Golfing News & Blog Articles

England's Tyrrell Hatton took control of the BMW PGA Championship on Saturday as overnight leaders Shane Lowry and Matthew Fitzpatrick both failed to impress on day three at Wentworth Club in Surrey.

Sei Young Kim shot a 3-under 67 Saturday to hold the lead of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.

BMW PGA 36-hole leader Matthew Fitzpatrick declared Bryson DeChambeau’s approach to Winged Foot a mockery of the game after he studied some of the tracker data. From Ryan Lavner’s GolfChannel.com story:

“I just looked at Shot Tracker (Thursday), some of the places he hit it and how he’s cutting corners,” Fitzpatrick told reporters. “When he’s on, there’s no point. It doesn’t matter if I play my best; he’s going to be 50 yards in front of me off the tee. The only thing I can compete with him is putting. Which is just ridiculous.”

Fitzpatrick also lamented the idea of length overtaking the game.

“I really hope they do,” Fitzpatrick told reporters. “It’s not a skill to hit the ball a long way, in my opinion. I could put on 40 pounds. I could go and see a bio-mechanist and I could gain 40 yards; that’s actually a fact. I could put another two inches on my driver. I could gain that, but the skill in my opinion is to hit the ball straight. That’s the skill. He’s just taking the skill out of it, in my opinion. I’m sure lots will disagree. It’s just daft.”

Daft!

Patrick Cantlay, Martin Laird, Peter Malnati, Brian Harman and Austin Cook share the lead entering the weekend at the PGA Tour's Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

Klara Spilkova missed the cut at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship on Friday after she was assessed a 2-stroke penalty for slow play as she walked off the 15th hole at Aronimink Golf Club.

Five birdies over the final six holes lifted Sei Young Kim to a one-shot lead after the second round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship on Friday.

British Open champion Shane Lowry and local favourite Matthew Fitzpatrick both fired seven-under-par 65s in the second round of the BMW PGA Championship to share the lead at the halfway stage on Friday.

Brittany Lincicome and Kelly Tan each shot 3-under 67 on Thursday in windy conditions at challenging Aronimink Golf Club to share the lead in the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.

World No. 2 Nelly Korda, who was four strokes off the lead after the first round, has withdrawn from the KPMG Women's PGA Championship with a back injury.

When Titleist launched the TS series of drivers two years ago, it was a significant departure from the several-generations-deep 9-series. Suddenly, PGA TOUR players were talking about ball speed and Average Joes were seeing less spin. Sales increased.

Will the momentum continue?

A few weeks back, the new TSi series launched on Tour and several were in play at the U.S. Open. As Tour validation goes, that’s not half bad.

What’s new and improved with the TSi?  There are obvious changes to the weight configuration and, apparently, a new face design story as well. Those details will come soon enough.

Plenty of perspectives from Michael Bamberger at the KPMG Women’s PGA where he chats with a nice range of players about chasing distance.

Check it out here at Golf.com. And this:

The rejuvenated Lydia Ko is No. 54 on the LPGA driving distance list, with a 256-yard average. She’s 5-5 in extra-long spikes. She shot a first-round 68 here in this grand women’s major, run by the PGA of America.      

This has been said 999,999 times and here comes the millionth: women’s professional golf is, by far, a better example for nearly any of us — man, woman or child; 105-shooter or 68-shooter — who are looking for swing models. Lewis noted on Thursday that she plays in pro-ams every week with men who it the same distance that she does, yet she’s a plus-five and her gentlemen playing partners will typically break 90 only when Jupiter aligns with Mars.   

Best Kids Golf Clubs

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We’ve curated a list highlighting the best kids golf clubs available to young golfers. It is straightforward and contains three categories: (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced). Pricing varies depending on set makeup, height range and manufacturer.

So, if you want to expose your child to golf, have a child who shows an increasing interest in golf or have a competitive and passionate junior golfer, this list covers all the bases. Er, tee decks.

FAQ

Q: What are the benefits of kids golf clubs versus regular golf clubs?

England's Tyrrell Hatton, South Africa's Justin Harding and Spain's Adri Arnaus share the lead in the BMW PGA Championship.

Adam Schupak’s exclusive chat with Camilo Villegas is both incredible and incredibly tough to read. But kudos to Schupak for so beautifully telling the story Mia Villegas, and for dad Camilo sharing so much in what can only be called unimaginable heartbreak of losing his child to cancer.

