Friday Night Happy Hour

Healdsburg Golf Club is teaming up with local Chef Dan Lucia of DL Catering to offer the best Friday night happy hour in town! Local Chef Dan Lucia of DL Catering has been cooking locally for 20 years and started DL Catering 15 years ago!

Happy Hour is from 4-6pm.
Food served 4-7pm.

What’s on this Week’s Menu?

Andy’s Famous “ Ham and Cheese “ Pizzas – $14.00

Raw and Grilled Oysters with Garlic Herb Butter or BBQ Sauce – 6 for $21.00 or 12 for $36.00

Chicken Taquitos with a Chipotle Dipping Sauce and a Citrus Black Bean Salad – $13.00

Drink prices:

$2-$4 (draft beer, wine, and spirits) See you all there!

Happy Hour Golf

Enjoy Happy Hour Golf!

$28 per person Monday – Friday

$32 on the Weekends

Here’s how it works:

  • Bring 2 to 4 paying players after 2pm.
  • Play 18 holes with cart.
  • Receive one of the following with your round: draft beer, well cocktail, fountain soda, or coffee
  • Sleeve of Bridgestone Laddie Golf Balls.

Lydia Ko wins in a dramatic playoff, her first victory in two years

Lydia Ko has faced plenty of heat over the past couple years. The general questions surrounding her have been about why a teen sensation with 14 LPGA titles to her credit would change her coach, her equipment, her caddie—and why has it been two seasons since her last victory? Thankfully for her sanity, it sounds like she hasn’t been paying too much attention to all the critics.

And when she was faced with the chance to change the narrative, Ko stepped up. Five days after turning 21, the New Zealand resident celebrated by claiming her 15th LPGA title, a playoff victory over Minjee Lee at the MEDIHEAL Championship.

Ko didn’t just win, she won in style, making an eagle 3 on the first extra hole, the par-5 18th at Lake Merced Golf Club outside San Francisco after hitting her second shot from 234 yards to less than three feet.

https://twitter.com/LPGA/status/990758034711363585

The leader after each of the first three rounds, Ko was asked on Saturday night whether or not she felt pressure from people talking about if she’s going to win again or not. Ko responded to the question saying, “I’ve been very distant from like press and media. No offense.”

It was a typical Ko response: honest, yet perfectly considerate.

The last time Ko had slept on a 54-hole lead was at the 2016 U.S. Open. The last time she had won was a week later at the Marathon Classic. Since that victory, Ko has changed her swing coaches, going from David Leadbetter to Gary Gilchrist to her current instructor, Ted Oh, who she began working with in early 2018. She changed her clubs, moving from Callaway to PXG. And she changed her caddie, multiple times. When all of these changes didn’t add up to continued dominance on tour, some questioned whether or not she had made the right choices.

But Ko stayed patient, confident, and relatively quiet about all of the adjustments.

During Sunday’s final round, the lead changed hands multiple times. Ko had started the day one stroke ahead of Jessica Korda. A cold putter kept Korda from making a charge (she’d finish with a Sunday 74). Meanwhile, early bogeys from Ko brought Lee, who started the day three strokes off the lead, into the mix. Lee made five birdies on the back nine to finish 12-under for the tournament, posting a closing 68.

After making the turn with a 38, Ko improved on the back nine and was sitting at 11 under for the tournament, playing in the group behind Lee. She watched as Lee made her birdie putt to finish at 12 under. That putt meant Ko had to make birdie to force a playoff.

Ko’s approach shot came up short on the short par 5, and her chip for eagle grazed the high side of the cup. She tapped in for birdie and a Sunday 71, and the two 21-year-olds went back to the 18th tee for the first playoff hole.

Each player headed into the playoff having had experience winning at Lake Merced in the past. Lee won the 2012 U.S. Girls’ Junior, where Ko had lost in her semifinal match. Ko won the Swinging Skirts LPGA event in 2014 and 2015 at Lake Merced.

Both put their drives in the fairway. Ko, with a 3-wood in her hands from 234 yards out, hit a towering shot over some branches that hung over the left side of the fairway. It hit in front of the green, rolled up and almost into the hole. Lee made birdie, but it wasn’t enough. Ko’s short eagle putt rolled in and she left the 18th green in tears.

