Golfing News & Blog Articles

Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama both scratched out a 1-under 69 to share the lead Saturday at the BMW Championship.

Rory McIlroy could miss the Tour Championship in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend, with his wife expecting their first child any day now.

South African golfer Justin Walters doubled his lead to two strokes with a 3-under 69 in the third round of the U.K. Championship on the European Tour on Saturday.

Tiger Woods shot 2-over 72 at the BMW Championship on Saturday -- just the third time in a non-major that he's opened with three straight rounds over par.

The countdown begins to Winged Foot and this year’s delayed U.S. Open and as is the tradition here, all 18 flyovers will be posted. While not as cool as this dreck for Executive Committee members to see youth outreach as envisioned by “adults”, we like to stick to the important stuff here.

This year’s tournament will be played September 17-20, meaning, with 18 holes it’s time to chip away at the memory banks since the West Course has not hosted since 2006’s Geoff Ogilvy win.

Much has changed, as Hanse Design oversaw restoration work of A.W. Tillinghast’s original. Out of the chute we get the drive-and-pitch first with its diabolical green. Squared corners and refreshed bunkers look superb.

At just 451 yards, a nice drive sets up a likely wedge for today’s decathletes. Maybe a Pelz nine on a cooler early fall morning.

Since 2003 I’d somehow forgotten what an absolute snoozer Olympia Fields can be on TV. As in, get out the hair dryer-to-deal-with-pillow-drool-dull, confirms the blogger coming off two amazing BMW Championship afternoon power naps.

That said, if par-protecting-fests-to-make-up-for-the-apparent-indignity-of-Jim-Furyk-winning-your-U.S.-Open, Olympia Fields is certainly a contrast from last week’s birdiefest. However, with a logjam of masterful venues in the queue, the USGA likely shrinking things down to a rota, several bigger name classics offering restored designs, Olympia Fields is not getting a U.S. Open anytime soon.

Dylan Dethier with some of the more extreme numbers for a regular Tour stop.

Billy Horschel says its fair, so in addition to deep naps, I’ll sleep so much better tonight.

The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein is reveling in Olympia Fields playing like a U.S. Open course, reporting on the odd USGA shot taken by 36-hole co-leader Rory McIlroy.

Also, Alexander Hughes parred the first and last hole at South Lakes in greater Tulsa to post 55.

From Adam Woodward at Golfweek:

Hughes, a former player at Central Oklahoma, tied the Guinness Book of World Records’ lowest score in a single round of golf with a 55 on Thursday at South Lakes Golf Course in Jenks, Oklahoma.

After making par on the first hole, Hughes made a hole-in-one on the 155-yard par-3 second, followed by another par. Then he got hot, birdieing Nos. 4-8 with an eagle on No. 9 to make the turn at 9-under 26. His birdie streak ended on No. 10 with a par on 11, but the four-year letter winner at Central got to 10 under with a birdie on No. 12.

The card and last hole attempt at birdie.

BIG NEWS: Alexander Hughes ties world record for lowest round in golf history with a score of 55(-16) at South Lakes Golf Course in Jenks, Oklahoma.

The other 55(-16) was shot by Rhein Gibson at River Oaks Golf Club in Edmond, Oklahoma. pic.twitter.com/l5gYUr1KU2

A tough, even seemingly irrational call was made by LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan and the LPGA to remain firm on September 10-13th’s ANA Inspiration: the field set for earlier this year remains in place, despite Sophia Popov’s improbable Women’s Open win.

Some context from Julie Williams at Golfweek summing up the tough situation and membership “category” issues created by the pandemic rescheduling. From Whan:

“You don’t have to like that, you don’t have to agree with me on that,” Whan said. “But that way, from the very beginning we knew that a winner there was going to qualify for the 2021 ANA.”

As for limited membership, Whan points out it has happened before – and recently.

“I’ve been commissioner 11 years. I’ve seen plenty of non-member wins at majors,” Whan said. “And I’ve seen almost all of those non-members go onto long and storied careers on the LPGA.”

