The Hope Is Looking For A Sponsor Again...

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Larry Bohannan of the Desert Sun reports on the latest sponsor loss for the beleaguered PGA Tour stop in California. An ownership change to a private equity group at Careerbuilder led to the change.

Oddly though, the company is on the hook for this year’s purse but won’t have its name on the event.

CareerBuilder is still contractually obligated to fund the 2019 tournament, meaning the event will still have a $5.9 million purse, will still be broadcast on Golf Channel all four days and will be able to fund its charitable donations which reached $1 million from the 2018 event. But Sanders sees a chance to start the search for what he calls the right sponsor for 2020 earlier than if CareerBuilder was still involved through the 2019 tournament.

Well Won't 2019 Be Fun: Bryson Intends To Leave Flagstick In While Putting

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At least, until the first putt clanks off the fiberglass and he looks at the innocent synthetic material holding a flag in disgust. Thankfully, flagsticks don’t have feelings.

Nice exclusive here from Golf.com’s Dylan Dethier on Bryson DeChambeau revealing during a photo shoot that at all fiberglass flagstick events, he will be putting with the pin in the hole. The new Rules of Golf will allow for putting with flagsticks in the hole starting January 1, 2019. The change was designed to speed up the game. But the mad scientist has done the calculations and sees another rationale.

“It depends on the COR, the coefficient of restitution of the flagstick,” he said. “In U.S. Opens, I’ll take it out, and every other Tour event, when it’s fiberglass, I’ll leave it in and bounce that ball against the flagstick if I need to.”

It’s interesting that DeChambeau goes on to say he thinks this will make the hole play bigger and that his good, good friends at the USGA will ultimately backtrack on the rule.

I don’t see that, but I could envision a scenario where players start griping about strange things and airing odd grievances.

Or the USGA and R&A could announce a slight increase in the size of the golf ball, fueling conspiracy theories that the move was not to slow down distance but to mess with Bryson.

There will also be the inevitable re-airing of the flagstick vs. pin moniker. But wouldn’t it be fun if the science backs him up.

Champ Wins Even After His Driver Cracks, Dominates With Distance At Sanderson Farms

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Getting your first PGA Tour win is an incredible feat, but especially when you are known for you prodigious driving distances and the head cracks just 20 minutes before your tee time. That’s one Cameron Champ will be able to giggle about after battling to hang on and win the Sanderson Farms Championship at CC of Jackson.

Kevin Casey with the backstory on the driver break. Thankfully there was a backup. Given his clubhead speed (130) and ball speed (190ish) he probably should carry a backup collection!

As for Champ’s driving distance and its role in his win, Sean Martin at PGATour.com writes in his Sanderson roundup:

He dominated the Country Club of Jackson’s back nine, which features two par-5s (Nos. 11 and 13) and the drivable, par-4 15th hole. He was 16 under on the course’s inward half and didn’t make a bogey.

Champ’s trademark driving distance was key to his victory. He finished first in driving distance, averaging 308 yards on all holes and 334 yards on the measured holes. He was second in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, as well. Champ also finished second in Strokes Gained: Putting (+2.27 per round) and ninth in greens hit (55 of 72), despite hitting just 11 in the final round.

And check out these numbers from the ShotLink team. Look at that approach average distance number!

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Trophy Wrap: Schauffele Takes The HSBC, Champ Claims Sanderson, Nelly Nabs The Swing Skirts

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Xander Schauffele is primed for a Ryder Cup berth after…oh wait, sorry. Presidents Cup! He’s in like Flynn! Your WGC HSBC winner…

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Some birthday week eh, @xanderschauffele?

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Cameron Champ has arrived, taking the Sanderson Farms and a fantastic bookend for his coffee table book collection.

Nelly Korda becomes an LPGA winner in Taiwan and has a fantastic glass plate to show for her effort.

Scott Parel won the Invesco QQQ and the member-guest crystal that goes with winning a Schwab Cup playoff event.

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Trophy No. 2 for @parelgolf. 🏆🏆

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Who Says He Doesn't Play Well With Others? Patrick Reed Offers A Helping (Backstop) Hand* (*Or Was It Justin Rose)

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*Those who stayed up to watch think Justin Rose was the kind helper. I will review tape Monday to confirm. Until then…my original snark that will happily be transferred to the former World No. 1 if he’s not protecting the field.

Maybe being on a Ryder Cup team bonded them, maybe he’s just lazy, maybe those grooves just really needed cleaning instead of protecting the field, or maybe Patrick Reed is just trying to be less of a maverick by leaving his ball next to the hole. Either way, he did it at the HSBC Champions so that Tony Finau could slow down his bunker shot just like we saw a year ago in Napa.

