The LPGA Tour's return yielded two positive tests, including Marina Alex, for the coronavirus out of the 466 given to players and caddies before they traveled and when they arrived for the LPGA Drive On Championship.
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Brooks Koepka matched his career best with an 8-under 62 to take the first-round lead at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez led a Spanish charge in the European Tour's latest stop in England, shooting a course-record 10-under 62 in the opening round of the Hero Open on Thursday.
The shoes worn by a host of PGA Tour players this week at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational have special meaning because of the young people who designed them.
DID YOU KNOW?: On average, left-handed people have a shorter life span than their right-handed counter parts.
That’s not true at all. We live just as long as everyone else, but we’ve all heard that rumor right? It’s just one thing on a long list of sufferings that left-handers must endure. Lefties deserve better than a life of ink-stained hands, backwards scissors and the eternal lefty elbow battle. After all we’re the creative, free-spirited thought leaders, right?
So since we must overcome so many hardships in the few short years we’ve got in a right-handers world, we think we should at least be making the most of it and playing the correct club.
We’ve curated a list especially tailored to the lefties in the MyGolfSpy readership that includes the best clubs on the market, according to our tests, with left-handed options. Southpaws rejoice!
1. PING G410 Plus
2020’s Most Wanted Runner-Up is available in left handed options.
Like a round of golf, the year started with so much hope and promise.
And then 2020 happened. Not that it’s any consolation but it happened to everyone. Also, it’s still happening.
Bogey. Double bogey. Quad. And then an “X.” Ball in pocket.
If a golf company could be prescient, Honma still couldn’t have selected a worse date (March 16, 2020) to launch a flagship line of equipment. And not just any line but one built around an elite, world-class golfer who apparently had eyes for someone else.
2020. So much “ugh.”
Rory McIlroy says he may not return to Europe from the United States this year due to the risks associated with travelling amid the coronavirus pandemic.
His name mentioned as a player who has received an offer letter, Henrik Stenson was asked about the Premier Golf League’s prospects Wednesday in Memphis where he’s playing the WGC FedEx St. Jude Classic.
Q. I'm going to straight for the jugular. Your name's been mentioned as one of the players that's may be involved in the Premier Golf League. Can you comment on that, please?
HENRIK STENSON: I think we've all kind of seen--we've seen some of the things in the press and, yeah, I know a little bit what's going on behind the scenes and I'm following it closely, like a lot of other people. Yeah, we'll see what happens in the future really.
Q. Can you say now whether you've been approached or not, or is that sort of under cover?
HENRIK STENSON: Well, we'll--
Inverness’ 18th hole
One of the great places in American golf lore unveils a radically restored layout this Friday when the LPGA kicks off its 2020 season. So thanks to the Fried Egg for helping prep us with this overview of Andrew Green’s Inverness restoration, a welcome tonic from the men managing muggy, mundane Memphis this week. Golf Channel coverage of the LPGA Drive-On Championship starts Friday from 9-11:30 am ET.
Awesome day checking out the refreshed Inverness with @GreenGCA - great new bunkering, gets the Ross feel back at a historic place. Green complexes are phenomenal and it now stretches to over 7800 yards - 6 major championships...should be matter of time before #7 pic.twitter.com/NO6rZwQuwl
— The Fried Egg (@the_fried_egg) June 27, 2018 View this post on InstagramA post shared by The Fried Egg (@fried_egg_golf) on Jul 29, 2020 at 3:35pm PDT
One of the most respected former USGA Presidents has passed.
Grant Spaeth, collegiate golfing great and advocate for the game, followed in the mold of fellow Northern Californian Sandy Tatum and could safely be characterized as the last of an era attracted to serve the game for unselfish reasons.
David Shefter is thankfully still around at USGA.org to memorialize the life and interesting times of Spaeth.
