Golfing News & Blog Articles

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"Ryan Brehm hits Tour's ultimate home run in Puerto Rico"

With all of the weirdness at this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, you might have missed Ryan Brehm’s must-win win in Puerto Rico. Playing in the last event of a medical exemption, Brehm could have finished second and kept a PGA Tour card for the 126-150 category.

Instead he won, vaulting Brehm into this week’s Players. But it’s his story that’s the kind Netflix should be including in a documentary. Thankfully, Brentley Romine did a superb job here capturing all of Brehm’s story that includes a 91 m.p.h. fastball and his wife serving as his caddie.

“It sounded like I had a bunch of pressure, but there really wasn’t,” Brehm said. “This was an opportunity for me to swing for the fences and see if we could win.”

Touch ‘em all.

With his wife, Chelsey, on the bag, Brehm cruised to a six-shot win Sunday at the Puerto Rico Open to not only retain his card but lock it up for two more years.

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Music Video: Harrop's Latest Takes On @useGolfFACTS

Oh I’ve often thought about just riding off into the sunset. But my thinking has always been that if I stop being active I wouldn’t last very long. I think that would be the end of me. I can honestly say that my work ethic has been one key to living a long and happy life. ARNOLD PALMER

/ Geoff Shackelford

For those not aware of golf Twitter’s underworld and the bizarre burner account @useGolfFACTS offers a range of conspiratorial takes generally defending Patrick Reed.

The account has inspired singer, songwriter and satirist Sam Harrop’s latest single. If you aren’t aware of @useGolfFACTS won’t make a bit of sense but that should not stop you from watching. Or doing a little Google work to discover the belief that yes, the Hero World Challenge sand rearranging video has been doctored. Really.


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Quadrilateral: Another Reminder Of Golf's Complicated Relationship With Sports Betting

Oh I’ve often thought about just riding off into the sunset. But my thinking has always been that if I stop being active I wouldn’t last very long. I think that would be the end of me. I can honestly say that my work ethic has been one key to living a long and happy life. ARNOLD PALMER

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Podcasts For Your March Listening Consideration

No motive here, just me catching up on my queue and sharing some recent golf pods of note.

I think there’s something for everyone on this list. Enjoy all…it’s all free, including this edition of The Quad!

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Champ Foundation Restoring "A South Los Angeles haven where Black youths can learn golf"

[Arnold] Palmer has the game and the ability to go after anything. He has the physique, the temperament. He has a good fighting spirit without being temperamental. HORTON SMITH

/ Geoff Shackelford

What a wonderful column filed by the LA Times’ Eric Sondheimer after attending the recent Cameron Champ Foundation Junior Clinic at Chester Washington Golf Course. Held during Genesis Invitational week to raise awareness, Champ’s foundation is attempting to get various junior golf programs going after the course lost a First Tee operation two years ago, and is working with Tee Divas and Tee Dudes to help youth golfers in South L.A..

There was 13-year-old Pierre Campa. He was 18 months old when the Campa family from Riverside adopted him in Haiti just days after that country’s destructive 2010 earthquake. At 5, he saw a movie on Netflix titled “The Short Game” about the best 7-year-old golfers competing at a Pinehurst Resort golf course in North Carolina. Suddenly he was hitting a ball in the house with a plastic flute. His father figured out he was trying to play golf. The rest is history.

Campa can drive a ball 250 yards, plays in junior tournaments and hangs out at a golf course in Jurupa Hills. He became a U.S. citizen, loves PGA star Jordan Spieth and wants to keep playing golf. His father, Eddie, has even learned the sport. “I learned to be a good caddy,” he said.


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R&A Issues Statement On Russian Invasion

You could make a pretty good living standing near any green at any country club or public course in America and betting even money that the next approach shot you saw would be short of hole high. Watch it the next time you play. Most golfers are consistently short of the pin, even short of the green…hardly ever does the average golfer go over the green. ARNOLD PALMER

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Musselburgh: The Cradle Of Golf (Officially) Turns 350

How nice to see the celebration of Musselburgh’s 350th (official) birthday, even though all signs point to golf having been played there long before that. Mary Queen of Scots may wish she had not teed it up there in 1567 so soon after husband two—her cousin—departed in a mysterious explosion.

