Following directly on from winning the Golf Writers' Association Trophy, Henrik Stenson has now landed the big one – European Tour Player of the Year. It's going to be a very happy Christmas down at the Stensons.
Finally, golf is back after a three-month wait following the COVID-19 pandemic. Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth is hosting the Charles Schwab Challenge and nearly all the world’s best players will be teeing up today.
It's the news we have all been waiting for this side of the pond. European Tour golf is to return with the first tournament in a six week 'UK Swing' kicking off with the Betfred British Masters hosted by Lee Westwood, which will take place between 22nd and 25th July – a week earlier than originally scheduled. Dates have also been announced for four Rolex Series events including the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open.
The PGA Tour will kick off on 11 June with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas. However, players and caddies returning to the USA for the tour face the headache of 14 days in isolation due to the strict quarantine rules in place in the USA.
The LPGA announced its revised calendar for 2020 on Wednesday with a planned return to play at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in Michigan on 15th July. There will also be more cash available due to increases in the purses for many of the events. Players will compete for an average of nearly $2.7 million per event.
As the Coronavirus crisis rumbles on golf tours facing an uncertain future. Every week that passes means that both the PGA Tour and European Tour are losing millions in TV and sponsorship revenues. The Americans have a plan for survival but their European counterparts face the perfect storm of challenges that threaten the existence of the European Tour itself.
We reported last month that Lefty might be taking on Tiger in a rematch of ‘The Match’ which took place in November 2018 for an obscene prize pot. The good news is that the match is confirmed and as we hoped this time it is for charity.
The European Tour today confirmed the cancellation of the BMW International Open and the Open de France and the postponement of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, a Rolex Series event, due to the continuing threat posed by the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). At the same time, the PGA Tour announced its plans to resume the 2019-20 season with the Charles Schwab Challenge between 11th and 14th June.
Following the understandable cancellation of the Open, the proposed new dates for the remaining three majors are known. The PGA Championship will take place between the 6th and 9th of August at TPC Harding Park, the U.S. Open remains at Winged Foot and has been moved back to the 18th to 21st September and the Masters, usually the first major of the year will now come last between 12th and 15th of November.
Well, the R&A finally made a decision and somewhat surprisingly for some the decision was to cancel the 149th Open Championship because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Tournament will now take place at the same venue, Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, in 2021.
Golfers on the European Tour have come together to record a message to encourage everyone across the world to follow the World Health Organisation’s guidelines amid the coronavirus outbreak, reinforcing the #STAYATHOME message.
The Players' Championship in Florida is cancelled and no further tournaments will be played up until the Valero Texas Open. The announcement came from Tour saying it was " the right thing to do for our players and our fans is to pause."
PGA TOUR has announced an expansive media rights deal that brings in ESPN with its streaming services alongside incumbent broadcasters CBS and NBC. The deal aims to increase the reach with more video content reaching a broader audience.
Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player will receive the highest honour a civilian can receive from President Trump at a ceremony on 23rd March. Sorenstam learned of the honour last year after a game of golf where she and Senator Lindsey Graham took on Gary Player and President Trump.
What did Scott Piercy think when he chose to share social media posts which at best one could describe as controversial? Surely he realised in this day and age that such views might not sit well with the public? Clearly not and it will hurt him in the pocket as sponsors start to distance themselves from the player.
As previously reported, the Golf Hall of Fame recently amended the qualification criteria moving the minimum age for both male and females to 45 from 50. So, it was hardly a ‘dropped my bacon sandwich’ moment when we learned that Tiger was on the list of finalists.
He has been saying for a while now that he needs to get off to better starts in events and in Mexico yesterday Rory McIlroy delivered. The World Number One soared into a two-stroke first round lead at the WGC-Mexico Championship to continue an excellent run of form of late with a six-under-par 65 at Chapultepec Golf Club.
It was inevitable that Patrick Reed, who is playing at the WGC event in Mexico City this week, was going to be asked about the latest comments from Bob Kostis and Brooks Koepka. Talking after Thursday’s first round he managed to dance around the question.
