Articles by "Golf"
Showing posts with label Golf. Show all posts

at 12:40 PM 0
(C)golfweek
Phil Mickelson is an early fan of the revised TPC Twin Cities course as PGA Tour returns to Minnesota this weekend with the inaugural 3M Open in Blaine.
The bomb-dropping Lefty knows TPC Twin Cities was considered a hitter’s paradise during its run as PGA Tour Champions stop. It ranked among the three easiest Champions courses eight times in the past 10 seasons.
Mickelson played the back nine Wednesday morning and likes what he saw at TPC Twin Cities, calling the course “spectacular” and adding that it is in “phenomenal shape.”

“It’s fun to play. A lot of water but a lot of birdie opportunities and some really tough holes to play. It’s got really nice mixture,” Mickelson said. “The greens are receptive, so it should be pretty good-scoring.”
Under the guise of Tom Lehman, this Arnold Palmer track once considered an everyman’s paradise was expanded and toughened for its PGA Tour premiere.
First, let’s do the math. TPC Twin Cities is now a 7,450-yard par 71 course. It used to be a 7,000-yard par 72.
Hole No. 3 now plays as a 501-yard par 4. It used to be a par-5.
“The green is generous, so the tee shot is the key shot here. Put it in the fairway and you can score. Drive it in the rough or the bunker and it becomes much more difficult to make a par, much less a birdie,” Lehman said.
The par-5 sixth measures 594 yards, 30 yards longer than before. Big-hitters can reach the green in two, but they have to be wary of water and waste area on both shots.
The par-3, 229-yard 17th hole includes a carryover over a big body of water. “Birdies will be made here, but there can also be some train-wrecks,” Lehman added.
Lehman and company saved the biggest changes for 18.
What was once a 500-yard par-5 hole with a 100-yard wide fairway now plays at 596 yards with a 35-yard fairway buffeted by a body of water that has roughly doubled in size during the course redesign.
Mickelson said all the changes make it hard to determine how low scores could go this weekend.
“They do have a converted par-5 into a par-4. There have been a lot of holes lengthened. But because the greens are receptive, I think that’s going to allow you to attack some pins and be a little big aggressive. And make some birdies. But it’s not an easy course by any means.”
Mickelson is part of a Round 2 afternoon featured grouping with Tony Finau and Rocket City Classic winner Nate Lashley. They will begin from No. 1 at 1:30 p.m. ET Friday and from No. 10 at 8:20 a.m. Thursday.



Read more »

at 12:24 PM 0

Park's birdie at the par-5 18th capped a final-round 66, and she finished the event at 18 under. The clutch putt also prevented a four-way tie and a playoff.
Park's win, her seventh on the tour and second of the season, earned the South Korean a $300,000 payday.
"To be honest, my round did not go as well today as I thought it would," Park said through a translator. "I knew it was important to make a lot of birdies on the front nine, but there were a lot of opportunities that I missed, too. But I talked it over with my caddie, and we both said there is still a lot of golf left."


