Category Archives: PGA Tour

Week in Review: U.S. Jr. Amateur, Women’s Scottish Open, and Jackson Koivun

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There was lots of golf to watch this week and I was surprised at the outcomes in men’s amateur golf, the women’s professional game and the men’s professional game.

U.S. Jr. Amateur at Saucon Valley

The USGA championships are a grind with two days of stroke play to finish in the top 64 to advance to match play.

I was fully expecting Miles Russell to win the U.S. Amateur. He is ranked #1 in the AJGA (American Junior Golf Rankings) and #7 in WAGR (World Amateur Golf Rankings). Russell sailed through stroke play as “medalist” (meaning he finished in first place in stroke play).

In match play Russell won his first match 6 and 5, the next won 4 and 2, the next match won 2 up; and won his quarter final match 6 and 5 and his semifinal match 2 and 1. In the final, championship match, they play 36 holes (18 morning then lunch and 18 in the afternoon). Russell’s opponent was Noah Maclauchlan with an AJGA ranking of 31 and a WAGR of 2,047. Maclauchlan got into the championship as an alternate and did great finishing T39 to make it into stroke play.

Noah Maclauchlan won the U.S. Jr. Amateur against Miles Russell 6 and 5 (ending on the 31st hole). It was certainly nice to see the “under dog” win; but I also felt it was a very disappointing final. It was televised on golf channel and you could see that Russell was off his game all day (with a two-way miss). Russell fought hard but was down in the match the majority of the day. Frankly I feel like this is the problem with the national amateur championships being settled by match play. My opinion is that it just seems if you want to crown the best player in the world then you need to have the championship be stroke play.

Scottish Women’ Open

Jenny Shin won the Scottish Women’s Open. It is her first win in 10 years. Shin is Korean and her other win 10 years ago was the 2016 Volunteers of American Texas Shootout.

Happy for Shin but it was another odd tournament where the big names did not show up to the party. Nelly Korda finished T16 (+2), Lottie Woad finished T37 (+7), and Charley Hull finished T44 (+10). Now every player faced the same cold and windy conditions and only seven players were under par; Shin had two great rounds of 66 and 67 to start and that gave her a huge buffer going into Sunday so that even shooting 75 in the final round she was able to win at 9 under (two strokes ahead of second place.)

Let’s hope at the AIG Women’s Open (which follows the Scottish Open) the big names have a better week.

Jackson Koivun

You know the name Jackson Koivun if you follow college golf because he has been the top golfer for a few years; with an all time NCAA career scoring average record at 68.89 and won every major award for men in college golf. He helped Auburn win the NCAA D1 championship in June (of this year) and in his third PGA Tour tournament start this week he won the 3M Open with a score of 25 under par; and holding off world #1, Scottie Scheffler who finished 22 under par.

We have seen other players come out of PGA Tour University (a program that let’s the #1 college golfer go straight to the PGA Tour) and win (remember Nick Dunlap) but many of those players haven’t made much of a splash lately. Will Jackson Koivun be the “one in a million” that comes out and gives the current superstars a run for their money? A number of PGA Tour pro were asked about Koivun’s game. Most Pros just praised his game but the funniest reply I heard was from Ben Griffin who shared that he joked with Koivun (when he played with him while he was still an amateur), “Tell me when you are going to turn pro so I can plan my retirement.”

One final thing that was interesting, the reporter interviewing Koivun after the win asked what was written on his glove. He said “Confidence, Trust, and Dominate.” Here is the clip on Instagram

Evian Championship or Scottish Open

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Which golf championship are you going to watch this weekend; the Evian Championship or the Scottish Open?

I’m just going to be blunt. As an LPGA fan, the third major for the ladies, the Evian is the least important major for the LPGA. I doubt many general golf fans even known the Evian is the weekend because the Scottish Open is also this week with all the top PGA Tour golfers playing to get ready for The Open next week.

EVIAN CHAMPIONSHIP

This week the ladies head to France for the Evian Championship. It has always been clouded by the fact that it was added in 2000 (during the rein of Mike Whan as LPGA Commissioner) as the fifth major in the ladies professional game. I think it is “clouded” because of the debate of four vs five majors; but the unspoken thoughts are that by giving Evian the status of a major the door was closed on a women’s masters. I’m sure Mike Whan never thought Augusta National would have a women’s event and yet in 2019 the first Augusta National Women’s Amateur was held.