Surely the least contentious and well-deserved award for 2019 was Jon Rahm being voted the Seve Ballesteros Award as the 2019 European Tour Players' Player of the Year, after a spectacular campaign which included two Rolex Series titles, another victory on home soil and culminated in him being crowned the Race to Dubai Champion.
It was a fine victory for Adam Scott last weekend, he is a great ball striker, but I must confess I rather sighed when I saw him using a long putter to great effect once again. It was a similar feeling to that I had when Scott won the Masters back in 2013. I’m sorry, but I am with the brigade who consider these long putters cheat sticks.
Mickey Wright’s who possessed one of the best swings in golf passed away on Monday at the age of 85. Wright was one of the greatest players on the LPGA amassing 82 LPGA titles over a 14-year professional career.
Ok as nobody else seems to be doing it, I am going to come out and defend the seemingly indefensible, or at the very worst add a bit of perspective. Hank Hainey made a pretty unwise statement and was clearly mistaken in taking what might be described as ‘locker room humour’ to the airways. But, was he being ‘racist, xenophobic, and sexist’ as stated by the PGA Tour’s lawyers?
Call us old cynics but are the latest set of changes at the Golf Hall of Fame just a dressed way to get Tiger Woods inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame a few years earlier and boost the quality of the list of possible inductees for the 2021 draft? The rules were only changed some four years ago to move the minimum age from 40 to 50 and now it is being edged back to 45.
Thomas Pieters leads the Omega Dubai Desert Classic after an impressive opening round of 67 on the tough Emirates Golf Club course. The Belgian leads by one shot from David Lipsky of the USA with a gaggle of twelve players, which includes Englishman Eddie Pepperell, Robert Karlsson of Sweden and Dane Søren Kjeldsen, a further shot back.
It looks like the PGA Tour are moving to close down the debate on the Patrick Reed saga. Rumours have it that Cameron Smith has been admonished by the PGA Tour for his outspoken comments on Patrick Reed's behaviour at the Hero World Challenge.
We wondered why GolfPunk favourite Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston posted a video on Instagram about his love for cats. We know he is a big softy but now all has become clear. Beef announced ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship that he is joining the PUMA gang.
I didn’t think I would hear myself say this, but I feel sorry for Patrick Reed. Don’t get me wrong the guy has handled the whole affair badly and he clearly was borderline cheating at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas last December. However, due to the Tour’s insistence that the matter has been dealt with it has basically thrown the American to the lions, who in this case are the media and the golfing public.
With all due respect to Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods et al we think the Golf Writers Association of America (“GWAA”) were spot on in voting for Brooks Koepka as Player of the Year for 2019. Koepka’s performance at the four majors was undeniable impressive – to win one, finish second in two and tie fourth in the other is quite some feat.
World number one, Jin Young Ko was the runaway winner of the Golf Writers Association of America (“GWAA”) Female Player of the Year. The South Korean star was the overwhelming choice with Nelly Korda way back in second place.
No one can ignore the terrible fires ravaging Australia and to help in the relief efforts of those affected by the fires, a number of LPGA players including the Korda sisters, Marina Alex, Australian Sarah Kemp and England’s Charlotte Thomas, have publicised that they will be making a donation.
The European Tour has a real headache on its hands following Iran’s recent threats to "destroy" parts of the United Arab Emirates if there is retaliation after the attacks they launched on Iraq in reprisal for the US killing of Qassem Soleimani.
The gods were smiling on Justin Thomas in Hawaii on Sunday. Two clear, with three to go it looked like he had the Tournament of Champions in the bag. However, two sloppy bogies in his last three holes saw him have to win a play-off against Patrick Reed and defending champion Xander Schauffele.
The FootJoy folk never seem to stand still and the latest iteration is the Tour X which seeks to combine all that was good from previous tried and tested FootJoy models. The new Tour X has been born from the synthesis of 3 Tour-proven models, the DNA, Tour-S and Fury.
2019 is behind of us but it was not a great display by some who let down our great game and so have been inducted into the GolfPunk Hall of Shame. So which five golfers find themselves with the unwanted invite?
When Peter Fowler picked up the winner’s trophy at the MCB Tour Championship it was not his golf that was centre stage in the post event online discussions. The trophy Fowler received is apparently inspired by the coc de mer or Seychelles’ nut but did they seriously not realise what else it might resemble?