Yet another example of insidious behavior inside the ropes in the name of faster play when it’s could conveniently save someone strokes no different than turning a blind eye to someone improving their line. At least in a few months when the new rules of golf take hold, players won’t have to pretend to look the other way when a “ball mark” is repaired in their line. Tap away. Too bad the new rules find a way to address this nonsense.

Is "World No. 1" Status Enhanced Or Diminished By Recent Revolving Door?

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Brooks Koepka won the limited-field CJ Cup Sunday in Korea and while no one noticed in the United States due to interest in many other sports not named golf, I do wonder if Brooks Koepka’s move atop the Official World Golf Ranking is impacted by the recent changes at the top.

As Dan Kilbridge at Golfweek notes, Koepka is still very much grinding to bring his major championship consistency to regular PGA Tour events and is proud of the honor. But given that Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose (ever briefly but long enough to cash some bonuses), held the title of No. 1 in recent weeks, does that lessen the impact of the achievement or speak to unprecedented parity and therefore the difficulty of reaching the top ranking?

Trophy Wrap: Leishman Is CIMB Worthy, Pepperell Takes British Masters, Chun Claims The Hana, Langer Wins No. 38 In The SAS And Tennant Wins US Senior Women's Am

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Marc Leishmann fended off—who else?—but Justin Thomas along with 54-hole co-leaders Gary Woodland and Shubhankar Sharma to take the CIMB Classic and the solar panel trophy for the winner.

Because it was just too bloody cold for anyone to go back outside, Eddie Pepperell posed inside Walton Heath’s clubhouse to celebrate his Sky Sports British Masters victory. Alistair Tait with details of the win for Golfweek.

In Gee Chun takes the turquoise jacket and a matching lamp base in the KEB Hana Bank:

Bernhard Langer won again on the PGA Tour Champions, his 38th title. This time it’s the SAS Championship and a piece of crystal he can pawn to buy a non-white belt with.

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Trophy No. 38 for @bernhard.langer. 👏🏆

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And it was a few days ago, but congrats to Lara Tennant for winning the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. The 51-year-old had her father on the bag! Scott Lipsky with the the story of Tennant’s 3&2 win over Sue Wooster.

PGA Tour Closing In On Alameda's Corica Park For Curry Tournament, Two-Week 2019 Off-Season

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I’m not sure what’s more eye-opening in Ron Kroichick’s update on plans for a 2019 PGA Tour stop in San Francisco and hosted by Steph Curry: that a true public course is likely to host, or that it would me just two weeks between the end of the Tour Championship and

First reported by Golf.com as the likely venue, Kroichick confirms and then notes where this likely new PGA Tour stop will fit:

Tour officials have not announced the dates of this potential tournament, but it’s tentatively slotted for Sept. 19-22, early in the 2019-20 season. The current 2018-19 “wraparound” schedule started last week in Napa, takes a break in December and ends with the regular-season finale Aug. 1-4. Then the FedEx Cup playoffs run for three weeks, ending Aug. 25 with the Tour Championship.

The tour is expected to take a two-week break before launching its season Sept. 12, 2019, at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. Curry’s event would be next, followed by the Safeway Open in Napa, Sept. 26-29, one week earlier than in recent years.

Great Aces! Pepperell's High Bouncing Spinner, Whee Kim's Beemer

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Two beauties today for different reasons.

Eddie Pepperell at Walton Heath will down as one of the wackiest hole-in-one’s you’ll ever see. From round one of the 2018 Sky Sports British Masters:

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Wow. Just wow 💥 #BritishMasters

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At the CIMB Classic in Malaysia, Whee Kim files a stock ace but gives it a little extra something with the delayed running reaction after hanging around the tee to pose with his new 7 series plug in hybrid! Not a full on Rich Beem reaction but a Beemer in his future!

Trophy Roundup: Tway Takes Safeway, Bjerregaard Is An Old Course Winner, Crowns For Korea, Kanya Claims The APAC

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Kevin Tway claims his first PGA Tour title in a playoff over Ryan Moore and Brandt Snedeker at Silverado. As Kevin Casey notes in this Golfweek roundup of notes and quotes, it was Tway’s steadiness that benefitted from Brandt Snedeker losing a five-stroke lead.

For the effort, Tway gets a fantastic foot rest for his mancave:


Lucas Bjerregaard, who attended the Ryder Cup as a spectator, gets to do the Swilcan Burn trophy shot before figuring how to get that shipped home to Denmark. This is his second European Tour title.

Takumi Kanaya is the Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion and highest ranked Japanese amateur currently: