Koepka Admits He's Fried, Still Not Over Rush From PGA Win

/
Screen Shot 2019-06-22 at 10.15.07 PM.png

Just as Tiger Woods took a while to recover from putting everything into winning the Masters, Brooks Koepka hit a wall Saturday after his PGA win and subsequent U.S. Open push to win a third in a row.

It’s one thing when 43-year-old Tiger is on fumes, but to hear Koepka say he’s “fried” suggests it might be tougher, not easier, to win a Grand Slam with the new schedule.

From Nick Menta’s GolfChannel.com story:

“I'm just pretty – I don't think I'm even over the PGA,” he said. “And then to exert all your energy there last week, just fried. I mean, I've caught myself yawning on the golf course. I don't think I've ever yawned on a golf course before.”

In fairness, Koepka has yawned before – in a way that was weirdly perfect – but it’s clear that last week’s run at a third consecutive U.S. Open title took a lot of him.

Asked why he made the cross-country trip here after Pebble, Koepka said he wanted to honor his commitment and that he couldn’t have known in advance he would be this drained. Considering the reason, he’s happy to feel fatigued.

“When you're planning your schedule, you're not thinking you're going to compete in all three majors and still be fried from it,” he said. “It's fine. I don't mind it.”

It’ll be interesting to see what the combination of The Open followed by a WGC, a week off and then the playoffs yields in the way of energetic play from the game’s stars. In the hottest month of the year.

Jason Day Is Officially In Stevie Williams Boot Camp

/
Screen Shot 2019-06-22 at 11.53.28 AM.png

Veteran bagman Steve Williams is bringing some discipline and drive to Jason Day’s preparation as the former PGA Champion looks to save his season. And hey, why not?

Day, from Brian Wacker’s GolfDigest.com story:

“We've definitely been a lot more disciplined about going to the range and putting green, chipping green after the round and making sure we're staying on top of it, especially with our feels,” Day said, sounding an awful lot like Williams’ most successful employer with that word choice.

“I've got a lot of work [to do],” Day said. “[Steve] is very black and white.”

He followed it up with a 63. Stevie!

As David Dusek notes, the Stevie-takes-charge method started at Pebble Beach and has continued to Connecticut. There have also been attempts to refine his equipment.

LPGA, Golf Channel Near Two-Year Extension, What Does It Mean?

/
Screen Shot 2019-06-22 at 11.25.00 AM.png

Randall Mell says the “finishing touches” are in the works for an LPGA Tour television extension with Golf Channel that would extend the current deal.

“We're in the final stages of completing a two-year extension, pretty much as is,” LPGA commissioner Mike Whan told reporters Friday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

A Golf Channel spokesman confirmed Whan’s announcement.

Whan confirmed that the PGA Tour has led the LPGA’s TV negotiations, as part of a strategic alliance agreement struck between the tours in 2016.

This sets the LPGA up to be part of the PGA Tour’s next television contract negotiations, likely benefiting from the ability to be included as part of the bidding. Though to what extent the PGA Tour will prioritize the LPGA in packaging, scheduling and inclusion in deals remains to be seen. Whichever networks interested in taking on PGA Tour coverage will almost surely have to take on other (less or not profitable) tours as well.

Current PGA Tour contracts with CBS, NBC and Golf Channel expire at the end of 2021. This sets in motion the likelihood of negotiations beginning in earnest with prospective bidders.

Wie: "I’m not entirely sure how much more I have left in me"

/
Screen Shot 2019-06-20 at 8.51.03 PM.png

Attempting to play on a bum wrist, things did not go well for Michelle Wie in the KPMG LPGA Championship first round (84) and after she suggested her career may have hit a wall.

From Beth Ann Nichols’ Golfweek story on Wie’s comments and player reaction to the possible career ending appearance:

“It’s just one of those situations where I’m not, you know, I’m not entirely sure how much more I have left in me,” said Wie, “so even on the bad days I’m just like trying to take time to enjoy it. But it’s tough.”

Like many I was surprised to see her turn up at Hazeltine after she signaled likely taking the summer off, so kudos to Wie for trying to play.