We pondered yesterday what would the result of the Race to Dubai be if Jon Rahm won the DP World Tour Championship and Tommy Fleetwood was alone in second? The answer was confirmed when Rahm holed a three foot putt birdie putt on the 18th to take the World Tour Championship and also pip Fleetwood to the Race to Dubai title.
GolfNow the biggest online tee time agency in the golf industry has grabbed an even bigger share of the market following the acquisition of EZLinks Golf by GolfNow owner, NBC Sports Group. Part of the EZLinks Golf portfolio is the online tee time booking platform TeeOff. So, what does this consolidation signal to the golf industry?
For the first time since 1955 there will be no live coverage of any golf on the BBC in 2020. The BBC has lost their rights to show any live coverage of the Augusta event which means that the UK pay TV Channel Sky is now the only place to watch live coverage of the majors. This is the end game for millions of golf fans who have seen the free to air coverage of their favourite sport fade and die in the hands of the BBC over the past decade.
In the final Hero Challenge of the year South African Erik van Rooyen defeated former Masters Champion Danny Willett. You know the Hero Challenge, it’s the one where 6 top pros compete at target golf, hitting to a floating green out in an expanse of water. The closer to the flag you are the more points you score, with the closest ring being 50 points the next 25, well you get the gist.
Derek The Donkey, GolfPunk's grumpy horse-envier once again delivers his 'Joke of the Week'. As you know he likes nothing better than a proper good laugh as long as it's at someone else's expense...
Take one tour pro, 500 golf balls and a 165-yard par three hole. The challenge, to make a hole-in-one. The odds of an average golfer making an ace are roughly one in 100,000, while stats suggest a European Tour pro's chances are closer to one in 2,500. Step up Thomas Pieters.
Englishman Josh Hill entered the record books becoming the youngest player ever to win an Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) event with his two-stroke triumph in the Al Ain Open on the Mena Tour. But sadly, as an amateur he couldn’t take home his £10,000 prize money.
Jason Day gets in private jet, hot foots it from CJ Cup in China where he was 31st and then beats Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and home favourite Hideki Matsuyama to the spoils taking home $210,000 of the $350,000 pot. Happy Days then (do you see what we did there?)! Well perhaps for Jason but not really for golf as the inaugural 'The Challenge: Japan Skins' lived up to our pretty low expectations.
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.
Take one bike, one set of clubs, 14 different Open venues and one complete nutter and you have the ‘The Great British Open Challenge’. London-based PGA professional, Luke Willett, he with a famous golfing namesake, is to pedal his way between all the Open venues playing 18 holes at each and cycling with his clubs on his back!
We love Carnoustie. It’s probably one of the bestest courses in the UK, forget that the World! So, what better venue for a ‘Round of a Lifetime’ for one Edward Johnson from Massachusetts, U S of A.
Poor old Bio Kim. The Korean who is leading the money list on the Korean tour, has been handed a three-year suspension for raising his middle finger at members of the crowd at the weekend. This seems a rather harsh punishment and will cost the young man a lot of dosh.
Rory McIlroy has won the PGA Tour Player of the year award for the third time, beating world number one Brooks Koepka into second place, and he got the Nicklaus award from the Golden Bear himself whilst having lunch.
Paul Casey has moves up to 14th in the world following his victory at the European Open in Hamburg. The Englishman shot a bogey free 66 that took him to 14 under and squeezed out Scotland’s Robert Macintyre, Austria’s Matthias Schwab and home hope Bernd Ritthammer by one-stroke.
We very much like the prize being offered to the winning professional at this year’s Highland Golf Links Pro Am. As well as a cheque for a few bob the winner will receive a bottle of Tomatin 50-year-old single malt, which has been bottled exclusively for the tournament and is valued at more than £10,000!
Something for the weekend? Ooh suit you!
Something for the weekend? Ooh, suit you!
What happens when you pair one of the world’s biggest pop stars with the world’s number two golfer at a Pro-Am event? Well it’s no joke but what you actually get is a lesson in bunker play in the middle of the round, oh and a very near miss!