The 2026 Evian is July 9 through July 12 and the defending champion is Grace Kim. Of course, I believe, the golf news will be all about Nelly Korda and can she win a third major this calendar year; but for me the real story for Nelly will be can she win the next “important” major, the AIG Women’s Open which is being contested July 29 to August 2 at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in England.

But back to the Evian. The purse is $9.1 million with the champion taking home $1.365 million. I am sure Nelly Korda would love to win the Evian because she has not won this major yet. A few of the big names that have won in the past and are in the field this year include Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson and Celine Boutier. A fun fact is that the first winner in 2000 was Annika Sorenstam and she won $270,000.

An indication of the lack of status of this championship is that all coverage will be on the Golf Channel (no Sunday afternoon NBC or CBS prime time coverage). But still I will probably watch some of the coverage; especially if Nelly Korda, Charley Hull, or Brooke Henderson are in the lead.

The USA TV times (eastern time zone) on Golf Channel are: July 9 & 10 (Thursday & Friday): 6 am to 11 am and July 11 & 12 (Saturday & Sunday): 4 am to 10 am. You can also watch one additional hour on the Golf Channel App from 11 am to Noon on Thursday and Friday.

SCOTTISH OPEN

You might have thought I would write about the Scottish open first in this blog post but technically the LPGA event is a major for the tour and the Scottish open is not a major for the PGA tour.

As a quick reminder The Open is next week at Royal Birkdale (July 16 to 19). If you are a golf fan, you know Royal Birkdale is famously where Justin Rose, as an young amateur at 17 years old, tied 4th in The Open and became a household name in England. There is a great video on YouTube titled “Chasing Forever: Justin Rose” from the R&A that interviews Rose and others about that day and his career.

Back to this weeks Scottish Open. All the big names are playing. I believe Golf Channel reported 33 of the top 50 players in the world are playing. And Chirs Gotterup who won the John Deer last week is the defending champion at the Scottish Open.

The Scottish Open is always fun to watch because it is at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick. It’s a hard course and there always seems to be times when pros have trouble getting out of the bunkers; which makes regular golfers, like me, feel better about their game. Watch this fun YouTube video titled “Golf Is Hard” to see some of the previous tough shots for the pros.

I don’t have a particular favorite to win the Scottish Open. It will just be fun to see some great golf on a links course as a primer before next week when I will be obsessed with watching The Open at Royal Birkdale; and yes, I want Justin Rose to win his Claret Jug.

How to Watch: It will be on the golf channel on Thursday and Friday starting at 11 am (after the Evian coverage from 6 am to 11 am). If you have ESPN+ you can start watching as early as 3:15 am. On the weekends again, turn in early on ESPN+ or watch Golf Channel from 10 to Noon and then CBS coverage from noon to 3 pm.

One thing is for sure, given how hot it is right now, I think a lot of golfers will be watching golf from the lovely air conditioning of their homes.

PGA Tour and LPGA Tour Pros team up at the Grant Thornton Invitational

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This weekend I watched the inaugural event of the Grant Thornton Invitational which was a joint PGA Tour and LPGA Tour event with 16 teams. I really enjoyed the format of the event and seeing the camaraderie within and among the teams. Not to mention the fact that there was some great golf played.

The format was three days of golf. Day one was a scramble, day two were foursomes (alternate shot), and the final day was a modified four-ball where both players tee off, and then they switch balls for their second shots and play that same ball until it is holed. The lower score of the partners is then counted as the team score for the hole.

There were low scores and great shots. After day one the team of Nelly Korda and Tony Finau were leading, day two Lydia Ko and Jason Day shot 66 to take the lead and although other teams came on strong Lydia Ko made a clutch birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the event for team Ko/Day with a 26 under par.

The Canadian team of Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners finished second moving up the leader board by shooting an impressive 9 under, 63 total. And the Swedish team of Madelene Sagström and Ludvig Åberg shot 12 under to move up six places to finish third.