Classic Sports TV's Count Of 2019 U.S. Open Shots Shown By Fox

/
Screen Shot 2019-06-20 at 3.03.22 PM.png

As he always does, Jeff Haggar at Classic TV Sports tracked all of the shots shown by Fox during the 2019 U.S. Open final round coverage.

He started about 30 minutes before the leaders teed off to maintain some consistency with other major telecasts. Fox showed 1.17 shots per minute, down a touch from the 1.24 shown at Shinnecock Hills. But Fox appeared to do the leaders justice and also show a good number of players contending.

He also tracked holes shown the most. Check it out here.

For comparison to prior majors, see this table with links to all of Haggar’s charts since 2014.

From Ben Hogan To The Korn Ferry Tour...

/
A 24-handicapper follow-through…but he’s got a white belt because that’s what the kids wear!

A 24-handicapper follow-through…but he’s got a white belt because that’s what the kids wear!

There is so much to marvel at in the mid-season naming of Korn Ferry Consulting as the title sponsor of the Web.com Tour.

The firm signed a ten-year deal as Web.com did in 2012, but a new buyer of Web, Siris Capital, clearly wanted out and got their wish. The transition mid-season is showing, as PGATour.com is still sporting the old sponsor’s name.

Screen Shot 2019-06-19 at 9.31.29 PM.png

Anyway, Web.com joins Ben Hogan, Nike, Nationwide and Buy.com as former tour sponsors since the inception in 1989.

The firm specializes in high-priced job searches, and besides widespread social media mocking of the peculiar name and timing, already got its name up-front in a news story by Golf World’s Joel Beall. Impressions!

The lede:

Evan H. Vollerthum, a caddie on the Korn Ferry Tour, was arrested Monday for human trafficking and attempting to sexually exploit a child.

Vollerthum was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations in Topeka, Kansas, according to an ICE news release. Topeka is about two hours away from this week's Wichita Open.

Jerry, I have Jay Monahan on line one, he’s saying something about a game of cornhole on a ferry. You want me to send it to voicemail?

For Immediate Release:

PGA TOUR announces Korn Ferry as umbrella
sponsor of newly named Korn Ferry Tour

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – The PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry (NYSE: KFY) announced today a 10-year agreement making the Los Angeles-based, global organizational consulting firm the Umbrella Sponsor of the newly named Korn Ferry Tour. 

In replacing Web.com, Korn Ferry’s sponsorship takes effect June 19 and extends through the 2028 season. The Korn Ferry Tour will continue to award PGA TOUR membership to the Tour’s 50 leading players, including the top 25 from the Regular Season points list and the top 25 from the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals points list.

The announcement was made jointly by PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan, Korn Ferry Chief Executive Officer Gary Burnison, and Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin on Wednesday morning in New York City.

“We welcome Korn Ferry to the PGA TOUR family with today’s announcement,” said Monahan. “Our thanks to Gary Burnison and his team for a partnership that will promote Korn Ferry’s mission of helping people and organizations exceed their potential, collaborating with a Tour that has proven to identify the next generation of PGA TOUR talent over the last 30 years.”

Korn Ferry also becomes a PGA TOUR Official Marketing Partner as the “Official Leadership Development Firm” of the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, and Korn Ferry Tour. Additionally, Korn Ferry will assume sponsorship of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance in Evansville, Indiana – the third and final event in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. 

That’s right, the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

“We’re excited to partner with the PGA TOUR. Our organizations are both all about talent – getting players and people to that next level and advancing their careers. People will never discover their full potential until they are provided an abundance of opportunity. Korn Ferry and the Korn Ferry Tour provide that opportunity,” said Burnison. “This sponsorship will further elevate our brand as a global organizational consultancy and extend awareness of our firm to new audiences around the world.”

No where to go but up!

Korn Ferry develops and coaches 1.2 million people a year, puts someone in a new job every three minutes and has worked with companies to evaluate and assess nearly 70 million professionals. The firm has offices in more than 50 countries and 8,500 employees.

Korn Ferry works with clients to design their organizational structures, roles and responsibilities. The firm helps them hire the right people and advise them on how to reward, develop and motivate their workforce. Korn Ferry also helps professionals at all levels navigate and advance their careers. 

