PGA / LPGA / personal golf

[Joey D]

That's disappointing. I guess I'm all done watching golf then since I will absolutely not support the LIV tour in any capacity until the Saudis are out of it.

 

[MagpieRacer]

That's disappointing. I guess I'm all done watching golf then since I will absolutely not support the LIV tour in any capacity until the Saudis are out of it.

With the PIF now in control of the men's professional game (once it goes through), It isn't just LIV you'll be skipping, Saudi will be funding the PGA Tour, DP World Tour etc. I can't actually see LIV surviving this strangely enough, whilst LIV themselves are adamant they are going nowhere, I'm pretty sure Saudi PIF were only using it as a tool to leverage themselves into a position to do this. Split the game to unify it and pump it full of money.

I'm on the fence, LIV never interested me anyway, didn't like the format and with the exception of DJ, DeChambeau, Koepka and Cam Smith, they weren't exactly oozing with star quality. Add in the question of ethics and it was easy to pass.
However, from a sporting perspective, this needed to happen, the divide was/is toxic and detracted from every tournament, every major and was/is getting annoying to listen to both sides whine from their high horses. If the defectors can reapply for their tour cars in 2024 and we get strong fields again, along with more elevated/designated events and stronger fields more consistently through the season, then that is a massive win.

Question marks obviously remain with the funding, the sport-washing aspect, Saudi PIF overseeing everything. It is getting more and more difficult to avoid this unfortunately, with Saudi investment of one sort or another now rife in almost every single sport.

Still, there's a lot of hoops this needs to get through first, it definitely isn't over the line yet despite the sureness of the announcement.

 

[Omnis]

I still like the idea of LIV but they need to do team match play instead of just the format they're running now. Hopefully LIV will hold on long enough for me to see them at Miami this season.

At the end of all this, it's Phil Mickelson and the defectors who look like the smart guys and the whiny loyalists like Rory are left eating crow. The big takeaway from all of this: always take the money and run.

 

[MagpieRacer]

I still like the idea of LIV but they need to do team match play instead of just the format they're running now. Hopefully LIV will hold on long enough for me to see them at Miami this season.

At the end of all this, it's Phil Mickelson and the defectors who look like the smart guys and the whiny loyalists like Rory are left eating crow. The big takeaway from all of this: always take the money and run.

Rory was never offered anything from LIV anyway, so he had nothing to turn down. Also, he is on the board for the PGA Tour, of course he's going to defend it. The sad thing for Rory and other defenders of the PGA Tour is that they had no consultation on this happening, Rahm said it in his presser this week too, they've been completely undermined and made to look stupid. It sounds like those who stayed loyal will be rewarded anyway but that isn't really the point, they didn't defend and stay on the PGA Tour to get rewarded.

I'm sure LIV will see out it's season but beyond that I can't see how it survives, maybe a couple invitational events a year playing a team match play or something. If the major tours merge and defectors crawl back for their tour cards, it's difficult to see where LIV fits in to that outside of a handful of events. Also, LIV was never specifically mentioned in the merge, outside of it being part of PIFs commercial business rights, which suggests that it isn't high on the priority list for them to sort. It served it's purpose as a vessel for PIF to gain control of the PGA Tour.

US Open starts this week, for the first time being held at the Los Angeles Country Club, and they ain't messing around!




And this behemoth 290 yard Par 3.


Looking forward to seeing this one, new course for most players, very, very challenging setup, will favour precision players rather than outright power but both will be required. Scottie Scheffler has to be the favourite if he can sort his putting out, but Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood will all feel good about their chances too.

 

[Omnis]

I'm actually going to go play 18 in 2 hours. It's been raining all week and this is the only day where rain isn't in the forecast lol. Hopefully it's not too crazy sopping wet out there, but it's supposed to be 105 so I'm sure I'll enjoy the heck out of it. Can't watch a major without getting a major itch to play. Better to get it out of my system as it's starting haha.

 

[MagpieRacer]

I'm actually going to go play 18 in 2 hours. It's been raining all week and this is the only day where rain isn't in the forecast lol. Hopefully it's not too crazy sopping wet out there, but it's supposed to be 105 so I'm sure I'll enjoy the heck out of it. Can't watch a major without getting a major itch to play. Better to get it out of my system as it's starting haha.