There were teams that every golf fan could get excited about whether it was because they were representing a fan’s country or whether it was a team with two of the most popular pros on each tour; and they did not disappoint. For example, the team of Lexi Thompson and Rickie Fowler gave the crowd a fun moment at the Par 3, 16th when Lexi made a hole-in-one.

I used to watch a ton of golf on TV but this year I just got turned off by the PGA tour/LIV news and really spend more time watching the LPGA, the Majors, Amateur golf (including college golf); and as I mentioned in a previous post YouTube golfers. I really don’t miss watching the weekly PGA tour events.

This mixed tour event is exactly what professional golf needs and I hope that the Grant Thornton Invitational continues for many years. For me, next year, it will be a must watch golf event.

Major Winners on the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour – A Review of Their Play in All Majors in 2023

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We all can remember the winners of the majors but I was curious how a major winner plays in all the majors for a year. It doesn’t feel like we have had a dominant player in majors for a number of years. Will we see another like Tiger, Jack, Annika, or Inbee dominate their tour’s majors?

This year only one player won multiple majors, Lila Vu on the LPGA won the first (Chevron) and last (AIG Women’s Open) major of the 2023 for the ladies. So I was curious how did major winners fare in all majors in a given year.

Below are two charts showing the winners for each major and how they played the other majors.

After a player wins a major we often hear the golf analysts make statements about the golfer being the next “big thing” or will now win multiple majors but the charts shows how hard that is to do in the same year. Lilia Vu has added her name to a very special list. So who else is on the list of multiple major winners in a single year? Here are some recent (within 10 years) stats:

(1) On the PGA tour Jordan, Rory, and Brooks have won multiple majors in a year.

  • 2014, Rory McIlroy: British Open, PGA Championship
  • 2015, Jordan Spieth: Masters, U.S. Open
  • 2018, Brooks Koepka: U.S. Open, PGA Championship

(2) On the LPGA tour Inbee Park, Jin Young Ko and Lila Vu

  • 2013, Inbee Park: Kraft Nabisco Championship (now, Chevron), U.S. Women’s Open, LPGA Championship (Now LPGA/PGA Championship)
  • 2015, Inbee Park: LPGA/PGA Championship, Women’s British Open (Now AIG Women’s Open)
  • 2019, Jin Young Ko: ANA Championship (now Chevron), Evian Championship
  • 2023, Lilia Vu: Chevron and AIG Women’s Open

To see the lists of multiple winners (by year) go to Golfer Compendium which lists multiple major winners in a single year for LPGA since 1946 and multiple major winners in a single year since 1922 for the PGA tour.

PNC Championship: is it a glimpse of the future stars of golf?

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Everyone I play golf with is talking about Tiger Woods playing in the PNC Championship this weekend with his son, Charlie. Of course, social media is very focused on Charlie Woods and comparing him to his dad with videos. The comparison of mannerisms of father and son are cute but it is way to early to assume Charlie will be the next “Tiger Woods.”

It got me thinking about other father/son or “related” golfers on tours. The earliest father/son I can think of is Old Tom and Young Tom Morris in the late 19th century. And, of course, because I live in Greenville, SC Jay and Bill Haas come to mind. But who else? So I googled and found a few lists and there are quite a few sons that followed in their father’s footsteps. Here is a link to the Golf Digest Gallery of “Celebrated Father-son duos.”

It did get me thinking about who are the next generation of golfers that might be on tour in 10 years that have father’s or mother’s that are famous golfers. Charlie Woods is obviously on everyone’s mind but the other two that came to my mind are John Daly, Jr. and Will McGee (Annika Sorenstam’s son). The Dalys are also playing in the PNC Championship this weekend. The Dalys have played before and their best finish was 2nd in 2018. John Daly, Jr. is a freshman at University of Arkansas (his Dad’s alma mater.) Annika Sorenstam’s son, Will, is 10 years old and her husband Mike McGee has been posting some of Will’s US Kids Golf Competition results on twitter sharing that Will won his first USKids Golf tournament in a playoff on Dec 4, 2021. There are other father son teams this year, Henrik Stenson and his son, Karl are notable because Karl, at age 10, is the youngest player in the field.