Anyhow, The Scotsman’s Martin Dempster covered the birthdate of March 2, 350 years after the earliest recorded round there by Sir John Foulis. He also notes the efforts of locals to keep it as a community centerpiece and even has a story of a Royal visit.

Avril Campbell in the East Lothian Courier recounted some of its key contributions to golf history (the diameter of the cup, mid-round snack bars, fights over bets, etc… and also talked to local golfers who are keeping the place and its incredible history going, with more events planned.

To mark the 350th anniversary of golf at Musselburgh, Musselburgh Old Course Golf Club (MOCGC) – which later this month celebrates the 40th year of its re-founding in 1982 – is hosting a series of events across 2022, ending with a gala dinner in the town in September.

This Saturday, members of MOCGC will contest the club’s 40th Anniversary Stroke-play Championship. On July 4, more than 20 golf clubs and foundations from across Scotland have been invited to participate in an 18-hole tournament on the Old Course.

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R&A Data Shows Impressive Gains In 9-Hole Rounds

In announcing the 9-hole challenge set for the Friday before the 150th Open at St Andrews, the R&A also shared 9-hole round data worth noting.

It could be entirely pandemic related, with more employed golfers working from home and getting in an early or late nine. But there are plenty of reasons to believe the increase can also be tied to various worldwide campaigns designed to legitimize 9-hole rounds and encourage golfers to turn in non-18-hole scores for handicapping purposes.

The numbers of note from the R&A’s story to launch the 9-hole challenge:

• In Australia, nine-hole round data has experienced 20% growth with more than 517,000 rounds played in 2020-21.

• In England, nine-hole rounds played for handicap purposes increased from 175,000 in 2019 to 407,000 in 2021.

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Quadrilateral: Major(s) News & Notes, March 3rd, 2022

To place a president of the United States in proper historical perspective might take several generations, but to evaluate the impact of Arnold Palmer on golf we need not wait. He has meant more to the game than anyone, ever, in virtually every conceivable way. NICK SEITZ

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State Of The Game 119: Well That Escalated Quickly

To place a president of the United States in proper historical perspective might take several generations, but to evaluate the impact of Arnold Palmer on golf we need not wait. He has meant more to the game than anyone, ever, in virtually every conceivable way. NICK SEITZ

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Rory On Phil: "People will welcome him back and be glad that he is back."

In advance of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Rory McIlroy was asked about the fleeing from Phil Mickelson and if it’s gone overboard.

It is unfortunate. I think Phil has been a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf, still is a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf. It's unfortunate that a few comments that he thought he was making in confidence or off the record got out there and were -- not used against him, but this whole situation is unfortunate.

Look, Phil will be back. I think the players want to see him back. He's done such a wonderful job for the game of golf, and he's represented the game of golf very, very well for the entirety of his career.

Look, we all make mistakes. We all say things we want to take back. No one is different in that regard. But we should be allowed to make mistakes, and we should be allowed to ask for forgiveness and for people to forgive us and move on. Hopefully, he comes back at some stage, and he will, and people will welcome him back and be glad that he is back.

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Rob Manfred Air-Practicing His Swing May Set The Game Back A Decade

Golf is a game, a great and glorious game, the greatest game any man was ever privileged to play. It is played for pleasure—for the modest and natural pleasure of walking around in the good clean air and for that other exquisite and almost unbearable pleasure of watching a perfect drive describe its graceful arc against a pure spring sky. Even those of us who earn our livings at the game, I can assure you, play it more for the pleasure than for the money. ARNOLD PALMER

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PIP Comedy: Tiger Ends Up Winning, Bubba Finishes 10th Despite Shocking Meltwater Miss

Golf is a game, a great and glorious game, the greatest game any man was ever privileged to play. It is played for pleasure—for the modest and natural pleasure of walking around in the good clean air and for that other exquisite and almost unbearable pleasure of watching a perfect drive describe its graceful arc against a pure spring sky. Even those of us who earn our livings at the game, I can assure you, play it more for the pleasure than for the money. ARNOLD PALMER

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Guardian: Could Norman And Saudis Turn Attention To The Women's Game?

