Golfing News & Blog Articles

Golf.com’s Kevin Cunningham follows up on a situation that arose Friday at the Wyndham. I didn’t think much of it because the ball in question seemed to be moving and that Rafael Cabrera-Bello was in his right to walk slowly, even if the period lasted over 10 seconds.

Turns out, the rules officials on site didn’t see it that way. Cabrera-Bellow told what press was assembled at Sedgefield that he had convince officials not to penalize him.

“So what they wanted to speak to me about is they felt that I took too long to approach the hole,” Cabrera-Bello said Friday night. “We reviewed the footage and the referee said that it was so, so close and so tight, but they wanted to know if I have deliberately to slow down my walk to the hole and I told them that I didn’t, I slowed down because I saw my playing partners walking in.”

According to Rule 13.3a, in such a scenario players have a reasonable time to walk up to the ball and then 10 more seconds to wait for it to fall. If it falls in after that time, the golfer receives one penalty stroke.

That would account for the overall 20 seconds here, but let that be a lesson: you have the walk-up time plus 10 seconds—should you be so fortunate to have one teetering on the edge.

The putt:

Jim Herman rallied to win the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his third PGA Tour title, a victory the 42-year-old said he didn't see coming.

A hole-in-one on the 12th hole at Firestone helped Jerry Kelly seize control at the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship on Sunday as he won his first major on the PGA Tour Champions by two shots over Scott Parel.

The PGA Tour regular season is over. Only 125 players qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs. Here's the full list.

Telegraphing another long day with her slower peers at the Renaissance Club, Stacy Lewis vowed Sunday to not complain to her caddie.

This is what it has come to.

Lewis prevailed in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open after four-player playoff that included Azahara Munoz, Cheyenne Knight and Emily Pederson.

Here is what she said after Saturday’s tepid round, from Beth Ann Nichols:

“I think the biggest challenge for me tomorrow is staying in what I’m doing,” Lewis, “and the pace of play is dreadfully slow, and that doesn’t play into my favor. People I’m playing with are pretty slow.”

Stacy Lewis captured the Ladies Scottish Open title after a dramatic playoff with Azahara Munoz, Cheyenne Knight and Emily Kristine Pederson.

FIlipino-Japanese golfer Yuka Saso conquered the NEC Karuizawa 72 championship in Kitasaku-gun, Negano Prefecture in Japan on Sunday.

Tyler Strafaci and Charles Osborne advanced to the U.S. Amateur final Saturday at Bandon Dunes to earn spots next year in the Masters and U.S. Open. Sunday's winner also earns a spot in The Open in 2021.

I’ll admit it’s the links golf. Deprived of a proper links season, we have an epic day ahead this Sunday book-ended by links golf (and yes purists, I’m aware neither is technically a links).

I know I don’t have to tell you about the Wyndham Rewards runner-up race and Playoff(C) ramifications Sunday at soggy Sedgefield. Frankly, I just don’t want to add any stress in your life.

So let’s focus on the “other” golf. In the pandemic era this one is set up to be a doozy.

If you’re up at 5 am ET, Golf Channel will have the European Tour finale where a 2017 Walker Cupper, Conor Syme, leads a teammate, Sam Horsfield. Beef, now comfortable playing in a COVID-19 world, is lurking.

Easily the most compelling Sunday leaderboard can be found at a firmer, faster Renaissance Club in lovely Gullane, and other than the creepy Aberdeen Standard adverts on the tees, the final round on Golf Channel runs from 7-11 am ET.

While Bandon Dunes hosts the U.S. Amateur, this happened over at the Sheep Ranch. We’ll take their word for it on the ball going in giving the quality of the reactions. A putter at 16 to make 1:

Amazing golf isn't just being played on #BandonDunes in the #USAmateur this week, it's also being played on #SheepRanch. Check out this ace by @the4koehnkes (IG) on No. 16 with her putter! The boys on Bandon may want to take notes on playing the ground game more often. 😉 @USGA pic.twitter.com/hvaAuqzn72

Si Woo Kim takes a two-stroke lead into Sunday’s Wyndham final round, but it’s the two shots he hit while tape rolled (or things were beamed to the Cloud…you get the idea).

After an ace at Sedgefield’s third, Kim had a chance for another as predicted by Jim Nantz.

The next obvious question was answered by Brian Wacker at GolfDigest.com:

Only three other players on tour have ever made two aces in one round, with Brian Harman the last to do so at the 2015 Barclays. Kim, meanwhile, will have to instead settle for a two-shot lead as he tries to pick up his third career victory on Sunday.

Jerry Kelly bogeyed two of the last four holes for another even-par 70, leaving him with a one-shot lead Saturday in the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.

Si Woo Kim thinks he's playing like he did four years ago when he earned his first PGA Tour victory at the Wyndham Championship.

Connor Syme carded a bogey-free 63 to take the lead heading into the final day.

Spain's Azahara Munoz carded a two-under-par 69 on Saturday to take the lead into Sunday's final day.

Here’s a lede from the Akron Beacon-Journal’s Marla Ridenour I wouldn’t have seen coming a few years ago:

Reacquainting himself with Pilates and focused on losing weight during the coronavirus lockdown, Colin Montgomerie admitted he gave up his favorite foods.

Anyhow, if you haven’t seen of the Senior Players, Monty is one off the 36 hole lead and preaching about his impressive transformation. Bryson’s diet, it is not. The goals are also different:

Montgomerie said he chose Pilates because he believes it will extend his career.

“Flexibility is going to stop us,” he said. “It’s what stopped Nick Faldo, it’s what stopped Seve [Ballesteros] in his later years. It stopped Ian Woosnam, really. It stopped Sandy [Lyle] many times. There’s only one of that top five that’s kept going, and it’s Bernhard [Langer]. And I don’t know what all he does.

“But flexibility will stop us playing the game. I’m very lucky, I’m very flexible, but I’ve got to keep it.”

If you aren’t familiar with the National Links Trust and their efforts to resurrect rundown muni’s of architectural merit, you can read about them here. They are currently auctioning off some sensational golf for those with the means to overpay to play a classic or with an influencer.

You can see the full list of rounds donated for the latest auction here.

For those with the opportunity, three that still looked like good deals to me: Ridgewood, Somerset and Wannamoisett.

Oklahoma State's Aman Gupta will face Matthew Sharpstene, who is transferring to Charlotte, in a U.S. Amateur semifinal at Baron Dunes on Saturday, with Georgia Tech's Tyler Strafaci and SMU's Charles Osborne meeting in the other semifinal.

Tom Hoge maintained a share of the lead Friday at the Wyndham Championship alongside Si Woo Kim, Talor Gooch and Billy Horschel.

A little more than 60% of sports fans agree that they are "happy to have some sports to watch as an escape," but they're not sure how long it will last amid the coronavirus pandemic according to a survey of 837 adults conducted by TideWatch for ESPN.