Anyway, John Daly Jr is 18, Charlie Woods is 12, and Will McGee is 10. Could we see a PGA Tour that has all three son’s competing in the same era? Who knows. They may have no interest in professional golf (although John Daly Jr has said he wants to be on the PGA Tour). And, of course, it is not an easy road to get on tour, let alone be a start on tour, even if you do have the pedigree. One example of how hard it is – Sam Saunders. He made it to the tour but never achieved greatness like his grandfather, Arnold Palmer. Based on his tour record, Saunders would probably not even be known more than as just another journeymen on tour expect for the fact he has a famous grandfather. Saunders still competes on the Korn Ferry Tour but it seems unlikely he will make it back to the PGA tour full-time.

Only time will tell if one of these famous golfers sons will be on tour in the future. One thing is for sure, if you love following golf, It will be interesting to see how the “golf lives” of these young men unfold.

Side Bar: I did try to find female children of golfers of LPGA or PGA Tour to highlight but I couldn’t find any in my searches. If you know any upcoming female golfer with a famous golf parent, leave me a comment.

September 2021 is Match Play Month – Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup!

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Last week the Curtis Cup, the amateur competition between USA and GB&I (conducted by the USA and R&A), took place. If you missed it and want to watch, it was streamed live on YouTube and is still available. The USA started out poorly but came back with a furry and won seven of the eight singles matches the last day to retain the cup. This is the first time the USA Curtis Cup team has won on European soil since 2008. As a person that enjoys watching match play, this got me really excited for the professional match play events coming in September.

In September we will be treated with The Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup. Normally theses events do not fall in the same year, but because of the COVID-19 Pandemic the Ryder Cup did not take place in 2020.

September 4 – 6: The Solheim Cup – How to Watch

There may be ways to stream the coverage online but I could not find it so I am sharing the broadcast information. The Solheim Cup can be viewed (in the USA) on Golf Channel (GC) and NBC. Here is the schedule from the Golf Channel website.

TV schedule: Saturday, Day 1 foursomes and fourballs: 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (GC), 12:30-2:30 p.m. (NBC), 2:30-6 p.m. (GC); Sunday, Day 2 foursomes and fourballs: 7:30 a.m. – noon (GC), noon-1:30 p.m. (NBC), 1:30-6 p.m. (GC); Sunday, Day 3 singles: noon-6 p.m. (GC)

Will the USA Win?

In 2017 it was an exciting cup in Scotland at Gleneagles, it appeared the USA was going to win until Suzanne Peterson made a memorable putt and won the cup for Europe (and then announced her retirement on the green as she celebrated.) Europe won 14 1/2 to 13 1/2.

The USA has a strong team! The number one player in the women’s game, Nelly Korda is playing well and her sister is back too. In 2017 Nelly and her sister Jessica won both their matches so I assume we will see that winning duo again. Overall, with great players and a home field advantage the USA are heavy favorites to win at Inverness in Ohio.

September 24 – 26: The Ryder Cup – How to Watch

According to the Ryder Cup Website, featured matches will be streamed live on the site. The broadcast schedule listed on the Ryder Cup site is as follows:

Friday, Sept. 24GOLF8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 25GOLF8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Saturday, Sept. 25NBC9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 26NBCNoon to 6 p.m.

In 2018 the Ryder Cup was in France and Europe beat the USA 17 1/2 to 10 1/2. Who will win in 2021at Whistling Straits? On paper the USA has the edge but golf analyst’s are questioning if the USA can come together as a “team” given the personality issues (e.g., Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau). I think the men should be able to put aside their egos for one week for the good of the team. The big question, will team Europe do as they have in the past and rise to the occasion and win on US soil?

As they say in broadcasting “stay tuned!”

AIG Women’s British Open Purse Increase

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AIG and The R&A “put their money where they mouth is” with a new record overall purse for a women’s golf major. The purse total is $5.8 million with $870,000 for the winner. And they announced they are committed to raising the 2022 purse by a million to $6.8 million. The purse increase announced by AIG and The R&A is great news for women’s professional golf.

At least for the majors, I’m happy to see in 2021 things are moving in the right direction. For example, back in 2012 the USGA’s purse for the U.S. Women’s Open was $3.25 million with $585K going to the winner and in 2021, the U.S. Women’s Open purse total was $5.5 million with $1 million to the winner.

I do find it interesting that sponsors for the women’s majors get to associate their name with the major. For example the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship versus the men’s PGA Championship. But if that is the price to pay for higher pay for the women the so be it.

The USGA has a history of having the highest purses for the majors and with Mike Whan, former commissioner of the LPGA as the new CEO of the USGA, I’m hoping that he makes a big statement for women’s golf in 2022. I would love to see the governing body be the first golf organization to have the men’s and women’s purses be the same amount — a girl can dream!

The chart below lists the purses for both the women’s and men’s majors for 2021. I do care about pay equity and wrote about it in my 2012 blog “The Gender Gap in Golf Prize Money”. I’m not going to go in to deep comparison because that would require looking at regular season tour events (as I did in 2012). My hope would be that perhaps one day sponsors will see the value of women’s golf equal to men’s golf and the money will follow.

I am providing a chart because I know readers (as I did) will wonder what the payouts were in 2021 so I did the research for anyone taking the time to read my blog.

Women’s MajorsTotal PurseWinner’s ShareMen’s MajorsTotal PurseWinner’s Share
U.S. Women’s Open$5.5 Million$1 MillionU.S. Open$12.5 Million$2.25 Million
AIG Women’s British Open$5,8 Million$870KBritish Open$11.5 Million$2.07 Million
KPMG PGA Championship$4,5 Million$675KPGA Championship$12 Million$2.16 Million
ANA Inspiration$3.1 Million$465KThe Masters$11.5 Million$2.07 Million
Evian Championship$4.5 Million$675K   

Weather impacts another PGA tournament

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For those of us that live in the Northeast the weather has been snowy and cold this March.  Normally as a golf fan I can get away from the drab cold days of winter by watching golf and day dreaming about the coming summer golf season.  This year even watching golf to escape the cold is not guaranteed.

Today, I was hunkering down to watch the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.  I was anticipating a great afternoon of golf with Tiger Woods (who I had picked for my fantasy team this week) and Rickie Fowler (one of the golf boys) in the final group.  But mother nature had a different plan in mind and the final round has been moved to Monday.  How bad was it?  Watch the video below…

Golf Analyst Mark Rulfing mentions in the video that it reminded him of Kapalua.  He was referencing the first tournament of the 2013 season, the Hyundai tournament of Champions, which was delay due to high winds (gusting 40 to 50 mph).  The Golf Channel has a great photo slide show of the windy tournament.

Another tournament impacted was the Farmers Open at Torrey Pines which was delayed due to Fog.  So rain, wind, fog all seem like expected reasons for golf to be delayed but how about snow?  Yup, the WGC Match Play in Arizona was delayed this year due to snow.  Snow in Arizona.  It was so bizarre that all the players were tweeting photos of it. Bubba Watson even posted a 30 second video of his snowball fight.

I don’t know if any other start to a golf season has had this many delays due to weather.  Certainly there have been memorable delays in previous years. Watch the PGA Tour “Top 10: Weather Interruptions on the PGA Tour” for their list.  One of my favorite golfers, Phil Mickelson, makes an appearance as he chips in the hail (2.35 second mark in video.)

Maybe I should be happy for the weather delay today because my fantasy pick for the Hyundai, tournament, Dustin Johnson, won.  So, if I were at all superstitious I would be thinking the weather delay is “a sign” that Tiger should win tomorrow.

Still I would rather have the final round played on Sunday so I could watch it live.

PGA Rookies to watch in 2013

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I like to follow one or two new players each year and this year there are a lot of rookies with very impressive resumes.  All you need to do is look at the top 25 from the 2012 Web.com Tour money list and pick one.  There are three Web.com players that I find interesting:

1)  Casey Whittenberg – He is really not a “rookie” on the PGA tour because he has been playing tournaments on the PGA tour and Web.com tour (formally, Nationwide tour) for a number of years but he earned his 2013 PGA tour card with his excellent play in 2012.

I first became aware of Wittenberg watching the 2004 Masters when he finish 13th as an amateur (the highest finish of an amateur since 1961.)  After the Masters, everyone thought when he turned pro that he would win quickly; but Whittenberg has had his challenges.  However in 2012 it appears he has found his game and was the “2012 player of the year” on the Web.com tour and is one of five Web.com tour players to have won twice in 2012.