After the win, Ko opened up more about what it felt like to play 43 starts without a win.

“I was frustrated because sometimes I would go into the Thursday feeling, Hey, I feel like I can actually play really well, and then miss the cut or shoot over par,” Ko said. “I think it was more frustration against myself from myself. I think sometimes self pressure is the biggest thing where you kind of put a lot of load on your shoulders. That’s what my mom actually said, hey, just clear your mind, just take away all the weight off your shoulders and just go out and play. That’s what I think I was able to do this week, which is always nice when you’re kind of playing without fear and you’re just out there freely.”

 

Source: Golf Digest

Putting prepared Park’s path back to No. 1

Inbee Park brings more than her unshakably tranquil demeanor back to the top of the Rolex Women’s World Rankings this week.

She brings more than her Olympic gold medal and seven major championships to the Mediheal Championship on the outskirts of San Francisco.

She brings a jarring combination of gentleness and ruthlessness back to the top of the rankings.

Park may look as if she could play the role of Mother Teresa on some goodwill tour, but that isn’t what her opponents see when she’s wielding her Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball mallet.

She’s like Mother Teresa with Lizzy Borden’s axe.

When Park gets on one of her rolls with the putter, she scares the hell out of the rest of the tour.

At her best, Park is the most intimidating player in women’s golf today.

“Inbee makes more 20- and 30-footers on a regular basis than anyone I know,” seven-time major championship winner Karrie Webb said.

All those long putts Park can hole give her an aura more formidable than any power player in the women’s game.

“A good putter is more intimidating than someone who knocks it out there 280 yards,” Webb said “Even if Inbee misses a green, you know she can hole a putt from anywhere. It puts more pressure on your putter knowing you’re playing with someone who is probably going to make them all.”

Park, by the way, said Webb and Ai Miyazato were huge influences on her putting. She studied them when she was coming up on tour.

Webb, though, believes there’s something internal separating Park. It isn’t just Park’s ability to hole putts that makes her so intimidating. It’s the way she carries herself on the greens.

“She never gets ruffled,” Webb said. “She says she gets nervous, but you never see a change in her. If you’re going toe to toe with her, that’s what is intimidating. Even if you’re rolling in putts on top of her, it doesn’t seem to bother her. She’s definitely a player you have to try not to pay attention to when you’re paired with her, because you can get caught up in that.”

Park has led the LPGA in putts per greens in regulation five of the last 10 years.

Brad Beecher has been on Park’s bag for more than a decade, back before she won her first major, the 2008 U.S. Women’s Open. He has witnessed the effect Park can have on players when she starts rolling in one long putt after another.

“You have those times when she’ll hole a couple long putts early, and you just know, it’s going to be one of those days,” Beecher said. “Players look at me like, `Does she ever miss?’ or `How am I going to beat this?’ You see players in awe of it sometimes.”

Park, 29, won in her second start of 2018, after taking seven months off with a back injury. In six starts this year, she has a victory, two ties for second-place and a tie for third. She ended Shanshan Feng’s 23-week run at No. 1 with a tie for second at the Hugel-JTBC LA Open last weekend.

What ought to disturb fellow tour pros is that Park believes her ball striking has been carrying her this year. She’s still waiting for her putter to heat up. She is frustrated with her flat stick, even though she ranks second in putts per greens in regulation this season.

“Inbee Park is one of the best putters ever,” said LPGA Hall of Famer Sandra Haynie, a 42-time LPGA winner. “She’s dangerous on the greens.”

Haynie said she would rank Park with Kathy Whitworth, Mickey Wright and Nancy Lopez as the best putters she ever saw.

Hall of Famer Joanne Carner says Park is the best putter she has seen since Lopez.

“I thought Nancy was a great putter,” Carner said. “Inbee is even better.”

Park uses a left-hand low grip, with a mostly shoulder move and quiet hands.

Lopez used a conventional grip, interlocking, with her right index finger down the shaft. She had a more handsy stroke than Park.

Like Lopez, Park prefers a mallet-style putter, and she doesn’t switch putters much. She is currently playing with an Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball putter. She won the gold medal with it two years ago. She used an Oddysey White Ice Sabertooth winged mallet when she won three majors in a row in 2013.

Lopez hit the LPGA as a rookie in 1978 with a Ray Cook M1 mallet putter and used it for 20 years. It’s in the World Golf Hall of Fame today.