Something for the weekend? Ooh suit you!
There was lots of concern that the new format of the Tour Championship was going to result in the FedEx Cup leader running away with things and there being a lack of drama at East Lake Golf Club over the last big weekend for the PGA Tour. Well things didn’t really work out like that as Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka all start day two tied on 10 under with Rory just one behind.
This Sunday evening the winner of the FedEx Cup Tour Championship will pick up a cheque for a cool $15 million dollars. The same evening at the CP Women's Open Aurora, Ontario, Canada the winner will take home a cheque for a paltry $337,500. However, earlier in the day in far flung Czechoslovakia those competing in the final round of the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open will take home the combined sum of roughly $135,000!
The finale of the PGA Tour season is upon us and already we have a leaderboard in the race for that crazy payout of $15 million to the winner. Thirty men, honourable and true, will tee it up at the East Lake Golf Club just outside Atlanta with dollar signs in their eyes. Justin Thomas already leads by two, crazy we know but then again, the whole thing is.
The stuff that's floated our boats and scrunched our undies this week...
The European tour has been pretty creative with its content of late, who can forget the ‘Content Committee’ or Eddie Pepperell’s prank on Matt Wallace. By far our favourite though are the ongoing 14 Club Challenges.
As we start the end of season scramble, which is the Fedex Cup playoff, starting first at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, the problem of slow play rears its ugly head once again. Both Rory and Brooks were asked in yesterday’s interviews about the problem and neither of them held back their criticism and the need for the governing bodies to take action.
Well we have run out of majors but Tiger will still be coming out to play in August as the FedEx Cup Playoffs commence this week in Jersey City, with The Northern Trust. It’s all change with the play-offs and we had to read it a few times before we sussed it out. So here’s how it will work..
The AIG Women’s British Open is now set to follow Woburn Golf Club with back to back regal courses with Royal Troon added to the Championship roster for 2020 and Royal Porthcawl confirmed for 2021. It seems therefore, that that we are set for some quality golf on iconic courses now that The R&A has taken over the women's home Championship.
They needed it to be tough out there if they were going to challenge Shane Lowry but in the end, it was too tough and the conditions actually played in to the hands of the big man. For a man who grew up playing links golf up and down Ireland he was always going to be one of best equipped if the really high winds came.
The GolfPunk team love the game of golf and are big supporters of the idea of improving the etiquette on the course and in general. However, this week the big news running around social media was about the US amateur golfer that carded an impressively poor 194 for 18 holes and things got worse when the Florida State Golf Association confirmed it was actually a 131 over par 202!
The fairy tale has slowly unwound. Local boy, Darren Clarke, who led the field off on Thursday in the 148th Open Championship, took seven at the last to miss the cut. Rory McIlroy, who famously shot 61 around Royal Portrush at the age of 16, shot 65, equalling best score of the day, but agonisingly missed the cut by one. And our man, Gmac, held firm just making it through on the cut line, nine back from the leader.
Ok time for a rerun of our GolfPunk rant. The three-minute rule is a good one and it is intended to speed up play like the other good rule change, putting with the pin in. I am sure most pros did not expect to suffer too much from the rule change but then they are not playing Royal Portrush every day.
There have been many incredible Open debuts, here is our Top 10...
There have been many an odd occurence at the oldest of all the majors but these are our pick of the top ten weirdest Open Championship moments.
Why is the golf now only on Sky TV in the UK with the BBC set to produce, if last year is anything to go by, a set of very ordinary highlights programmes? Who is to blame - Sky, the BBC, the politicians, the R&A or perhaps even Brexit?
Hughie's is the 416 yards, par 4 first hole on the Royal Portrush course. There is out of bounds on both sides of the hole with most golfers most concerned with that on the right. However, as there are bunkers on the right and left of the fairway at 262 yards and 291 yards respectively, most pros will go with an iron.
Who will win the Open? Vote now for your pick of the Top 20, as per the bookies, or do you think it will be more of an outsider who takes the Claret Jug on the shores of Northern Ireland?
Darren Clarke will hit the opening tee shot at The 148th Open, while fellow local favourite Rory McIlroy is paired with US Open champion Gary Woodland for the opening two rounds at Royal Portrush, which we cannot wait to see!