2)  Luke Gutherie – Another two-time winner, Gutherie won back-to-back tournaments on the Web.com Tour.  Gutherie played only 10 Web.com tournaments in 2012 and of the ten, seven were top 10 finishes.  His back-to-back wins occurred in September at the Albertsons Boise Open and the WNB Golf Classic.

3)   Ben Kohles – Not only was Kohles a two-time and back-to-back winner on the Web.com tour; but those back-to-back wins were his first two starts on tour.  The tournaments were the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational and Cox Classic.  It is just so impressive to see someone win in the first two tournaments of their professional career.

There are many other rookies to watch but there is only one other that I will be keeping my eye on and that is Patrick Reed also fondly known as “Mr. Monday.”  He got the nickname, “Mr. Monday,” on tour in 2012 because he entered PGA tournaments the “old school” way by playing in Monday qualifiers.  He played in eight PGA Monday qualifiers and made the field in six tournaments.  Of course, as fate would have it, he won his PGA tour card at Q-school on a Monday.

What really makes me a fan of Patrick Reed is his personal story.  His fiancée (now wife), Justine Karain, is his caddie and he gives her plenty of credit as evident in the interview from the Well Fargo.  Apparently she played golf in high school (the couple met in high school) and is very good at reading putts.  I’ve always been impressed with women caddies because I can’t imagine carrying a 50 pound tour bag and living the life of a caddie.  Also, I am impressed with professional golfers who are “evolved enough” to have a women on the bag (i.e. gender doesn’t matter, the best person for the job) and another reason I like Patrick Reed.  The couple married in December 2012 and they plan to continue being a team on the course.  Let’s hope the Reed’s have a very successful 2013.

Daughters of the PNC Father/Son Challenge Golf Event

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When I turned on the TV Saturday and saw the PNC Father/Son Challenge on NBC I thought this will be a nice relief from all the horrible news on TV this week.  In the opening recap of early play, of day one, I was delighted (O.K, thrilled) to see a father and daughter team in the lead. I even tweeted about it.

Image of Tweet about PNC Father Son Challenge

I am not against father/son or mother/daughter specific events but it was wonderful to see that in a sport that some people label as “sexist” there are professional events that have evolved to have both sexes participate.  Another event is the Wendy’s Three Tour Challenge so check it out next year if you have not seen it.  The PNC Father/Son is unique because it really is a family event. There are grandfather and grandson pairings; father and stepson pairings; and even some caddies are family members (wives, mothers, sisters, brothers, father-in-laws, etc.)

For the purpose of this post, I thought it would be fun to focus on the daughters of the PNC Father Son Challenge.

The Father/Daughter Teams

(1) Bernard and Christina Langer – Bernard Langer won the Father/Son Challenge in 2005 and 2006 with his son, Stephan.  Boy, no pressure on Christina!  Christina is a talented golfer and is a freshman on the golf team at Florida Atlantic University. It really was a father daughter event with Bernard’s other daughter, Jackie, on the bag.

(2) Fuzzy and Gretchen Zoeller – Gretchen is a former college golfer and in 2009 she was the caddy on her father’s bag at The Masters.  There was an interview on NBC and Gretchen was talking about her father and it was wonderful to see Fuzzy’s reaction to his daughter’s declarations of respect and love.  It was also interesting to watch her play and see that the “apple does not fall far from the tree” – she was animated and fun to watch (just like her Dad).  Watch the PGA Tour video recap (35 second mark in video) to see Gretchen’s bird imitation!

Final Scores

The father daughter teams did well but neither won the tournament.  The results are that the Zoellers tied for sixth place with the Nicolas and Furk teams and the Langers finished in 10th place.  The Zoellers also had low round of the final day with a 60 (the Nelsons also got a 60).

The winners were David Love III and his son Dru.  They beat the Nelsons by one stroke which was nice because the Nelsons beat the Loves in 2008.  This is the first year the tournament has been played since 2008 so the Loves waited a long time to beat the Nelsons.  The Nelsons have won three times (2004, 2007, and 2008).

Watch the PGA Tour Monday Backspin Video Recap for a nice overview of the Tournament.