This I didn’t know:
Spaeth graduated from Stanford and Harvard Law School before a brief stint in the U.S. Army, later establishing a law practice in Palo Alto. He also devoted a good deal of time to public service. He served as the deputy secretary for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare from 1978-80, and was a Palo Alto city councilman.
With Justin Thomas' regular caddie, Jimmy Johnson, not feeling well enough to work this week's WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, Thomas will have Jim "Bones" Mackay, Phil Mickelson's former caddie, on his bag.
Gaby Lopez, who won the first LPGA event of the year in January, has withdrawn from the LPGA Drive On Championship after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Rory McIlroy was asked on the eve of the WGC FedEx St Jude when he’ll be comfortable playing in front of fans again. The short version: not any time soon.
RORY McILROY: When would I feel comfortable when there's fans back on the golf course? I think I guess when there's less of a chance of people getting sick, I guess. And whether that's--you know, they discover more with the virus or there's different treatments, whether that's a vaccine or other treatments. So, I don't know. Again, like being out here, I feel pretty safe. We get tested multiple times a week, and inside the bubble I think we're pretty much not--obviously you can limit your exposure as much as you can. But yeah, it's hard. I don't know, I don't know. Whether it's a vaccination or whether it's something happens where there's a breakthrough and we know a little bit more about what's going on with the virus, but I probably can't give you a definitive answer about when I would be comfortable with crowds again.
Later in the interview McIlroy conceded he now understands the views of European players unwilling to travel for tournaments. This, after suggesting he would be leery of traveling to Europe or anywhere this fall. He had previously questioned some for an unwillingness to quarantine to be part of the PGA Tour’s restart.
And then regarding--like I--honestly, I don't know if I see myself going back to Europe this year. I don't know. I don't know if I want to travel, I don't know if I want to be exposed to more things and more people. So I don't know. I have no idea. I'm sort of taking it week by week. I've got my schedule planned up until the U.S. Open, which is obviously a couple weeks after the TOUR Championship, and then I honestly don't have any--I have no idea what I'm going to do after that.
And…
1920’s golf cartoon still—sadly—relevant
It’s too exhausting at this point to even try to address golf pros—even smart and nice ones like Webb Simpson—who fail to understand even the basics of what it takes to create a golf hole of strategy and interest for a variety of players.
So I’ll let the above Tweet do the talking, but if you must, here is the entire question and answer in Memphis raving about the brilliance of TPC Southwind, one of the most beloved courses on the planet, said no one. All while wearing his Titleist billboard (Wally what brainwashing chips do you embed in those caps?).
Q. Going back to what you just said about this course being--not being a--or being a point A to point B golf course, looking ahead to next week at Harding Park, how would you characterize that golf course?
WEBB SIMPSON: Yeah. So that one I think is kind of a tweener. It is long and bombers will have an advantage, because it is longer, there's a lot of drivers, but there's not as many forced carries out at Harding Park as some of these long golf courses.
And I've been pretty vocal. I don't think technology's the problem with our game, I think it's golf course design. I think you would solve a lot of problems on this length issue if architects would get a little more creative on doglegs,
While the lack of U.S. Open fans garnered most headlines, the status of New York’s quarantine rules and those attempting to make the September event a go has been addressed. From Brian Wacker’s GolfDigest.com report:
Earlier this month, the New York Department of Health issued guidance that eases the travel order for all professional sports teams, allowing players, coaches and team staff to be exempt from quarantine to play games, practice or provide support.
That exemption also extends to competitors in the U.S. Open. And not just to players and caddies but to everyone on site at Winged Foot, including staff, officials and media.
“Every person on site will be considered essential personnel,” USGA CEO Mike Davis told Golf Digest. “Everyone will be tested before they come on site.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo made the news part of his daily update and gives the impression of potentially tougher protocols than essentials have been facing at PGA Tour events.
The USGA will put protocols in place to protect players and staff, including rigorous protocols for testing, cleaning, use of face coverings and social distancing.