I am exactly the same, the urge becomes almost impossible! Getting some amazing weather in the East of England at the moment too, was 27 Celsius and completely clear when I played on Monday morning which was lovely, tough going though with a relatively heavy carry bag so I've switched to a trolley/cart bag set up for the summer now, should help me keep focussed for the full round without worrying about carrying. Hoping I'll be able to get out and play again tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Omnis]

It was a mudfest lol. And because of all the rain they've only mowed the elevated areas of the fairways and greens for the last month. The rough was literally almost a foot long. The guy they paired me with lost a ball after chunking it only 10 feet or so. Worse than LACC hahaha. I had to use my ball retriever to save my ball from the middle of the fairway several times as a few holes were still flooded

And because it was cart path only and hot as hell, my whole body is destroyed. What a workout.

 

[MagpieRacer]

It was a mudfest lol. And because of all the rain they've only mowed the elevated areas of the fairways and greens for the last month. The rough was literally almost a foot long. The guy they paired me with lost a ball after chunking it only 10 feet or so. Worse than LACC hahaha. I had to use my ball retriever to save my ball from the middle of the fairway several times as a few holes were still flooded

And because it was cart path only and hot as hell, my whole body is destroyed. What a workout.

Sounds like a challenging set of conditions for sure😬.


US Open record for Rickie, maybe this course isn't quite as hard as expected..

 

[Omnis]

Not just Rickie, Schauffele too. I have Xander winning. Dude is sooooo overdue for a major. In fact, I would say he has the best swing and the best game in general of anyone who hasn’t yet won one (unless you count the Olympics)

 

[MagpieRacer]

Not just Rickie, Schauffele too. I have Xander winning. Dude is sooooo overdue for a major. In fact, I would say he has the best swing and the best game in general of anyone who hasn’t yet won one (unless you count the Olympics)

Yeah he posted that just as I was posting above! Amazing couple rounds. Lots of people saying it's playing too easy for a US Open but I think that was just 2 exceptional rounds in good play conditions.

Agree with you Schaufelle, him and Fleetwood are 2 of the purest.

 

[Sprite]

Well I said farewell to set of irons and driver yesterday.

My uncle who is a huge golfer had his two sets of clubs stolen from his pickup on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, he thinks he may have inadvertently unlocked his L200 with the fob in his pocket while doing some gardening. The key for the back cab part was in the cup holder and the thieves just had an easy time.

As such his insurance won’t payout, so he needed some clubs asap and knew I had mine and wasn’t using them now, I haven’t for a little while and was happy to move them on.

I’m not sure I’ll pick anymore up anytime soon. Maybe if the bug bites again and I find myself being able to get a bit more time to practice and play rounds.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Well I said farewell to set of irons and driver yesterday.

My uncle who is a huge golfer had his two sets of clubs stolen from his pickup on Wednesday.

Unfortunately, he thinks he may have inadvertently unlocked his L200 with the fob in his pocket while doing some gardening. The key for the back cab part was in the cup holder and the thieves just had an easy time.

As such his insurance won’t payout, so he needed some clubs asap and knew I had mine and wasn’t using them now, I haven’t for a little while and was happy to move them on.

I’m not sure I’ll pick anymore up anytime soon. Maybe if the bug bites again and I find myself being able to get a bit more time to practice and play rounds.

Sorry to hear that, sad to think there are people who will just chance it, regardless of whether the vehicle was locked or not.

Pin locations for day 2 of the US Open at LACC, the USGA aren't messing around today.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Matt Fitzpatrick hole the first ace of his career.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Day 3 pin positions. The anticipated front pin on 15 will be in play. Could be playing 88 yards today.


Rickie Fowler leads the way after 2 rounds.


In my personal game, I shot 50 over 9 holes yesterday evening. Felt good, made a nice par on the par 4 4th, with a tricky 9 iron into the green, sitting in the rough on the side of a bunker. Fired a 253 yard drive down the 8th as well.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Leaderboard ahead of round 4. Great to see Rickie Fowler is still pushing hard, I love the guy but I really want Rory to put his major duck to bed, paired with Scheffler, that will be a pairing to watch.

 

[Omnis]

I want Rickie or Xander to win super bad. They're like the opposite of Whiny Rory. Instead of complaining about LIV and all that stuff, they just put their heads down and kept working on their games. Rickie re-did his whole swing from the ground up and it looks awesome. Hope it pays off for him. No more Master's snubs for my guy.