Please carve out a few minutes and hit the link here, but a sampling:

So, he and Maria slept at the hospital the night before the scan. Hours of waiting felt like days. It reminded him of visiting St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He made it a habit of going to see the kids there every year during the PGA Tour’s annual stop.

So, he and Maria slept at the hospital the night before the scan. Hours of waiting felt like days. It reminded him of visiting St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He made it a habit of going to see the kids there every year during the PGA Tour’s annual stop.

“I remember walking in the lobby and seeing all the parents there. That to me was the really hard part,” he said. “All of a sudden I was one of those parents at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.”

When a knock on the door broke the silence, Villegas was greeted by an army of faces and he instantly knew the verdict was grim.

“You don’t need 10 doctors to tell you the good news,” he said.

So, he cried. Fresh tears.

For three days.

In his first start since winning the U.S. Open last month, Bryson DeChambeau had two-putt birdies on all three of the par 5s and two of the par 4s Thursday on his way to a 9-under 62 and a one-shot lead in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

The Bryson DeChambeau show carried on in Las Vegas with a 62, a day after having a putt for 58 on his own pro-am ball.

At least in this case, as Steve DiMeglio’s Onionesque account of the Shriner’s Hospital For Children score shredding, DeChambeau was joined by four players posting 63 and five shooting 64.

[Pausing here for a response from those who say scoring hasn’t changed due to the de-skilling of the pro game.]

Still, good laughs should be had at the absurd state of the skill/distance balance, a real tribute to the total loss of control by the authorities going on two decades.

It wasn’t a fair fight on a windless, sun-drenched day as DeChambeau, who won the U.S. Open at rugged Winged Foot in his last start, hit nine tee shots past the 300-yard barrier, including a 365-yard blast that reached the green on the par-4 7th. He is the first player in the ShotLink Era that began in 2003 to drive the green.

The No. 6 player in the world also drove the 315-yard par-4 15th – with a 3-wood. The longest iron he used for an approach was a 6-iron – and that was for his second shot on the 583-yard par-5 13th. Seven of his nine birdies came from within six feet and he was equally satisfied with two 10-foot putts he made for par.

Leaderboard: What's happening at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

Less than a 20-minute drive (abiding by posted speed limits) from Daytona International Speedway, where the roars of NASCAR engines and racing fans permeate along the Atlantic coast, you can find one of the most secluded, quiet and scenic golf courses in Volusia County, River Bend Golf Club. 18-hole River Bend Golf Club in Ormand Beach, Florida is […]

The post River Bend Golf Club is a quiet escape near Daytona International Speedway appeared first on Golf Blog, Golf Articles | GolfNow Blog.

Need to Know: GHIN Email Update January 2021

In order to improve data security and golfer privacy, golfers will need to create a digital profile to access the GHIN mobile app and ghin.com beginning in January 2021. Shared emails on multiple accounts will not be supported. Adult users are required to have a unique email address to create a digital profile for access to the GHIN products.

For more info, or to provide an email, please contact your Club Administrator.

-NCGA Staff

With this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Sophia Popov returns to a major from her non-LPGA membership exile and Bill Fields files a New York Times profile of the surprise Women’s Open champion.

A teaser:

Six months ago, Popov, was competing on the Cactus Tour, an Arizona-based circuit for fledgling women’s golf pros. Prior, she had competed on the Symetra Tour, the developmental arm, after having lost exempt status on the LPGA Tour, but it and most of the world’s other major golf tours were on hiatus because of Covid-19. Employing safeguards like cup liners and individual riding carts, the Cactus Tour played on.

Beyond getting in reps, Popov rediscovered her winning touch, claiming her first professional trophy at a tournament in mid-April and then taking two of the tour’s next five events. “It was important because I hadn’t won in six years, since I was a senior in college,” said Popov, who played at Southern California. By the time the larger tours resumed this summer, Popov had a dozen Cactus Tour events under her belt and renewed confidence.

“There is a craft to playing and winning no matter the stage,” said Rashell, who has worked with Popov since the spring of 2019. “You have to beat the players that are around you down the stretch. You have to get used to how that feels. There is pressure regardless of where you’re playing.”

For the first two rounds at Royal Troon, the field battled severe weather conditions — the wind was so strong Popov had to use a 4-iron from 126 yards on her approach to No. 1 the first day — that tested strategy and resolve.

She goes on to also discuss, among other things, the sight of her $650,000 winners check in her bank account.