Tiger Woods has plenty of work to do this weekend at the BMW Championship, where he's tied for 55th after a 5-over 75 Friday and needs a major run over the next two days to qualify for next week's Tour Championship.

Jackie Stoelting returned from a 14-month maternity break to take a share of the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour's Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantalay are the lone golfers under par after the second round of the BMW Championship, sharing the lead at one-under.

South African golfer Justin Walters shot 1-under 71 to stay in the lead after the second round of the U.K. Championship on the European Tour on Friday.

August 28, 2020

JTNC Alum Adrian Davis to Compete in APGA Tour Events

The African American Tour Quest’s (AATQ) amateur golfer Adrian Davis of San Leandro is scheduled to compete in two Southern California APGA (Advocates Pro Golf Association) TOUR events on August 30 and September 1-2.

The first 18-hole tournament will take place at Montebello Country Club in Montebello on Sunday. The second tournament is the Tour Championship (APGA’s signature event Sept. 1-2) , which is a two-day, 36-hole event at
Industry Hills Golf Club at Pacific Palms Resort in the City of Industry.
Davis, 19, has extensive amateur experience including competing on the Junior Tour of Northern California and has competed in numerous tournaments throughout Northern California—which earned him an “Amateur Exemption” to play in the APGA TOUR’s final tournaments for the 2020 season that features a field of top-notch Black professional golfers from throughout the U.S.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity, and I want to make the most of it. I thank APGA a million, it’s going to be exciting,” said Davis.

In addition, AATQ director of player development and former pro golfer Jeff (JC) Callaway will serve as his caddie.
Recently, Davis was featured in Golden State Warriors’ star Steph Curry’s “new brand” commercial.

–NCGA Staff 

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Play was suspended after heavy rain caused flooding on the course.

Sky Trak is the defending champ in MyGolfSpy’s Personal Launch Monitor Buyer’s GuideBall data is on par with Trackman, Foresight and Flightscope, but cost is only $1,995Growing in popularity as an integral part of DIY home golf simulators

If you were a naval enthusiast, you’d be hard pressed to categorize the SkyTrak launch monitor. Trackman, Foresight and FlightScope are the aircraft carriers of the fleet. And small driving-range aids such as MEVO, Rapsodo or Voice Caddie are more like frigates or destroyers.

SkyTrak carries way more firepower than a frigate or destroyer and it’s a lot closer to an aircraft carrier than its price would indicate. So where does it belong? Channeling our inner Admiral Chester Nimitz, we’d have to say SkyTrak is a heavy cruiser: armed to the teeth and, after the carrier, the most badass surface combatant on the high seas.

Over the next week or so, we’re going to take a closer look at the two top units from MyGolfSpy’s 2019 Personal Launch Monitor Buyer’s Guide (the 2020 edition comes out this fall). Our goal is to cover the performance and features to help you decide if a personal launch monitor is for you. And, if so, which one?

SkyTrak Launch Monitor: Best In Show

The SkyTrak launch monitor took top honors in last year’s Buyer’s Guide. Specifically, it impressed with its advanced graphics and its feature set. Additionally, its accuracy with ball data matched the big boys RPM for RPM.

“All our parameters on ball speed, launch angle, spin – all are basically right on,” says Sky Caddie National Sales Manager Paul Calabrese. “Say you’re looking at backspin with a 6-iron. If Trackman shows 5,900 RPM, we might show 5,910 or 5,920.”

Srixon releases 12th-generation SOFT FEEL and SOFT FEEL LADY low-compression golf ballsSrixon announces 30-percent market share growth for the first half of 2020Parent company Dunlop Sports – a division of Sumitomo Rubber Industries – posts $27M net loss for the first half of 2020

Srixon is doing a bit a chest-thumping this week. Not only is the company releasing its updated SOFT FEEL golf ball but it’s also celebrating a couple of milestones and achievements.

