Major(s) News & Notes January 19th, 2023

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Prestwick Goes Back To 12-Holes

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Prestwick is one swell club. Besides being so welcoming and protecting so much early golf history in its archives, they went above and beyond to show off the course that launched The Open Championship and professional golf.

My Quadrilateral entry on a two-week re-creation of the original Open course highlights the charms of early golf and the historic Ayrshire club's devotion to the sport.

Golf In Scotland (In The Black & White Era): Q&A With Steve Finan

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Cookie Jar On Royal St. George's And The 1922 Open Championship

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To help build our excitement for the 150th Open and cleanse those of us muddied by reading all about modern player greed and ignorance, the guys at Cookie Jar Golf have come along with a fantastic look at Walter Hagen’s 1922 Open win.

It’s a reminder of the days when players made huge sacrifices to travel for the chance to win an Open. He also broke the Great Triumvirate stranglehold on the Open and ushered in a new era of American dominance. Using Tom Clavin's Sir Walter, The flamboyant life of Walter Hagen, they give us a much needed excuse to revisit last year’s host and its place in the game. Then it’s off to St Andrews!

The Country Club: Q&A With Fred Waterman, By The Numbers And All 18 From Above

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Quadrilateral: Major(s) News & Notes, June 9, 2022

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Q&A With Southern Hills Historian Clyde Chrisman

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The Southern Hills historian tells us how the course has changed and what binds the many champions there. Plus, he explains the Clock Tower and why the clubhouse is pink.

Combined with yesterday’s Q&A with superintendent Russ Myers, you realize the place is in good hands and should be just that much more excited about next week’s PGA Championship.

A Good Reminder That Sam Snead Made A PGA Tour Cut At 67 Years Old

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Reader GP was miffed at reports out of New Orleans of Jay Haas becoming the oldest player to make a PGA Tour cut. While there might be some recency bias and general silliness to a team event counting the same as an individual tournament, it’s still nice that the Haas’ competed, made the cut and acknowledged Sam Snead.

Adam Schupak handled the “record” well in this story and as you’d expect for a class act like Jay Haas who knows the history of the pro game, he said just what you’d hope after making a key putt to get to the weekend.

That included becoming the oldest player to make a cut on the PGA Tour at 68 years, 4 months, 20 days, edging past Sam Snead, who made the cut at the 1979 Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic at 67 years, 2 months and 23 days.

“I don’t think it should (count) because Sam Snead did it on his own and all that, but anything that I’m even remotely close to Sam Snead on would be very special,” said Haas, of Snead, who was in the field when he made his Tour debut at the 1973 Wyndham Championship.

In a lot of ways, these records or near records are more impressive for Haas:

Haas is making his 799th Tour start, second on the all-time list behind Mark Brooks (803). Among his other achievements he counts leading the record books with 591 made cuts. And Jay, who captained the 2015 U.S. Presidents Cup team, was no slouch in his prime, winning nine times on Tour and another 18 times on PGA Tour Champions, where he remains active.

Quadrilateral: Q&A With Bob Harig, Author Of Tiger & Phil

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In this Tuesday Quadrilateral for all to enjoy, I review and chat with Bob Harig, author of Tiger & Phil.

Also, there is a preview of the Greg Norman 30 For 30 debuting Tuesday night on ESPN at 8:30 p.m. ET.

You can purchase Harig’s book here at Amazon or here at Bookshop.org to benefit independent sellers.

Ten Years Later, Bubba's Shot Still Resonates Like Few Others

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We talk so often about the continued sight of Masters patrons gravitating to the spot where Bubba Watson's rope-hook wedge sealed the 2012 Masters.

And so I decided to break down the shot, incorporate terrific insights from Watson’s new book with Don Yeager, and filed this lengthy Quadrilateral item that finishes with links to YouTube options.

Auction: The Tiger Slam Irons Can Be Yours

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But you better be ready to fork over eight figures given the starting bid of $25,000 already has things nearing $600k with two weeks to go.

Golden Age Auctions has a lengthy history of the irons and various affidavit’s certifying their authenticity.

It’s quite a story:

In the 12 years since they first surfaced in the collector market in our 2010 auction, the Tiger Slam irons have been displayed privately in a Houston office complex - appreciated only by the occasional visitor with a passing interest in golf. Over the past several years, we have repeatedly pleaded with Brock to let us showcase them to the world. Yes, the collector market has matured a lot since the dark days of 2010. But it was never about the money, even though these clubs will likely reset the record books. Instead, it was about timing. When was the collector market finally ready to appreciate the value of the very best golf collectibles, and ready to appropriately appreciate Tiger Woods and his position in history. 

After winning the 2001 Masters Tournament, Tiger held all 4 Major Championship titles at the same time - what we now call the Tiger Slam. 7 weeks later, at the Buick Classic at Westchester Country Club in New York, Titleist Director of Player Promotions Rick Nelson and Titleist VP of Player Promotions Steve Mata delivered to Tiger Woods the new set of irons and wedges that Titleist made for him. Tiger decided to put the new clubs into play that week, so Nelson brought Tiger's old clubs to the Titleist Tour Van to verify the specs of the new clubs would match his current gamers. Tiger then put those new clubs into play for the first time during the Wednesday Pro-Am that week. And the old clubs? The ones just used to complete the greatest feat on a golf course since Bobby Jones' Grand Slam in 1930? Tiger gave the clubs to Nelson and Mata, and Mata brought them home with him. It was widely known at Titleist, within Tiger's camp, and within the industry that Mata owned the Tiger Slam irons before he infamously put them up for auction in 2010.