Dustin Johnson overcame blunders on the back nine to take his first PGA Tour event in over a year. The now World number three saw off the challenge of Kevin Streelman to win by a single shot after carding a final-round three-under-par 67. American Will Gordon and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes finished tied for third on 17 under.
It was disappointing to hear of the cancellation of the Evian Championship but if France was going insist on a 14 day quarantine period for players the decision was inevitable. The loss of the Evian now puts even more importance on the Women's British Open which is due to be played at Royal Troon from 20th to 23rd August.
While Justin Rose prepares for his first competitive round in months, he and his wife are doing their bit for the women professionals back home. The couple has stumped up £35,000 as prize money for the series of events that kick off at Brokenhurst Manor Golf Club on 18 June.
The Players Championship will continue but spectators will not be allowed for the last three days. Poor old Russell Knox must wish that no one had been watching as he kicked off his tournament with a five putt at the first hole – ouch!
As expected, the LPGA has confirmed that they have cancelled two more events in Asia. The Honda LPGA Thailand in Pattaya, Thailand that was scheduled to be played between 20th and 23rd February and the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore the following week are both casualties of the Coronavirus scare.
Ping has signed up Eddie Pepperell on a multi-year equipment deal. Eddie will be all Pinged up , as it were, as he will be wearing a Pink hat and carry a Ping staff bag as well as playing the clubs. It seems Eddie’s antics on Twitter also endeared him to the bosses at Ping and once again he amused his audience with an offer to Prince Harry.
We applaud all measures being taken by golf clubs to protect our planet and allow Greta Thunberg to go back to school. We’ve seen a number of measure from banning plastic tees to solar powered clubhouses but the latest initiative by Club de Golf Alcanada in Mallorca caught our eye – Donkeys!
Everyone loves Beef Johnson, what’s not to like? He is a lovely chap and is nice to everyone both on and off the course and boy can he play golf. That’s why it was sad to see Beef’s loss of form and subsequently learn that this great bloke from London was struggling mentally. In this, Men’s Mental Health Month, we really enjoyed watching the video of Beef and Tubes, the Soccer AM presenter, playing a few holes and chatting about mental health and other stuff.
Stop Press: Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam is set to become the first female professional to compete in the PNC Father Son Challenge. We’ve just picked the Brigadier up off the floor spluttering something about it never happening at West Hill or something. Yes, it is called a father son event but this is 2019 and actually the fairer sex has competed before.
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama will go head to head in a globally televised skins game, the first in a series of annual competitions staged by GOLFTV. "The Challenge: Japan Skins" will take place on the 21st October ahead of the PGA Tour's Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino C.C. in Chiba, Japan, and we will not be watching.
The golfing world has lost one of it’s greatest ever characters. Brian Barnes sadly passed away at the age of 74 on Monday after a brief fight with cancer. A larger than life character Barnes will always be remembered as the man who beat Jack Nicklaus twice in one day at Laurel Canyon in 1975 Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup featured two singles sessions in those days.
The techies at Cleveland believe that the keys to success are control and feel which gives confidence in putting and their new Huntington Beach SOFT range does just that, so that we make more putts, "plain and simple!"