The Srixon SOFT FEEL golf ball and its companion, the SOFT FEEL LADY, are the company’s two-piece, low-compression offerings. SOFT FEEL is now in its 12th generation and, as you’d expect, Srixon says it’s the longest SOFT FEEL yet.

We’ll get to the SOFT FEEL in just a moment because we don’t want to bury the two-pronged lede.

COVID? What COVID?

To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the golf industry’s demise appear to be greatly exaggerated. Golf Datatech says golf equipment sales in the U.S. hit a record-shattering $388.6 million in July. That’s the single biggest month since Golf Datatech started keeping track in 1997.

The previous high was $368 million in June of 2007. And if you’re scoring at home, the U.K. also set a new monthly sales record in July.

After posting a BMW opening 77, Cameron Champ still spoke to press about his show of support for protestors and other professional athletes choosing to not contest official games and matches. From Adam Schupak’s report in Chicago:

The PGA Tour posted a video on social media on Wednesday that Champ re-tweeted, in which he wore a Nike golf shoe that is black on his left foot and white on his right foot, the latter with the words “Jacob Blake” and “BLM” in blue marker. During Thursday’s round he shook up his message.

“I have Papa Champ on my sneakers, Black Lives Matter and Breonna Taylor,” he said. “Obviously there are some very important reasons why that’s on my shoes. For my grandfather, if anyone knows my story, he grew up in the South, Jim Crow, all those eras through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s and obviously Breonna Taylor, which is another ongoing issue. For me again that’s kind of where I stand with this. I just want to show my love and support and obviously with my hat, as well.”

Champ’s full remarks here were also of note:

Q. Just to build on that, with the NBA it looks a lot different than the PGA TOUR. I just wonder, there's probably a number of players, certainly fans who have a different idea of what Black Lives Matter means. I just wonder if you feel in any way like an outlier when you support this or you wear the shoes and you're the only one here, right? Just how you kind of square that and how you feel about that.

CAMERON CHAMP: Yeah, I mean, it's -- again, I mean, I do to a sense. Like I said, it's a situation where, again, that video I did yesterday, and I've been told what some people have said. I'm like, that's just -- if you don't understand the full view of everything and realize what's going on and realize the statistics with massive incarceration to law and order to war on drugs to statistically speaking there's, what, I think 12 percent of the U.S.'s population is African-American which makes up 33 percent of the incarcerations versus 62 or 63 percent Caucasian and it makes up 30 percent. So how do those numbers add up?

The reversal of golf’s fortune is put into context in the latest National Golf Foundation update. News of big June and July’s in the U.S. came from GolfDatatech, as did word of an increase in 9-hole and evening play, prompted this analysis:

This two-month rebound has allowed us to climb from a 16% YTD deficit on April 30 to now a 3% lead over 2019. Seems almost inconceivable given the loss of 20 million spring rounds from course shutdowns and virus-related anxieties. And the good news is likely to keep coming. Several golf course management companies have told us that August has been almost as good.
 
We did a little digging for perspective. Only three times in at least the past 151 months has the industry seen a monthly rounds increase of 20% or more. All three were during a heatwave in late 2011/early 2012, yielding surges in play at courses in the north that were typically closed and at a time of year when percentage increases can be misleading. To have a jump this significant during a high-volume summer month is unprecedented and reflects approximately 10 million more July rounds versus a year ago.
 
Our latest year-end forecast has us up 2% to 6% year-over-year. Consider this  – we haven’t seen more than a 5% Y.O.Y. increase since 2012 (during that surreal winter heatwave).

Buckling under playoff pressure like he hasn’t faced since last year, Tiger bogeyed his last three holes and was not necessarily channeling his inner Norman Vincent Peale.

He made clear there was no discussion of playing as several other athletes protested or elaborated on the times.

Q. Just general thoughts on -- it was a rough finish, but how the course was playing and what was the strongest part of the challenge?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, the course was fine. The course is in perfect shape. Not the way I wanted to finish, but the golf course is playing difficult for sure.

Q. Was it a challenge dealing with the heat? Did that wear you out at all?