“I watch Inbee, and I think, `Wow, that’s how I used to putt,’” Lopez said. “You can see she’s not mechanical at all. So many players today are mechanical. They forget if you just look at the hole and stroke it, you’re going to make more putts.”

Notably, Park has never had a putting coach, not really. Her husband and swing coach, Gi Hyeob Nam, will look at her stroke when she asks for help.

“When I’m putting, I’m concentrating on the read and mostly my speed,” Park said. “I don’t think mechanically about my stroke at all, unless I think there’s something wrong with it, and then I’ll have my husband take a look. But, really, I rely on my feel. I don’t think about my stroke when I’m out there playing.”

Hall of Famer Judy Rankin says Park’s remarkably consistent speed is a key to her putting.

“Inbee is definitely a feel putter, and her speed is so consistent, all the time,” Rankin said. “You have to assume she’s a great green reader.”

Beecher says Park’s ability to read greens is a gift. She doesn’t rely on him for that. She reads greens herself.

“I think what impresses me most is Inbee has a natural stroke,” Beecher said. “There’s nothing too technical. It’s more straight through and straight back, but I think the key element of the stroke is that she keeps the putter so close to the ground, all the time, on the takeaway and the follow-through. It helps with the roll and with consistency.”

Park said that’s one of her fundamentals.

“I keep it low, almost like I’m hitting the ground,” Park said. “When I don’t do that, I miss more putts.”

Beecher believes the real reason Park putts so well is that the putter brought her into the game. It’s how she got started, with her father, Gun Gyu Park, putting the club in her hands as a child. She loved putting on her own.

“That’s how she fell in love with the game,” Beecher said. “Getting started that way, it’s played a huge role in her career.”

 

Source: GolfChannel.com

Friday Night Happy Hour – April 27, 2018

April 27, 2018

Healdsburg Golf Club is teaming up with local Chef Jose of JK Catering to offer the best Friday night happy hour in town!

Happy Hour is from 4-6pm.

Food served 4-7pm.

What’s on this Week’s Menu?

JK’s Catering will be serving Raw and BBQ’d Oysters as well as Spicy Buffalo Chicken Wings for Happy Hour this coming Friday, April 27th.

 

Drink prices:

$2-$4 (draft beer, wine, and spirits) See you all there!

 

Golf Special!

Enjoy Happy Hour Golf!

$28 per person Monday – Friday

$32 on the Weekends

Here’s how it works:

Bring 2 to 4 paying players after 2pm.

Play 18 holes with cart.

Receive one of the following with your round: draft beer, well cocktail, fountain soda, or coffee

Sleeve of Bridgestone Laddie Golf Balls.

Windsor Christian Academy Golf Tournament

18 HOLE 4 MAN SCRAMBLE  COURSE CONTESTS PRIZES

INCLUDES SNACKS, DINNER, AUCTION & DRAWING

Cost: $125

Check In – 12:00

Group Meeting – 12:50

Shotgun Tee Off – 1:00

Dinner – 6:15

SIGN UP BY CALLING:

WCA School office at 707-838-3757 or by emailing us at office@windsorchristianacademy.org

Friday Night Happy Hour – April 20, 2018

Friday Night Happy Hour

 April 20, 2018

Healdsburg Golf Club is teaming up with local Chef Dan Lucia of DL Catering to offer the best Friday night happy hour in town! Local Chef Dan Lucia of DL Catering has been cooking locally for 20 years and started DL Catering 15 years ago!

Happy Hour is from 4-6pm.

Food served 4-7pm.

What’s on this Week’s Menu?

Local Grilled Oysters – Choice of Garlic Butter or BBQ Sauce – 6 oysters $21.00  · 12 oysters $36.00

Italian Sausage Pizza with Provolone and Mozzarella Cheese – $13.00

Fried Chicken Po Boy’s with Cole Slaw – $12.00

Drink prices:

$2-$4 (draft beer, wine, and spirits) See you all there!

 Happy Hour Golf:

Enjoy Happy Hour Golf!

$28 per person Monday – Friday

$32 on the Weekends

 

Here’s how it works:

Bring 2 to 4 paying players after 2pm.

Play 18 holes with cart.

Receive one of the following with your round: draft beer, well cocktail, fountain soda, or coffee

Sleeve of Bridgestone Laddie Golf Balls.

How unusual, costly is it for Masters champ Patrick Reed to go without equipment sponsor?

Masters champion Patrick Reed says he doesn’t believe in one company sponsoring a golfer entirely. At least that’s his stance right now.

But the decision to play with a mixed bag of clubs — and not commit to one big-name brand — could be costing him millions, experts say.

The 27-year-old winner of six PGA Tour titles parted ways with Callaway Golf last year and told CNBC this week, “It’s hard to believe that there is one company that makes 14 perfect golf clubs.”

Golf Channel equipment expert Matt Adams sees Reed in a “unique situation” financially. He estimates winning a Masters could pay out between $12 million-$15 million from corporate appearances, speaking fees and endorsement dollars. That number could be even higher for Reed considering he’s a free agent with his clubs.

“I don’t think (Reed) is looking for or stressed about finding an (equipment) deal. There’s no rush,” said Adams, who’s worked in the golf industry for more than 25 years. “However, when you’re the Masters champion, referred to as Captain America, and it’s a Ryder Cup year, I get the feeling that equipment companies will be knocking on the door and would love to sign somebody of (Reed’s) caliber, particularly when they can offer him a lot of money in a category where he’s not making anything in.”

There’s been an overall decline in equipment deals because of how the market has changed, Adams notes. But he says the decline has generally hurt PGA Tour players less accomplished than Reed, who’s ranked No. 11 in the world.

“For someone as high a caliber as him to win the Masters without an equipment deal is extremely rare,” Adams said. “Five to 10 years ago, you would have been hard-pressed to see any Tour player who didn’t have an equipment deal, but there’s not as much money as there used to be.”

After the Masters, Reed seemed unfazed that he’d miss out on a bonus that golfers typically receive from their equipment sponsor after winning a major championship. “The biggest thing was, I wanted to be different,” he told CNBC.

Just how different is it? Reed’s decision to sign with Nike for a clothing deal that’s separate from his equipment falls in line with Tiger Woods’ decision to be sponsored by Nike for apparel but TaylorMade for clubs and Bridgestone Golf for balls.

Nike stopped making golf equipment in 2016, creating a major wave of free agency for some of the top equipment brands. Since leaving Callaway last year, Reed hasn’t signed with another equipment company.

While under contract with Callaway, he was seen using other brands’ clubs and blamed lackluster results on his equipment.

“That’s the trade-off, when those two things are at conflict,” said Southern California associate professor David Carter, the executive director of the school’s sports business institute. “An athlete in this situation has to weigh what’s best for his on-course performance and long-term, off-course financial wellbeing.”

While Reed’s situation with no equipment sponsor is unusual, there are other recent high-profile examples. Brooks Koepka also bucked the trend when he won the 2017 U.S. Open by using a bag full of irons he wasn’t paid to play with.

Koepka, who had used Nike equipment before it got out of the club-making game and now has an apparel deal with the company like Reed, was courted by Mizuno Golf. Although he wasn’t under contract, Koepka used Mizuno irons created specifically with him in mind (as an athletic long driver) for the U.S. Open.

In another sign of how much the market has changed, Sergio Garcia split with longtime sponsor TaylorMade after 2017, the year he won his green jacket, and signed on with Callaway.

Adams says big-name players such as Tiger or Rory McIlroy can make more than $20 million a year from their apparel and equipment deals combined, and those deals are typically written long term for five to seven years. But the numbers greatly vary below the top-tier names, with mid-range golfers averaging closer to the $1 million-$5 million range for shorter terms.

According to experts, most equipment companies will sponsor around five to seven notable Tour players, and their contracts require a golfer to use 12 or 13 of 14 clubs with the brand. Tiger’s deal is the rare exception to the rule.

In 2016, Phil Mickelson earned $50 million off the course from appearance fees, course design and a list of sponsors that included Callaway and Rolex, according to Forbes. The only active athletes to earn more outside of their normal salaries that year was Roger Federer ($60 million) and LeBron James ($54 million). And Jordan Spieth more than doubled his sponsorship earnings after he won two majors in 2015

“The position that Reed is in now is a good one because of his notoriety,” Carter said. “Whether it’s good, bad or indifferent, he has an emerging brand that gives him a tremendous amount of leverage with these (equipment) companies.”

Reed’s case presents an interesting dilemma: Comfort with his clubs or dollar signs. It’s worth noting that he earned $1.98 million for his Masters victory and has just over $22 million in PGA Tour earnings overall.

At Augusta National last weekend, Reed used a Ping driver, Titleist and Callaway irons, Artisan Golf wedges, a 7-year-old Nike 3-wood club and an Odyssey putter. And he used a Titleist Pro V1 ball.

“He would be passing up quite a bit of money,” Carter said of Reed’s lack of equipment sponsor. “But if he’s being true to himself and his personal brand, he could monetize it elsewhere. He could do a deal when he’s comfortable. But it almost seems inevitable for him to sign (an equipment contract). You can only go rogue for so long without it having a (financial) effect.”

Contributing: David Dusek of Golfweek

Friday Night Happy Hour is Back!

Friday Night Happy Hour is Back!

Staring April 13, 2018

Healdsburg Golf Club is proud to announce the return of Friday night happy hour food and drink. This years Friday Night Happy Hour will be our best yet!

Healdsburg Golf Club is teaming up with local Chef Dan Lucia of DL Catering to offer the best Friday night happy hour in town!

Local Chef Dan Lucia of DL Catering has been cooking locally for 20 years and started DL Catering 15 years ago!

Starting April 13, 2018, Dan and his crew will be firing up the grill to cook up some delicious snacks to go along with your favorite beverages. Great food, drink, and the best views of Healdsburg and the Dry Creek Valley.

Happy Hour is from 4-6pm.

Food served 4-7pm.

 

What’s on this Week’s Menu?

Grilled Oysters – Warm French Bread – Choice of Garlic Herb Butter or Andy’s BBQ Sauce  – 6 oysters – $21.00 12 oysters – $36.00
Smoked Pork Belly Flat Breads – Mozzarella Cheese – Balsamic Onions – $13.00
Beef and Pork Meat Ball Sliders – 3 sliders – $ 12.00

Drink prices:

$2-$4 (draft beer, wine, and spirits) See you all there!

Golf Special

Enjoy Happy Hour Golf!

$28 per person Monday – Friday

$32 on the Weekends

Here’s how it works:

Bring 2 to 4 paying players after 2pm. Play 18 holes with cart.

Receive one of the following with your round: draft beer, well cocktail, fountain soda, or coffee

Sleeve of Bridgestone Laddie Golf Balls.

 

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson Warm Up Together, and to Each Other

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods was on the driving range Tuesday at the Masters after playing nine holes in a foursome that included Phil Mickelson when Rory McIlroy sidled up and made him laugh. McIlroy said he had told Woods, “I never thought I’d see the day: Tiger and Phil playing a practice round at Augusta.”

Yes, it was hardly practice as usual at Augusta National when Mickelson and Woods, the game’s great rivals who had circled each other like birds of prey for more than two decades, played nine holes together ahead of a major for the first time in their storied careers.

It was Mickelson’s idea, and Woods embraced it. “We enjoyed it,” Woods said.

This very public thawing of their relationship proved an irresistible attraction at Augusta National, where, strangely, birdsong is heard but birds are rarely seen. That’s what made the sight at the 13th hole doubly surreal. As Mickelson and Woods were playing the 510-yard par 5, a large crane strutted across the fairway.

The crane joined the huge gallery in time to see Woods hit his second shot to within 40 feet of the pin. The roar after Woods stepped up and sank the eagle putt was deafening. The crowd erupted again after he made a much shorter attempt for another eagle at 15. When the noise quieted to a loud murmur, one patron remarked, “It sounds like Sunday and it’s only a practice round.”

Mickelson and Woods beat the other half of the foursome, Fred Couples, the 1992 Masters champion, and the Belgian Thomas Pieters, in a contest that wasn’t close. “It was very loud and very fun and they hit some real good shots,” Couples said. “Wow.”

Mickelson wore a long-sleeved, button-down shirt that inspired a joke from his playing partner. “The only thing that was missing was a tie,” Woods said.

Woods has gotten the better of Mickelson on the course many more times than not, but according to their peers, it is a tossup as to who is ahead in the war of wit.

“It’s pretty even,” said Jordan Spieth, who has heard them up close at Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups.

He added, “Tiger has more accolades than just about anybody in the sport — you know, nobody wants to go out there and just say, ‘I’ve won this or this or this or this,’ and Phil’s kind of better at getting under people’s skin.”

Woods, 42, is an introverted only child. Mickelson, five years his senior, is an extroverted firstborn with two siblings. The one important thing they have in common — a burning desire to win — is probably the primary factor behind their lack of closeness all these years. Remember: Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer became fast friends only after they stopped banging heads on the golf course.

“Oh, man, he’s very, very, competitive,” Woods said of Mickelson. “He’s feisty. He’s determined. He always wants to win.”

Woods, of course, could have been describing the man in the mirror. Justin Thomas, whom Woods mentored while on the mend from multiple back surgeries, played a practice round with him on Monday. Thomas noted a change in Woods’s demeanor as they prepared to compete with each other. Woods, he said, was “a little harder to get stuff out of than when he was hurt and I was asking him questions.”

Mickelson has tour victories in four decades, but younger players like Thomas, the reigning P.G.A. champion, almost universally looked up to Woods when they were growing up.

“He was winning about every other tournament he played in,” Thomas explained.

In some ways, though, Mickelson had the more auspicious start to his career, winning his first PGA Tour title when he was still an amateur. He has won 43 Tour titles, including five majors, while Woods has 79 tour wins, including 14 majors.

If Mickelson hadn’t played in the same era as Woods, he might have “10 to 12 majors,” Couples said.

Mickelson isn’t so sure. “It’s very possible that that’s the case,” he said, “and it’s also possible that he brought out the best in me and forced me to work harder and focus to ultimately achieve the success that I’ve had.”

Six golfers in their 40s have won a Masters title. Led by Mickelson and Woods, at least a half-dozen here this week have a chance to become the seventh. The others include the 2007 champion, Zach Johnson, 42; Charley Hoffman, 41, who led after the first two rounds last year; Paul Casey, 40, who has top-six finishes in each of the past three years; and Ian Poulter, 42, who secured the final berth with a playoff victory Sunday in Houston.

After Mickelson won the World Golf Championships event in Mexico City last month in a playoff against Thomas, Woods described Mickelson’s first victory since 2013 as “very, very cool to watch.”

Woods tied for second a week later at the Valspar Championship outside Tampa, and Mickelson said he sent Woods a text message after he played his way into contention. Mickelson said he had told Woods that it felt “like it was a different time continuum, because I found myself pulling so hard for him.”

This week they are less rivals than two men united against Father Time, a much more formidable opponent than Couples and Pieters combined.

“I find that I want him to play well,” Mickelson said, “and I’m excited to see him play so well.”

At the start of the practice round, Woods teed off first. Someone asked how the group had decided who got that honor. An impish smile creased Mickelson’s face.

“We just went right in order,” he said. “He has four jackets, I have three jackets, Fred, then Thomas.”

Mickelson winked. “It’s a respect thing.”

Source: nytimes.com

Bubba’s big win, Poulter’s Masters fake out and more fan misbehavior: What you missed this weekend

Bubba’s last man standing in Match Play

A month ago, Bubba Watson was viewed as a player headed to pasture, his career lost in the wilderness. Now, with the Masters just a week away, Bubba’s one of the favorites to bring home the green jacket.

Proving his win at Riviera was no aberration, Watson upset Justin Thomas in the WGC-Match Play semi-finals on Sunday before quickly dismissing Kevin Kisner in the championship to capture his second title of the season.

“It’s one of those things, I got off to a hot start and I’m just focused on golf,” Watson said after his victory. “So focused on committing to the shots, there was about four or five shots throughout the week where I wasn’t committed, where I kind of blanked out, and so, that’s pretty good over a 100-and-something holes, however many holes we played.”

Although his triumph at the Genesis Open was unexpected, it wasn’t a shock, as Watson had won the event twice. The same could not be said for this tournament, as match play had historically given Bubba fits. Not that one could tell from his work at Austin Country Club. Following a 2-0-1 pool-play record, Watson eliminated Brian Harman 2 up and Kiradech Aphibarnrat 5 & 3 on Saturday before knocking out Thomas 3 & 2 and Kisner 7 & 6.