 

[MagpieRacer]

A couple photos from my round on Friday evening, was a stunning evening to play, lovely temperature and good course conditions. Bonus pic of a treacherous chip shot I was faced with on the 2nd hole, par 3, fortunately my 4 iron came up short of that water, managed to chip on to the green and 2 putted to take a 4.

 

[Omnis]

Well, we’re officially in the era of “I dunno who the heck that guy is, but he’s good” post-LIV with Wyndham Clark winning. This era of golf is going to feature the return of the country club names.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Well, we’re officially in the era of “I dunno who the heck that guy is, but he’s good” post-LIV with Wyndham Clark winning. This era of golf is going to feature the return of the country club names.

Good player, confident, slightly arrogant, but can back it up. He's been good all year so far, won at Quail Hollow as well.

Gutted that Rory didn't win and Rickie dropped off hard, was clearly a very different playing course for the late guys, top 3 all shooting level par and the back 9 gave nothing away. Tommy Fleetwood a standout on the final day with a fantastic 63, missed his final birdie putt to make it a 62 and match Fowler and Schauffele for lowest US Open round.

Watching Rory and Scottie did make me wonder if they should be using each others putters 😅, looks like Scottie could use a little more weight and forgiveness whilst Rory looks like he'd handle a blade better based in his striking. Just needed one of those birdie putts to drop and Clarks final few holes would have been very different for him.

As far as the tournament goes, it was a little lacklustre to be honest. Course was not the greatest US Open venue I've ever seen, crowds were tiny (allegedly only 9k GA tickets actually made it to the public), and the players could get away with a lot, Wyndham Clarks final tee being a fine example of that, massive slice, still in the fairway, at Brookline last year, that would have been in the water or OB.

Less than a month to the next major, and easily my favourite one, The Open Championship. Royal Liverpool is this year's venue, had a few changes since last time but it's a course that rewards accuracy. Last time it was there, Rory took the win, so hoping he can do it again. Cam Smith will be dangerous as well, and if Tommy Fleetwood can keep his form you, he will certainly be in the running.

 

[Omnis]

Yeah, not a big fan of LACC. I get that they grew the rough long, but they could've at least cut the culms so that most of the course didn't look like a wild overgrown mess. The barranca also looks like a construction gutter... like they were building a canal and then went bankrupt. It's not nice like the creek at Southern Hills. The LIV events had better crowds than this. Could it be that people are pissed about the Saudi takeover?

 

[MagpieRacer]

Yeah, not a big fan of LACC. I get that they grew the rough long, but they could've at least cut the culms so that most of the course didn't look like a wild overgrown mess. The barranca also looks like a construction gutter... like they were building a canal and then went bankrupt. It's not nice like the creek at Southern Hills. The LIV events had better crowds than this. Could it be that people are pissed about the Saudi takeover?

Yeah it was odd, and some of the whole with the angled fairways, everyone's ball just ended up in the same place.

So, apparently there were 22k tickets available, per day, 14k of those were for luxury suites and cooperate boxes, and LACC themselves purchased 4.5k of the remaining 9, leaving around 4.5k for the general public. I doubt the USGA will release the numbers officially now after the backlash but I don't find it hard to believe having watched it. I get that they want to sell the experience to the rich folk but it lacked any kind of atmosphere that you would want for a major, which comes mostly from the GA. Considering the crowds even the Canadian Open had last week, I don't think the merge deal had any real impact. Not to mention tickets will have been sold out prior to that announcement.

Putting that number in perspective, the Masters gets 40k fans a day for the whole week, non tournament days included. The Phoenix Open at Scottsdale gets around 700k through the gates over the 4 days and The Open at St Andrews last year had 290k. So 88k total for the US open is poor. They have 16 years until it's next on the rotation in 2039, hopefully the feedback won't go unnoticed.

Played again myself today, shot 47 over 9 holes again, happy with that. Made a nice par on the 8th after the birdie putt lipped out. Also hit my biggest drive ever on that hole, 287 yards.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Despite having huge success in his career, there is one thing Rory McIlroy had never done on the PGA Tour, until yesterday.


Yep, that is his first Tour ace!

 

[lilcat89]

Well, it's been a dry spell for me playing any since the 10th. I shot 38 at a little executive course out here. It isnt from lack of trying to play any, but it has literally rained every afternoon since then. I'm going on vacation without my clubs next week, so wont play at all. Im coming back a couple of days early, so hopefully July brings sunshine, instead of rain and hail.