Sunday's final round wasn't decided until Park made the winning putt.
She was deliberate on her approach to every shot as she made her way around Pinnacle Country Club.
"We waited because we knew that every single shot was important," Park said.
Former No. 1 Inbee Park, who won this event in 2013, walked off the 18th green with a 17 under and was in a position to be in a playoff. The 2016 Olympic gold medalist played well the entire weekend, but her putter betrayed her on several birdie chances.
"It was a really good day out there. I did not miss many shots," Inbee Park said. "I hit a lot of shots close and had a lot of birdie opportunities, but I wasn't able to convert enough of them. My putting was just a little bit weak compared to other parts of my game today."
Danielle Kang also finished 17 under after charging up the leaderboard on the back nine to put herself in contention with a 6-under 65. On the back nine, Kang had an eagle at No. 14 before closing with three consecutive birdies.
"I feel good. I finished well, I gave it everything I had over the last nine holes, but came up one shot short," Kang said. "I wish we could have gone to a playoff, but I knew that Sung Hyun was going to iron in on that last hole. But my game feels solid. I'm just going to keep knocking on those doors and hopefully get a win soon."
Sung Hyun Park shared the second-round lead with Carlota Ciganda at 13 under. She had just one bad hole the entire round at No. 9, where her shot off the tee rolled into a fairway bunker on the left side.
Park's iron shot out of the white sand traveled 30 yards. After she wiped the sand out of her face, she finished out the hole with her only bogey of the round and fourth of the tournament.
"The lie wasn't good," she said. "And by then I was a little tired, but after that, my caddie encouraged me and I was able to do better on the back nine."
The win and payday pushed Park's total winnings this season to more than $1 million, and she also will move into the No. 1 slot in the rankings. It also pushed her career earnings to more than $5 million.
Park held the No. 1 spot on the tour for 10 weeks as a rookie in 2017, but she admits back then the pressure of being the top player on the tour was tough to deal with.
"It's definitely good to be back on top," she said. "To be honest, there was a lot of pressure when I was No. 1, but it does feel nice to be No. 1"
Park has played this event all three years she's been on the tour, and she said she is fond of the stop.
She admitted she caught a glimpse of the leaderboard at No. 17 and knew there was a crowd at the top.
"I saw that Inbee and Hyo Joo [Kim] were all at the same score," Park said. "I didn't see that Danielle had the same score, but then I found out that three others were at the same score. I knew that 18 would give me a birdie opportunity. I didn't see the leaderboard at 18, but when Carlota told me to put my ball marker down, that's when I knew."
This year's tournament marked the closest finish since 2013 with eight players within three shots of the lead.
Sports on 07/01/2019
(C)arkansasonline
Read more »

at 12:50 AM
 At the start of the week, Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer appeared the most improbable of sets – a red hot 24-year-old from Spain, who is positioned eleventh on the planet with six successes in the previous two years, and a cool 42-year-old from Texas, who hadn't won since 2010.




By Sunday evening, they turned out to be a remarkable group, winning the Zurich Classic by three shots over Tommy Fleetwood and Sergio Garcia.

"Clearly altogether different stories, yet to complete it together … it was astonishing," said Rahm after the two topped a great 26-under execution with a 3-under 69 in foursomes.


A year back, Rahm and Palmer ended up in a similar last round gathering at TPC Louisiana – just with various accomplices, Rahm with Wesley Bryan and Palmer with Jordan Spieth. The two kidded then that they'd make a really hefty group.

"Our diversions supplement each other so much, the manner in which we drive the ball, our iron play," Palmer stated, "and there's nothing superior to anything missing greens realizing his short amusement is behind me."

At that point Bryan tore his left labrum in his shoulder, and Spieth chose not to come back to Zurich this year. The two players required accomplices, so Palmer, with his fingers crossed, contacted Rahm amid the Desert Classic in January.

"I gave him a content trusting he would nibble," Palmer said. "When a 42-year-old player is calling him, he's most likely like, 'For what reason does he need to play with me?'"

Said Rahm: "I'm extremely upbeat I said yes."

Rahm and Palmer have really been companions for a couple of years. They initially met at the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open, where Rahm, at that point a lesser at Arizona State, contended as a beginner. They were in the second-to-last gathering in the last round, alongside Zach Johnson. Palmer shot 66 to tie for second and Rahm checked a 68 to share fifth.

"He made each and every putt he took a gander at and I looked how he made each and every putt," Rahm said.

The pair's relationship has fortified from that point forward. At the point when Rahm turned star a year later, Palmer was the primary genius to welcome Rahm to play in his philanthropy occasion. They've been combined a couple of times in the previous couple of seasons, as well. Presently, they've shared a triumph together.

"No one can tell when that next success is going to come," Palmer stated, "and man, to come in at 42, and clearly in an association with Jon, and to have my better half and my child fly in today from Dallas, a few companions are here from Amarillo, too, this will live with me a mind-blowing remainder."

Also, neither one of the players intends to end something worth being thankful for.

Read more »
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)