"The 2020 U.S. Open will take place at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck this September. The national championship is a great event. It will be held without fans and the organizers are working with the State Department of Health to ensure everyone's safety," Governor Cuomo said. "Today's numbers show continued progress - and our goal now is to protect that progress as states across the nation see their infections rates surge. We cannot go backwards, so remember to wear your mask and stay New York Tough."
New York’s restrictions on visitors continue to expand, but will now be irrelevant to essential U.S. Open visitors.
The 120th U.S. Open will be played in September without fans at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York, the USGA announced Wednesday.
Brooks Koepka still has pain in the knee that suffered a torn patella tendon last year but won't decide whether to have surgery until after the season.
July 29, 2020
NCGA Hall of Famer Grant Spaeth Dies Age 88
Grant Spaeth, who proudly served the USGA in a variety of volunteer roles, including as the Association’s president in 1990-91, and was also elected to the NCGA Hall of Fame in 2011, died July 28 at the age of 88.
Spaeth, who was born in Oxford, England, had a lifelong impact on golf.
From his NCAA team title at Stanford in 1953 to his eventful years from 1990 to ’92 as president of the USGA, Spaeth’s contribution to the game continues to this day.. He was a graduate of Palo Alto High and the son of the Dean of the Stanford Law School. While his father was stationed in Montevideo, Uruguay, Spaeth was introduced to golf on a course across the street from his home. Later as a teenager, he caddied for the Stanford golf team, and it wasn’t too long before he and his Stanford teammates became national champions.
Spaeth graduated from the Harvard Law School and served in the U.S. Army followed by the Reserves. His law practice in Palo Alto was the foundation to years of public service. Spaeth was the Deputy Secretary for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare from 1978 to ’80 and also served as a Palo Alto city councilman. Then came years of work on various USGA committees, leading to his USGA presidency and a list of accomplishments to remember. He may have been the best reach-out-to-people person who ever filled the USGA president’s chair. Spaeth was instrumental in bringing the British Open back to Carnoustie, Scotland. He founded the U.S. Men’s Mid-Amateur and Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships. He created the USGA’s regional affairs departments.
July 29, 2020
Kiara Romero, Baron Szeto 2019-2020 JTNC Players of the Year
San Jose resident Kiara Romero already has aspirations of someday playing on the LPGA Tour.
Still only 14, she’s still a bit away from that. But her amateur career is off to a promising start.
Romero joined Sabrina Iqbal as one of the youngest winners of the prestigious JTNC Girls’ Player of Year award for the 2019-2020 season.
She’d finish the season with 1,955 points thanks in part to victories at the Fall Series IV and VI Championships and the Summer Series II Championship. Romero also had runner-up finishes at the Holiday Series III Championship and Tour Championship and a third place finish at the Fall Series III Championship.
All of your golf clubs are made with a wide head face to help you avoid mishits. You can get away with hits off the toe or heel of your driver, woods, irons and putter but you are losing distance and direction control if you don’t impact your ball in the balanced center of mass on your club face. Using tape or powder on your club head is a great way to understand where you are normally impacting your ball on the face of your club.
GolfersRX recently released another video by Gene Parent at Golf Laboratories illustrating the lost distance for driver mishits at 90 MPH (the typical recreational golfer swing speed). At that swing speed you will hit a ball about 200 yards in the air and it will roll out to about 230 yards IF YOUR IMPACT IS ON THE DEAD CENTER OF YOUR DRIVER CLUB FACE.
Center impact is always to best impact to control distance and direction.
If your impact is ¾ of an inch inside or outside of dead center, you will lose about 10 yards of distance. Impact toward the toe will push your shot about 10 yards to the right of a right hander’s target line and impact toward the heel will pull about 10 yards to the left.
Unfortunately if your swing path is over the top and from the outside to inside when you impact toward the toe you will compound your error and slice away from your target line. An inside to outside swing path, when your impact is near the heel of your club, will create a duck hook.