 

[Omnis]

Well, it's been a dry spell for me playing any since the 10th. I shot 38 at a little executive course out here. It isnt from lack of trying to play any, but it has literally rained every afternoon since then. I'm going on vacation without my clubs next week, so wont play at all. Im coming back a couple of days early, so hopefully July brings sunshine, instead of rain and hail.

That's been the issue here, too. So upsetting. Even if you have a dry day, the courses are all still either flooded or sopping wet and cart-path-only

 

[MagpieRacer]

So, so happy that he's back in the winners circle. He's such a nice guy, a real family man and he has had to work so hard to get back to where his game should be. Could be a good bet for The Open in a few weeks and must be a shoe on to the Ryder Cup team.

 

[MagpieRacer]

It's time for my favourite players to shine clearly! After Rickie winning at the start of the month, Rory took victory at the Genesis Scottish Open last weekend with a fantastic pair of birdies to close out the win in very challenging conditions. Subsequently securing his first ever win on Scottish soil. Robert Macintyre shot a stunning 64 to take the clubhouse lead and put the pressure on McIlroy, and hit a glorious 3 wood from the rough to the green on the 18th. But Rory showed his class with a birdie on the tough par 3 17th, playing a good 25 yards longer into the wind, and then what he described as one of the best shots of his life with a 2 iron on the 18th to give himself a 10 foot putt to win.



Next up is The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool, one of my favourite weeks of the year in Golf, this week should be incredible, Hoylake has had some changes to increase it's distance and the challenge, with Royal Liverpool's unique internal out of bounds trouble on the 3rd and 18th, the par 5s increasing in length, hole 10 shifting from a par 5 for the members to an absolute beast of a Par 4 at 507 yards, to the brand new par 3 17th which is being tipped as pivotal in the run to the finish, dubbed Little Eye, teeing towards the estuary, likely into wind, 136 yards to an elevated green which slopes off at every side, huge pot bunked to the right, big bunker and waste area to the front and a 15 foot drop off to the back.


Everything gets underway tomorrow and I cannot wait. Last time at Royal Liverpool, you guessed it, Rory McIlroy took top honours with Rickie Fowler T2. Can he do it again? Signs are good after the Scottish Open, but defending champ Cam Smith will want to take the Claret Jug again, Fowler has a great chance, Lowry, Fleetwood, Macintyre all relish links conditions. Scheffler will need his putter to be hot on these undulating greens, if he can get it work, he is the best player in the world tee to green and would be very hard to stop.

 

[Omnis]

Man, I love The Open. For me, it's the best major.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Agreed. Very close between The Open and The Masters but I'd always edge it to The Open. Links golf is just brilliant. I'm also a sucker for anything Open branded..

Also have a box of the limited edition TaylorMade TP5 Pix British open balls on order as well.

After all the talk of the 17th being a card wrecker, it's the 18th that's been killing it, everything from eagles to 10s on there so far.

Very wet weather with potential for strong wind so far on Saturday. Going to be fascinating.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Brian Harman leads by 5 heading into the final days play at The Open. Cameron Young is in the final pairing with him, Jon Rahm is 6 shots back after a scintillating 63 (Royal Liverpool Open record) pulling him into contention.

Home favourite Tommy Fleetwood failed to make any progress yesterday, despite not dropping any shots, finds himself 7 back. Rory finished the day under par at 69 but his putter went cold and may have taken him out of contention 9 shots back. Needing a Rahm sequel final round to even get a sniff and would need Harman to drop shots.

Realistically it's Harman's to lose with such a commanding lead, but Open Sundays to things to players, Young and Rahm certainly aren't out of it and Fleetwood, with a big gap and nothing to lose, might go all out attack and shoot low as he has done several times on Sundays this season, including a 63 at the US Open.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Well, Brian Harman held on to win The Open in near continuous rainfall. Scoring was tough, no one really able to make a move and Harman could hold on to a comfortable lead all the way to 18. Didn't put a foot wrong to be fair, could he feature on the US Ryder Cup team now?

2023 Major Champions:
The Masters, Augusta National: Jon Rahm
PGA Championship, Oak Hill: Brooks Koepka
US Open, LACC: Wyndham Clark
The Open, Royal Liverpool: Brian Harman

2024 Major Venues:
The Masters: Augusta National
PGA Championship: Valhalla
US Open: Pinehurst No.2
The Open: Royal Troon