A look back at Tiger Woods' 2019 victory and a look ahead to everything you need to know about when and if the 2020 Masters will be played.
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Professionals dream of playing in the Masters. But the other, less talked about part: They get to play Augusta in the months leading up to the tournament. It's those quiet moments where business deals are struck and memories are made.
There is plenty to whet your (fall 2020) Masters appetite but you can’t go wrong with the virtual panel put together in the name of Save Muny: 1984 & 1995 Masters Champion Ben Crenshaw, 2017 Masters Champion Sergio García, and broadcast great Verne Lundquist.
Enjoy!
Houston Open First To Welcome Significant Crowds, Safety Protocols Not Getting Total Buy-In Just Yet
This week’s Vivint Houston Open benefiting the (cheating) Astros Foundation marks the first time in the COVID-19 era that a tournament is welcoming back significant crowds. (Announced at 2000 a day compared to last week’s 500 a day in Bermuda).
While face covering is required at all times and spectators at Memorial Park are forking out over $100 per ticket, they’ve been asked to socially distance. Yet even a Thursday crowd, typically the lightest of the week, appeared to struggle with both requirements.
While the obvious first concern involves virus spread, the responsibility placed in Houston’s hands will also determine how soon upcoming events can welcome back fans.
Golf.com’s Art Stricklin was on site and quotes players who felt safe inside the ropes but also addresses what was obvious to telecast viewers: a lot of people standing around side-by-side with the usual mixed-face covering buy-in.
In fact, the only complaint Texas native Jimmy Walker had was there were only 2,000 fans.
Brandt Snedeker shot a 5-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead in the Houston Open, the first domestic PGA Tour event to have fans since the Players Championship on March 12.
The story of the just-released Limited Edition Vokey Wedge Works 64W isn’t entirely unique. When the Masters rolls around or even when it was supposed to roll around, there’s invariably a common theme.
Given the notoriously fast conditions at Augusta, it’s far from unusual for the Tour’s best to swap their standard lob wedges for higher lofted, lower bounce options to help tackle firm lies, elevated greens and uncomfortable short-side situations they’re likely to face.
That’s exactly what you’re getting here.
Vokey 64W – Inspired by Jimmy Walker
Billed as inspired by Jimmy Walker, as wedges go, the new Limited Edition Vokey 64W isn’t radically different than Vokey’s first Augusta wedge of the season – the Special Edition Low Bounce K Grind that was released all the way back in May.
Say hello to MyGolfSpy Japan.
The incomparable Wu-Tang Clan reminds investors to “diversify your bonds.” In this case, it’s an apt descriptor of MyGolfSpy’s ongoing commitment to expand our reach beyond the limited confines of North America.
MYGOLFSPY JAPAN BACKGROUND
The worldwide golf equipment and apparel market represents roughly US$13.5 billion.
In terms of the golf business, the United States is the largest single market. Japan is second, South Korea third, followed by the UK and Canada, respectively.
Together, the U.S. and Japan control roughly two-thirds of the worldwide market (US$9 billion). That’s some serious salad.
Adam Schupak caught up with Adam Scott following his COVID-19 positive test and symptoms. The Australian was scheduled to play the ZOZO Championship as a key Masters tuneup but tested positive and road out a brief fever at a hotel and then rental house.
The Genesis Invitational winner earlier this year—seemingly a decade ago—is now entered at this week’s Vivant Houston Open Benefitting the Cheating Astros Foundation and admits to a pre-Masters preparation setback.
“Not only not getting Zozo in, not getting any practice in for those 10 days either is a little setback, but I’ve actually come out swinging good this week and at least feel fresh,” he said. “Hopefully that works in my favor…What I had planned in preparation was to kind of peak at the Masters and Houston’s a big part of that. It’s even more important since I tested positive and had to kind of not play in Zozo and not really get practice in and make sure I got healthy again. So, this is an important week for me. There’s a lot to take out of it.”
This was an interesting and typically thoughtful admission from one of the game’s more cerebral players:
“It just becomes harder for guys getting well into their 40s to be consistently competitive. It just takes a bit more. They’ve got to find their right weeks and take advantage of that,” Scott said. “Hopefully there’s room for a couple of older folk to hang in there like me for those next five or 10 years.”
A Masters favorite, Johnson will prep at this week’s Houston Open and remain pleased about one thing and one thing only.
“The first day I didn’t hit balls for very long because I got kind of tired,” he said. “Then kind of practiced a little bit more each day. My health is good. The state of my game is undetermined.”
While Johnson said he isn’t sure how he got coronavirus—everyone around him, including his fiancee Paulina Gretzky and two kids, River and Tatum, tested negative, he said—there is at least one positive he is happy about.
“The only good thing that came out of this,” Johnson said, “is I know I'm playing next week at the Masters.”
Evan Priest talks to looping legend Steve Williams about his favorite Masters memories for Golf.com. Eventually the topic returned to his old boss, the defending champion Tiger Woods—and how he might handle next week’s fall Masters.