Golf is a game, a great and glorious game, the greatest game any man was ever privileged to play. It is played for pleasure—for the modest and natural pleasure of walking around in the good clean air and for that other exquisite and almost unbearable pleasure of watching a perfect drive describe its graceful arc against a pure spring sky. Even those of us who earn our livings at the game, I can assure you, play it more for the pleasure than for the money. ARNOLD PALMER

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"She was first Black woman in a USGA championship. The incredible story of Ann Gregory."

Golf is a game, a great and glorious game, the greatest game any man was ever privileged to play. It is played for pleasure—for the modest and natural pleasure of walking around in the good clean air and for that other exquisite and almost unbearable pleasure of watching a perfect drive describe its graceful arc against a pure spring sky. Even those of us who earn our livings at the game, I can assure you, play it more for the pleasure than for the money. ARNOLD PALMER

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Club Pro Guy Introduces Non-Conforming "Punchout" Club

Palmer on a golf course was Jack Dempsey with his man on the ropes, Henry Aaron with a three-and-two fastball, Laver at set point, Joe Montana with a minute to play, A.J. Foyt with a lap to go and a car to catch. He never hit a safe shot. He tried to make 2 on every hole. Sometimes, he made 12. That was Palmer. They loved him for it. No one ever quite commanded the rapport with a gallery Palmer did. Players hated to play with him--or in front of him or in back of him. The audience was Palmer’s and they were legion. Part of it was, he swung like they did. Palmer went after the ball like a guy beating a carpet. It wasn’t pretty but it was effective. He won 62 tournaments but always managed to look like a refugee from the truck drivers’ flight at the local municipal. JIM MURRAY on Arnold Palmer

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R&A Adds A Diversity Ambassador

He’s a strong hoodie advocate and has a name out of central casting, so I wish him all the luck trying to diversify golf in the land of Brexit.

ZANE SCOTLAND BECOMES A DIVERSITY AMBASSADOR FOR THE R&A

01 March 2022, St Andrews, Scotland: The R&A has appointed Zane Scotland as a diversity ambassador to support the development of initiatives that encourage more people from ethnically diverse communities into golf.

As part of the new partnership, Scotland is assisting with the interpretation of research to understand the challenges that exist for ethnically diverse communities and identify actions that can be taken to break down barriers and make golf more welcoming and appealing.

He will also play an important role in engaging with active golf societies including British Black Golfers and the Muslim Golf Association to foster valuable relationships and generate involvement in future activity.

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Zach Johnson Plans To Retain Qualifying System, Not So Sure About Mickelson's Possible Role

The announcement of Zach Johnson’s Ryder Cup Captaincy came packed with qualifying details for the 2023 matches outside Rome. Looking rested and sporting a robust mane, Johnson was hit with questions about a Phil Mickelson vice captaincy, a task force tradition in advance of a presumed leadership role in 2025. On that, Johnson was less definitive. Instead of saying “it’s 19 months away”, the answers were a roundabout way of suggesting a Mickelson role appears unlikely.

You can watch the full session here.

The press release followed by the video of a Mickelson exchange not in the official transcript.

Zach Johnson Named United States Captain for 2023 Ryder Cup

Ryder Cup veteran will lead U.S. in pursuit of second straight victory; Steve Stricker to serve as U.S. Vice Captain; Selection criteria for 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup Team also announced

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Why Did Mickelson Get Cancelled?

If the average golfer considers the points of strategy which have been worked out in advance for a properly designed hole, he will undoubtedly improve his game in his play of such a problem. There is no question but that the strategy of golf is one of its most important assets, and our newer courses present many most interesting situations which increase their value. The question of strategy is of the utmost importance to the golf architect and to the golfer, and such strategy will be developed more and more during the coming years. GEORGE THOMAS

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Nicklaus Does Not Want To "See 40 guys break away from the PGA Tour at the whim of an advertising agency in Saudi Arabia"

If the average golfer considers the points of strategy which have been worked out in advance for a properly designed hole, he will undoubtedly improve his game in his play of such a problem. There is no question but that the strategy of golf is one of its most important assets, and our newer courses present many most interesting situations which increase their value. The question of strategy is of the utmost importance to the golf architect and to the golfer, and such strategy will be developed more and more during the coming years. GEORGE THOMAS

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