“This is a tremendous day for our organization, and we are eager to work with Gary and his team as we continue to build the Korn Ferry Tour from the strong foundation already in place,” said Baldwin, the first female to be named president of one of the PGA TOUR’s six global Tours earlier this year. “Korn Ferry has an impassioned desire to enhance the careers and brands of our players through this incredibly competitive Tour. This partnership will allow us to further those goals while elevating the Tour and our tournaments for our partners and fans.”

With 50 available PGA TOUR cards for the following season (since 2013), the Korn Ferry Tour is the path to the PGA TOUR. Twenty-five TOUR cards are reserved for the leading points earners at the end of the 24-event Regular Season. Another 25 are up for grabs at the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals that follow the Regular Season in August and September.

During the PGA TOUR’s 2017-18 season, eight players from the Korn Ferry Tour Class of 2017 won titles, including Aaron Wise, whose victory at the 2018 AT&T Byron Nelson was the 500th by a former Korn Ferry Tour player – a list which includes 24 major championships and eight PLAYERS Championships, including Gary Woodland’s win on Sunday at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Four players from the Class of 2018 have won on the PGA TOUR this season – Cameron Champ (Sanderson Farms Championship), Adam Long (The Desert Classic), Martin Trainer (Puerto Rico Open) and Max Homa (Wells Fargo Championship).

Other notable PGA TOUR players who got their start on the Korn Ferry Tour include major champions Justin Thomas, Jason Day, Bubba Watson and Zach Johnson.

The release mentions no dollar figures, but the announcement prompted some to point out stagnant purses on the Korn Ferry Tour.

And then there were the reactions to the name…

And somehow, poor Tiger got dragged into the sell:


Will Matthew Wolff's Game Prove Disruptive?

/

That’s certainly an underlying question as you read Sean Martin’s introductory piece for PGATour.com on Matthew Wolff, one of four college stars debuting this week who are getting the John, Paul, George and Ringo treatment, writes Ryan Herrington. All four—Viktor Hovland, Wolff, Colin Morikawa and Justin Suh are playing on sponsor’s invites.

The product of instructor George Gankas, Martin says Wolff’s distance and approach to golf courses is backed by the numbers, but his college coach says he’s ultimately more than just a long hitter.

Oklahoma State head coach Alan Bratton points to two shots from the NCAA Championship to illustrate Wolff’s shotmaking versatility. In the same round, Wolff used an 8-iron to hit approach shots from 150 and 208 yards.

“Everyone talks about his driver, but his biggest asset is his iron play and putting,” Bratton said.

Length has always been an asset. Mark Broadie’s Strokes Gained statistics helped quantify the advantage, though. Players can ride a hot putter to victory one week, but long hitters have an advantage week-in and week-out. The scoring advantage of having a 120-yard approach versus a 140-yarder may be small, but those incremental advantages add up over the course of weeks, months and years.

As for Hovland, coming off a record scoring performance by an amateur in the U.S. Open, he debuts having signed with Ping. David Dusek reports for Golfweek.

Brooks: I Care That People Said I Could Care Less

/
Screen Shot 2019-06-19 at 8.52.13 PM.png

Having shown little interest in regular PGA Tour events, Brooks Koepka enters this week’s Travelers Championship with his major championship mindset.

But he’s also using the media as motivation, suggesting his comment about about not caring where he finished in Canada was run with by media and not to be believed.

Nick Menta at the Travelers writes for GolfChannel.com:

Speaking with the media ahead of the Travelers Championship, Koepka was asked about his level of focus this week. The preamble to that question included a reference to comments Koepka made two weeks ago, prior the RBC Canadian Open, when he said he “could care less what happens” in his tune-up start for the U.S. Open.

“Let me set the record straight,” Koepka said Wednesday at TPC River Highlands. “It's not that I don't care about the event. … Some people took that and ran with it. … Can't believe everything you read.”

Pssst…it’s on video too.

