeked out a two-under 70 on Sunday to grab a share of second place, much of that due to his incredible putting. Unfortunately, his approach play betrayed him in the final round, but he hung in there and kept it together to the very end. We’re closing in on four years since his last solo victory on the PGA Tour, and Horschel seems intent on ending that drought soon. This latest T-2 marked his eighth finish of T-9 or better in his last 31 PGA Tour starts. The win is coming, and this degenerate gambler hopes to capitalize on it soon.

The post The future of the PGA Tour is in good hands with Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and co. appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
Watching the world’s best players take on The Concession calls to mind the old saying “if you don’t like the weather [insert place], just wait five minutes.” At Concession, if you don’t like the leader board, just wait five minutes.

Saturday’s third round at the WGC-Workday featured more lead changes than a Big 12 football game, highlighting just how much danger lurks at every corner of the Jack Nicklaus-Tony Jacklin co-design. Of course, as Collin Morikawa showed, there are plenty of birdies to be had, too. It’s the ultimate risk-reward track, and it’s made for a highly entertaining first 54 holes.

Here are five takeaways from Day 3 at Concession.

Bad start, bad neck no match for Brooks Koepka

Last week, following a second-round 70 at Riviera, Brooks Koepka revealed he had been dealing with some neck stiffness for a month or so now. After an 11 under through 36 holes start at Concession, there was no mention of any neck stiffness.

But when he arrived at the course on Saturday morning, the four-time major winner was clearly in pain. He was favouring the left side of his neck, stretching it out in any way possible to prepare for the round. It lingered the entire day and was mentioned ad nauseam by the NBC broadcast crew.

Right from the start it did appear to be affecting his game, with Koepka badly pulling his opening tee shot, taking an unplayable and eventually making bogey. He made a mess of the second hole as well, but ended up holing a clutch six-footer for another bogey. In retrospect, it was a gritty start. He could have just as easily gone double-double and fallen off the face of the earth, but Koepka played through the pain and did not make another bogey the entire round. Four birdies and 12 pars earned him a hard-fought two-under 70, which has him only two off the lead of Morikawa. Avoid a disastrous start? Check. Still shoot under par? Check. Position himself to win twice in his last three starts? Check. Show up with no neck pain on Sunday? We’ll see about that one, but he’s still right where he needs to be, which is a scary thought for Morikawa. Speaking of …

Collin Morikawa waits on the 13th fairway during the third round of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship. Mike Ehrmann

Sweet dreams, Collin

We see it week in, week out on the PGA Tour—guys with the 54-hole lead have trouble closing the deal. Tiger Woods spoiled us with his ability to close, making us all believe it’s easy, when it’s actually one of the most difficult things to do in the sport. Put yourself in Morikawa’s shoes for a second. He once led by five on Saturday at Concession, and within 40 minutes that margin shrunk to two. He has to somehow protect that lead on Sunday on a golf course begging you to make doubles and triples while the likes of Koepka, Billy Horschel, Webb Simpson, Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed try to chase him down. Sound fun? No, it sounds like Morikawa could have trouble sleeping tonight.

Cameron Smith plays his shot from the seventh tee during the third round of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship. Mike Ehrmann

Boy, that escalated quickly for Cam Smith

As Morikawa found out on the back nine, no lead is big enough at Concession. Just ask Cam Smith, who went two under on his first four holes to reach 12 under for the week, taking a two-shot lead in the process. At day’s end, he found himself 10 shots back. Wait, what?

The young Aussie’s troubles began at No. 5, where he snap-hooked his tee shot into the water, took his drop and laid up, and then hit his fourth shot into the water again. Incredibly, he stuffed a wedge to six feet on his sixth shot, then cleaned up one of the rare “good” triple bogeys you’ll ever see.

Smith got wet three more times on the day, once at the par-4 eighth, where he spun a wedge off the green and back into the water on his second shot. Again, at the 13th, where he found the water with his tee shot. And finally, at the par-4 16th, again with his tee shot. He finished with a five-over 77, shooting himself out of a tournament he seemingly had control of as he stood on the fifth tee.

Billy Horschel tosses his golf club on the 11th green during the third round of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship. Mike Ehrmann

Patience prevailed for Billy Horschel on Saturday

Horschel, who has been cooking for some time now, could not buy a putt for much of the third round, playing his first 14 holes in even par despite some premium ball-striking, as per usual. A younger version of Horschel may have grown impatient, and potentially even lost his temper, but he stayed the course on Saturday. It paid off, and the former FedEx Cup winner finally capitalized on 16 and 17, where he went birdie-eagle, the latter of which came on a hole that had given previous groups absolute fits. Horschel may have hit the shot of the tournament from 260 yards out in the 17th fairway, and the eagle conversion made everyone watching collectively say “Oh, damn, Billy Horschel is really in this.”

Rory McIlroy looks on from the second green during the third round of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship. Mike Ehrmann

We see you, Rory

Tidy little 66 from the almighty McIlroy on Saturday, which has him only four off the lead. We’d urge everyone not to get excited about it, because he’s had a knack for letting you all down in very similar situations of late. The way we see it, Sunday will go down in one of two ways—a Rory 62 to win and flag plant himself as the top-3 player in the world he is again, OR, a brutally slow start and a “late charge” where he ultimately comes up short. No in-between.

The post Despite nagging neck injury, Brooks Koepka is still in position to win for the second time in his last three starts appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.