Brooks Koepka called the killing of George Floyd a 'pathetic' act ahead of the 3M Open, Minneapolis' first sporting event since Floyd's death.
Golfing News & Blog Articles
Report: Top South Koreans to skip LPGA Drive On
The top eight South Koreans in the world will not be at the LPGA Drive On Championship next week at Inverness Club in Toledo, according to a report.
It's almost time for golf majors season ... So what will the Masters do?
The PGA Championship will go on without fans. The U.S. Open is still trying to figure out its plan. So what about the Masters? Only silence. So here's how it could work.
What the Hell is a Soft Golf Ball Anyway?
Depending on whom you ask, the timeline and players vary but there’s a version of events leading to the emergence of soft golf balls that goes a little something like this.
Precept made the Lady. Dudes loved it, but you know…ego. And, so, Lady spawned Laddie. By the time Bridgestone made the RX, golf companies had figured out that, performance implications aside, golfers liked soft golf balls. DUO was born. Callaway transitioned from SR-1 to Chrome Soft and in doing so created the ball that changed the ball that Bridgestone had arguably already changed, and well, here we are.
Depending on your affinity for soft golf balls, you can credit or blame preference-driven golfers whose penchant for whacking marshmallows inadvertently created the fresh hell that is the nebulous world of soft balls.
(Middle-finger emoji.)
Commissioner For A Day: The Email That Should Be Sent To Players, Jon Rahm Penalty Edition
Sunday, Jon Rahm won the Memorial Tournament despite a 71st hole penalty assessed for causing his ball to move.
If I were PGA Tour Commissioner this is the email I’d sent to PGA Tour players regarding the increasingly problematic tendency to excessively ground the club behind the ball in any kind of lie.
Dear Greatest Athletes In All Of Sport,
It’s been an incredible run since the Return To Golf (© pending) started and I want to thank you for your continued use of a mask when getting Chipotle take-out. Amazing first step. Don’t hesitate to extend that face covering stuff in hotel lobbies or if you have not taken up the special NetJets offer we’ve highlighted (CODE: FLYINGCOMMERCIALSUCKS).
Meanwhile, our positivity rates are as low as the scores you’ve been shooting. Yes, that’s an unfortunate segue to the point of this email you will not read.
Feinstein: PGA Tour Picking Up Full Purses Right Now, Charities Getting Their Normal Donations
Quite the rosy picture of PGA Tour finances in a time of pandemic from John Feinstein at GolfDigest.com:
Other sponsors are accepting their fate of fanless events in the near term for several reasons: They know that the tour’s carefulness is understandable, the tour has picked up the entire tab for purses since play started again, and the tour is apparently in a position to cover full purses at least until the end of the calendar year, if need be. Normally the tour pays for half of each week’s purse.
“You have to understand, they went 10 weeks without paying out purses, so they’re a little more flush than usual,” one source said. “Plus, they have an emergency fund that they can use, and their new TV deal [starting in 2022] will give them a 70 percent boost overall. You add that all up, and they’re in pretty good shape, even if this lasts a while longer.”
Equally important to the local tournament organizations, the tour has also pitched in to make sure the charities that normally receive money from the events are still getting their normal donations, or close to those numbers.
Eruopean Tour Salutes Jon Rahm's Asscension To No. 1
Below are a two super posts from the European Tour featuring archival shots celebrating Jon Rahm’s rise to the No. 1 world ranking, starting with the tweet and retweet from Henrik Stenson:
Impressive play @JonRahmpga ! Can you sign my shirt next week? 😘 https://t.co/pmqw5Me3EP
— Henrik Stenson (@henrikstenson) July 20, 2020And this Instagram post of where he started the game:
View this post on InstagramWhere @jonrahm started his journey to World Number 1 ☝️
A post shared by European Tour (@europeantour) on Jul 20, 2020 at 1:35am PDT
ESPN study: Fan desire for sports has increased
Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, fans have expressed an overwhelming desire for the return of live sports in the latest round of an ESPN study.
Grayson Murray WDs from 3M after positive test
Tour player Grayson Murray withdrew from this week's 3M Championship after testing positive for coronavirus.
The Best Performance Gloves For 2020
2020 PERFORMANCE GLOVE BUYERS GUIDE
Not too long ago, cost was the primary determining factor for golfers choosing between premium (tour) and performance gloves. As value options have entered the market, however, price isn’t the consideration it once was.
Take a look at these premium gloves and notice that the Kirkland Signature premium gloves are a whopping $5.75 per glove. If, for some reason, you don’t like the Kirkland gloves and are still a baller on a budget, the performance category is for you. Performance gloves are typically thicker (more durable) leather or stretchy materials with greater breathability. The category also allows golfers to wear familiar logos, often at price points significantly less than the premium category.
If you’re a performance glove person, you will be wondering which glove is right for you. That’s where we come in. We put the best of the performance category to the test – and even threw in a few rain gloves for good measure.
Whether you’re looking to buy a new glove today, looking for some buying advice or just want a closer look at what’s on the market, this guide will help you find the right premium glove to fit your needs – and your hand.
How We Test
We're here to help you find the perfect performance glove to fit your needs.
To do that, we employ a thorough and fully independent testing process that leaves no feature unexplored, no display unchecked, and no stone unturned.