Phil: "Come to the realization I'm not going to win the U.S. Open"

/
Screen Shot 2019-06-19 at 8.39.16 PM.png

Pretty stunning admission from Phil Mickelson Wednesday at the Travelers.

From Brian Wacker’s GolfDigest.com report:

“I really don’t have many more chances,” Mickelson said Wednesday from the Travelers Championship, where he is playing for the first time in 16 years. “I probably have to come to the realization that I’m not going to win a U.S. Open.”

The U.S. Open returns to Winged Foot next year, where Mickelson nearly won in 2006.

"Will Cool Clothes Make Young People Love Golf?"

/

In an NY Times Style piece, Sheila Marikar attends (with photos!) a Malbon Golf party at last week where the theme was to show how golf and fashion can make the sport more accessible to the hip-hop generation.

“Kids that are into fashion, hip-hop and music, they’re not into golf,” said Mr. Malbon. “It’s in danger of going where baseball is. Or think about bowling — bowling used to be lit.”

That might be a bit strong, but we get the point.

Rusacks, Marine Hotels Will Be Coming On The Market (Again)

/
Screen Shot 2019-06-19 at 8.12.43 PM.png

Tom Ramage reports that major losses in their hotel empire will prompt the Macdonald Hotels group to sell most of their hotels.

In golf, that means two of the most storied properties possible will be available: Rusacks on the 18th hole of St. Andrews and the Marine hotel overlooking the 16th at North Berwick.

Hey rich golf guys, make sure these land in the right hands, please.

How Gary Woodland's Incredible Wedge Shot Was Influenced By (Restored) Golf Architecture

/
pebble17II.jpg

You may have heard…Chandler Egan and friends remodeled Pebble Beach for the 1929 U.S. Amateur into the Pebble Beach we’ve come to know. Over time, many features have been lost to the point of dysfunction in U.S. Open conditions. The boiling point was reached in the 2010 U.S. Open when the 17th green could not be held. As we detailed in the above link, a remodeled 17th hole was an opportunity to see if Pebble Beach would play better in the 2019 edition.

I’d say it did.

Since that U.S. Open, the green was expanded and the bunker faces reduced. The neck of the “hourglass” green created by Egan had been reduced to a sliver, the green unpinnable anywhere near the surrounds. The square footage restoration estimate was over 1000 square feet and while the green was still not as large as the original, the remodel made the 17th was made functional again.

But more important than the reclamation of architectural roots or reminding us of this wonderfully bizarre vision by Egan, the expansion gave Gary Woodland the opportunity to hit a shot for the ages, requiring him to clip the ball and land in a very small area and join Pebble Beach’s other 17th hole classic moments by Nicklaus and Watson.

The shot reminds how important golf course design is to giving us golf-watching thrills, and the vitality of caring for architectural gems.

Phil Transitions To The Bathroom Humor Phase Of His Social Media Career

/
Screen Shot 2019-06-18 at 8.02.59 PM.png

I’m sure Arnold Palmer wishes he could have have taken to Twitter in his World Golf Hall Of Fame jacket, simulating a toilet sitting position and making his first story one with scatological roots.

What will Phil do next…

Nicklaus: Sebonack Will Get A U.S. Open Someday

/
Screen Shot 2019-06-16 at 5.30.52 PM.png

Mark Herrmann of Newsday talks to Mike Davis of the USGA after recent Jack Nicklaus comments suggesting Sebonack will some day host a U.S. Open. The course is a co-design by Nicklaus and Tom Doak.

 Speaking at a Long Island Association luncheon recently, the 18-time major winner said, “I think we’re going to get the U.S. Open out there…and it won’t be long.” He wrote something similar when he served as guest editor of Golf magazine last month,

Davis, interviewed at this year’s Open here, said, “It’s one of many courses that has offered an invitation to host it. When it gets to that, there’s actually a team — I’m not necessarily engaged in that any more — but I daresay that there are probably 25-plus courses that have interest. The team does an analysis of every single course. I think it’s fair to say of every one of those that I’ve seen, is there a possibility? Absolutely.

The course hosted the 2013 U.S. Women’s Open and sits next to National Golf Links and Shinnecock Hills, host of the 2026 U.S. Open.