It was further testament that Watson has shaken the troubles that dropped him from No. 4 in the world to 117th in an 18-month span, and that, as he nears his 40th birthday, the sun is far from setting on his career.

Poulter misinformed over Masters invite

Remember when Ian Poulter thought he lost his tour status last year, only to find out through the detective work of Brian Gay that he actually had done enough to earn his card? This is just like that, only the exact opposite.

Following a Saturday morning victory in the Match Play’s Sweet 16, the 41-year-old Englishman was told by officials and media that he had done enough to jump into the world’s top 50, thus earning an invite to the Masters. One slight problem: before his afternoon match against Kevin Kisner, Poulter was told he, in fact, had not yet breached the top 50. With this information in hand, Poulter lost to Kisner 8 and 6, and was not particularly pleased after his loss.

Can sympathize with the man. I won the 2016 Masters lottery, only to find out that A) Because I changed addresses, my winning bid was no longer accepted and B) I would not be covering the event in person. I’m sure this knowledge will go ways in alleviating his pain.

Luckily for Poulter, an Augusta invite is still up for grabs, as a strong performance at this week’s Houston Open can move him into the top 50.

More fan misbehavior on tour

Crowd etiquette, or the lack thereof, was a subject mostly canvassed at the Phoenix Open and Ryder Cup. Through a third of the 2018 season, it’s now become a weekly theme.

Joining the choir of Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler, James Hahn took to Twitter following his Friday loss to Jason Dufner to lament the actions of a fan in the gallery:

“Fought hard today after a bad start. Two down, 4 to go, guy yells purposely on my back swing,” Hahn wrote. “Whether we like it or not, this is where the game is going. My fault for not expecting the worst from fans. Just sucks to lose a match that way.”

Hahn later deleted the Tweet, saying that many were misinterpreting his statement. “I respect and love all golf fans but I can expect bad behavior from them,” Hahn said. “And I’m not blaming the fan for losing the match. Just disappointed I lost the deciding hole in that fashion.”

Interestingly enough, commissioner Jay Monahan said earlier in the week that players need to adjust to this new behavior.

“I believe that there was more that went into it that preceded and in a situation like that we’re hopeful our players will reach out to our security staff and they can handle that,” Monahan said. “But yelling, ‘get in the bunker,’ that’s part of what our players have to accept. In any sport, you go to an away game, in any other sport, and people aren’t rooting for you. Sometimes out here you’re going to have fans that aren’t rooting for you, but they can’t interfere with what you’re trying to do competitively.”

In short, don’t expect this issue to disappear anytime soon.

 

Garnett wins inaugural Corales

Brice Garnett went wire-to-wire to win the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic, the tour’s alternate event to the WGC-Match Play, for his first career victory. Garnett, who finished first on last year’s Web.com Tour regular-season money list, turned in a two-under 70 in brutal conditions to win the inaugural tournament by four shots.

“It was a hard day, but man it was a lot of fun to do this,” said Garnett. “I was just excited for the day. I knew it was going to be tough.”

Since the tournament was played opposite the Match Play, Garnett’s victory does not earn him a spot into the Masters in two weeks. But it does get him into the Sentry Tournament of Champions next January and secures his tour card through 2020, as well as earning him spots in the Players Championship and the PGA Championship.

 

Romo missed cut in tour debut

While Garnett won in the Dominican, Tony Romo stole the tournament spotlight, as the quarterback-turned-commentator was in the field via sponsor’s exemption. Similar to Steph Curry’s participation in a Web.com Tour event last summer, the invite drew its share of skepticism. Unlike Curry, Romo’s play did not silence the criticism.

The former Cowboys star actually enjoyed an auspicious start, playing his first 12 holes in even par. The final 24, however, were not as prosperous, as Romo went 15 over in this stretch to finish last.

“Short-sided a few times, made too many mistakes,” Romo said. “So a lot of stuff to learn from, and in a good way. I’ll be able to kind of assess why I didn’t play as well as I wanted to and then you go attack it. In a month from now I think we’ll see things a little better.”

Romo missed the cut by 16 shots and was six behind the next closest competitor. Romo won’t be the only celebrity to participate in a professional event this season, as musician Jake Owen is expected to play in the Web.com Tour’s Nashville Open in June.

 

Source: golfdigest.com