I do wonder if Tiger’s lackluster showings in the COVID-19 era are impacted by an intangible we cannot ever measure…
Williams himself has reservations about Woods at a November Masters. Cooler temps will make the course play longer, and they won’t be ideal for Tiger’s iffy back. More concerning is that Woods will be in unchartered territory at a gallery-less Augusta. He uses every fiber of the Masters experience — including the tournament’s unrivaled stresses — to his advantage. Without the thousands of patrons and their piercing, adrenaline-pumping and equally nerve-rattling roars, will players feel the pressure?
“It could be really difficult to get the competitive juices flowing,” Williams admits. “When you turn up to a major, they have a different feel from regular PGA Tour events; there is a buzz and an excitement about them. With that element missing, for someone like Tiger who hasn’t played a lot of tournament golf this year, it’ll be hard to get that spark you need. But Tiger is going to give it 110 percent.”
One of the stranger recent Traditions Unlike Any Other: Masters amateurs doing an obligatory night in the Crow’s Nest around Monday’s Amateur Dinner, then moving to a rental house with their “team” (because you know, amateurs need to be with their agents).
With COVID-19 making the sharing of a living space possibly problematic—it’d still be nice to hear that one amateur stayed all week in what most normal human being-Americans would call one-off lodging opportunity-of-a-lifetime: the Crow’s Nest during Masters week.
Well, the rest of us can dream next week to the club providing a little bit of access to golf’s ultimate lodging spot:
Have you ever noticed how your friends can hit amazing clean shots and then they fall apart on the next shot? Could it be a change in their psyche or a physical change in their body? I’m convinced that I have a combination of both problems and you may have the same.
I really started thinking about this when I saw an article about the ups and downs in Brooks Koepka’s game. He ended 2018 as the number 1 player in golf but a knee injury and a stem cell operation to repair his knee have really made it difficult for him to return to his winning form. As it turned out the repair of his knee caused him to lose his rhythm.
Fortunately he spent some training time with Claude Harmon III and discovered that his weight shift at impact was not moving to his left side. During his peak performance his weight shift was 70% on his left side at the point of impact. He learned that he was not swinging well because he had lost his rhythm and his point of impact was with 70% of his weight still on his trailing side.
Brooks had to retrain his swing because his knee recovery made a huge impact on his swing. ARE YOU RUSHING YOUR SWING?
If you are favoring an injury or you are frustrated with your results, your psyche may be out of whack. Your brain may be rushing your transition so that you never start your weight transfer at the top of your swing. DISAPPOINTMENT and ANGER may be limiting your golf results.
Dustin Johnson is back after missing two tournaments due to testing positive for COVID-19.
STITCH Golf, is known for designing handcrafted premium golf bags, headcovers and apparel. Stitch is pleased to launch the limited edition Welcome to Georgia Collection in honor of the year’s last Major.
The post Stitch Golf – Welcome to Georgia Collection appeared first on MyGolfSpy.
It's one week before the Masters, and the PGA Tour heads to Texas for the Vivint Houston Open. Our experts offer their best bets.
MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of the golf balls on the market to help you find the best ball for your money. Today, we’re taking a look at the Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash. An overview of the equipment we use can be found here. To learn more about our test process, how we define “bad” balls and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.
Let’s start with an admission: the Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash is perhaps an odd choice for our ninth Ball Lab. I’d wager some of you have never heard of the ball. That’s not particularly surprising given that Titleist says it’s for less than 10 percent of the market and, because of that, Titleist doesn’t’ say much about the ball.
And, sure, in situations like these it’s reasonable to defer to the manufacturer’s assessment but given how Left Dash’s performance characteristics align with what golfers want (more distance throughout the bag with enough spin for most around the green), I’d suggest the company is somewhat stubbornly missing the plot.
It’s also reasonable to wonder if part of Titleist’s positioning is about not infringing on sales of the mainline Pro V1 lineup.
The Ladies European Tour postponed two tournaments on Tuesday which were due to be held in Australia in February, 2021 due to the ongoing travel restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Golf.com’s Alan Bastable was able to access the first-ever Masters patron-only shop. He reviews some new and surprising items, and also explains the setup:
How long the inventory will last is anyone’s guess. God willing, we’re unlikely to see another November Masters anytime soon, which means this year’s gear will have a special one-off cachet for collectors. The tournament has leaned into the timing with fall-themed course prints and holiday decorations, including tree ornaments and a Santa garden gnome.
Buyers are limited to two check-outs, but given the ease of online shopping (and the fact that fans won’t have to lug their merchandise home with them from the course), it’s not hard to imagine Masters-happy customers’ buying more than they would have if they’d been shopping in the brick-and-mortar shop at the tournament.
Which, makes the future of this approach something plenty will watch.
But back to those surprising items. The most bizarre of all has to be the Masters food spread.
Even with a Masters invitation (somehow) on the line and of course, the all important FedExCup points, Brian Gay’s Bermuda Championship win still had fewer Golf Channel viewers than the Timbertech Championship.
That event featured Darren Clarke holding of Jim Furyk and Bernhard Langer for his first PGA Tour Champions win.
Saturday’s third round of the Timbertech “won” the weekend and averaged 43,000 in the coveted none-Villages demo.
The Bermuda Championship’s Thursday and Friday telecasts draw enough of an audience to crack the top 150 cable shows.