Shack Show 20: Wacky Memorial And Bob Harig On Tiger's Return
Lot to unpack from 2020 Memorial week and to help with the Tiger Woods portion I called up ESPN.com’s Bob Harig.
Here’s the Apple podcast link and of course, you can listen here via iHeart where you can subscribe as well.
Rahm After Memorial Win, "The ball did move"
A weird final day at the 2020 Memorial will be remembered as the day Jon Rahm became the —- player to be the world’s No. 1 golfer, and his 16 hole hole chip in. Followed by a post-round two-stroke penalty for causing the ball to move (but before he signed his scorecard).
Mike McAllister at PGATour.com with the definitive account of what happened once Tour rules officials started looking at the video and before Rahm signed his winning card.
The shot in question was his second from the rough just off the green at the par-3 16th. As Rahm was at address, the ball moved slightly. Rahm then holed the shot, but slow-motion replays showed the label on the ball moving slightly.
“I didn’t see it,” Rahm said. “You know, I promised open honestly and I’m a loyal person and I don’t want to win by cheating. … The ball did move. It’s as simple as that.”
Rahm was first asked about the potential of a penalty during his post-round interview with CBS prior to reaching the scoring area. Slugger White, PGA TOUR Vice President of Rules & Competition, then showed the replay to Rahm and the penalty was assessed prior to signing his scorecard.
The chip-in becomes a bogey and a 9-under-par winning score over Ryan Palmer, who badly missed the previous week’s cut over the same golf course.
After, Slugger White made clear quite assertively that this was a 9.4 violation and HD had nothing to do with the call.
“The rule is 9.4,” White said. “It was a ball at rest by the player, moved, and since he didn't put it back, he was assessed a general penalty, which is two strokes. That's pretty much the bottom line. …
“When he put the club down behind the ball, it moved ever so slightly to the left, so it changed positions. He accepted it like a gentleman and the man that he is, and we just went on with it.”
Nicklaus Wins The Open After Woods Bogies Road Hole, Or So The Fantasists Say
The Open for the Ages is over and I’ll be honest, it was on too early in the morning for me to watch but I do look forward to watching even knowing the outcome.
From, Henry Dobereiner-Darwin-Longhurst or whoever crunched the umbers and divided it by the fan vote to produce an excuse to watch golf at St. Andrews and watch some links golf.
Nicklaus, the Champion over the Old Course in 1970 and 1978, trailed Woods by a single stroke with three holes remaining, but a birdie on the 16th lifted the Golden Bear back into a share of the lead.
Why, of course it did. And then Tiger three-putted the Road hole green…
Woods then bogeyed the 17th after missing the green to the left with his approach, meaning two closing pars were enough for Nicklaus to prevail with a final-day 68 and an aggregate score of 16 under.
Phil Being Phil Files: Laying Up On Muirfield Village's Par-3 16th
A putt from 78 yards.
A full swing from 34 feet.
"Phil the Thrill" makes par. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/jCwFdzGvys
Since the designed hole debuted in 2012, Phil Mickelson has never been a fan of Muirfield Village’s 16th. I’m not sure anyone is.
Two years ago in the Memorial final round, only nine players hit the green in regulation.
It’s time for a change.
Turns out, that time started Sunday as crews were shown digging up greens at Muifield Village while the final round of the Memorial played out.
Jack Nicklaus Reveals March Positive Test For COVID-19
As far as weather delay reveals go, Jack Nicklaus definitely dropped the most shocking of all during round four of the 2020 Memorial. Thankfully, he and wife Barbara (who also tested positive but did not experience symptoms, are both ok and grateful.
From Doug Ferguson’s AP story:
Nicklaus said his wife had no symptoms, while he had a sore throat and a cough. Nicklaus said they were home in North Palm Beach, Florida, from March 13 "until we were done with it" on about April 20.
"It didn't last very long, and we were very, very fortunate, very lucky," Nicklaus said. "Barbara and I are both of the age, both of us 80 years old, that is an at-risk age. Our hearts go out to the people who did lose their lives and their families. We were just a couple of the lucky ones."
Ferguson also notes this:
Nicklaus said that by having the antibodies, "theoretically we can't get it and can't give it. That's a nice position to be in.''
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a June 30 update, said it does not know if people who recover from COVID-19 can be infected again. It also said that even with a positive test for antibodies, "you still should take preventive measures to protect yourself and others."
Rahm caps wild day with Memorial win, No. 1 rank
Jon Rahm, 25, overcame a 2-stroke penalty at the 16th hole to win the Memorial Tournament by 3 shots and complete his quest for the No. 1 ranking.
Tiger Woods' return answered a few questions, but it left plenty more
He showed signs of brilliance, moments of rust and bits of concern with his stiff back at the Memorial Tournament. With the PGA Championship looming, now what?
Tiger closes inconsistent Memorial with 4-over 76
Tiger Woods shot a final-round 76 Sunday at Memorial to finish 6 over par for the tournament, his third-worst showing at Muirfield Village in 18 appearances. Woods described the conditions as "some of the more difficult" he has played in a long time.
Nicklaus reveals positive test for coronavirus
Jack Nicklaus revealed Sunday during the CBS telecast of the Memorial that he and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus at the onset of the pandemic.