Each year the winner of The Open receives the famous claret jug which he must return before the following year’s event. But what is the history behind this iconic trophy?
The Open is looming up on the horizon so come and test your knowledge of all things Openey with the GolfPunk Open Golf Quiz 2019. It's got something for everyone who err like quizes.
Derek The Donkey, GolfPunk's grumpy horse-envier once again delivers his 'Joke of the Week'. As you know he likes nothing better than a proper good laugh as long as it's at someone else's expense...
Despite no mortal being able to move it on their own the answer is the boulder. As Tiger Woods found out to his benefit at the 1999 Phoenix Open when a friendly rules official suggested it was a loose impediment.
Derek The Donkey, GolfPunk's grumpy horse-envier delivers his 'Joke of the Week'. He likes nothing better than a proper good laugh as long as it's at someone else's expense...
The US open is returning to Pebble Beach with its magnificent views, tiny greens and changeable conditions. All factors that are taxing The Spiv’s brain matter as he sips on his port and peruses the field. But this year its all different as GolfPunk has a new algorithm and its going to make us all rich (necessary caveats and waivers apply of course).
It was a great day for Northern Ireland at the final day of Canadian Open from Hamilton Golf and Country Club. Rory McIlroy shot an incredible nine under 61 to take the title by 7 shots and Graeme McDowell finished in the top ten and qualified for The Open.
Rory McIlroy shot a six under 64 in the third round of the Canadian Open to move into a share of the lead with the US’s Matt Kuchar and Webb Simpson. McIlroy’s countryman Graeme McDowell slipped back slightly but sits in joint ninth on eight under – Come on Gmac!
Graeme McDowell shot a second round 67 at the Canadian Open to sit on eight under, four off the halfway lead which is held by Matt Kuchar and Scott Brown. Gmac still work to do if he is to grab one of the three spots available for The Open but he is well placed come the weekend.
Keegan Bradley leads, some other folk are in second, third etc., including Shane Lowry of Ireland, but all we care about is how Graeme McDowell is doing. Gmac must be at The Open in July and we are cheering him all the way.
The Open is coming back to Northern Ireland after a break of 68 years. When Max Faulkner, one of the most flamboyant golfers of his generation, won the Open Championship in 1951 at Royal Portrush it would be 18 years until a Brit, Tony Jacklin in 1969, was to do so again.
Derek The Donkey, GolfPunk's grumpy horse-envier is back with 'Joke of the Week'. He likes nothing better than a proper good laugh as long as it's at someone else's expense...
Who wouldn’t want to tee it up in their home open? Well for one, Rory McIlroy, who is giving this year’s Irish Open a miss. No biggy, I hear you say, it’s not like choosing to miss something like the Olympics is it? Oh, hang on Rory turned that one down too. So, what are the priorities of the 29-year-old darling of Irish Golf
As Tiger Woods holed the winning putt some time around 7.35pm on Sunday I was asked an awkward question: "Are you crying??", "Seriously, mate, are you crying?" "I've just something... sniff... in my eye, that's ... sniff... all..."
Lilac was the colour of the day at The Masters as the leaders appeared to have coordinated their wardrobes to don shirts of the same hue. The three players that lead in to the final round chose the colour for their shirt with Tiger again modelling a very snazzy mock turtle neck number. Ian Poulter, always one to be different, went instead for a lilac pair of strides.
The threat of bad weather has resulted in an early start for the whole field. Play will commence from both the 1st and 10th tees at 7:30 local time and will be in groups of three. Rather handy for UK and European viewers who can watch it after their Sunday lunch rather than having to stay up late!
We had everything on Friday at The Masters: A stellar leaderboard; birdies galore; storm threats; unbelievable recovery shots; a marshall slide-tackling Tiger Woods on the 14th hole (he still made birdie) and some truly comical moments starring Zach Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
As the freshly blooming azaleas of Augusta National Golf Club mark the arrival of the northern spring, the golfing world’s attention turns towards Georgia, USA, for the first men’s Major of the year – the Masters Tournament, which has been supported by Rolex since 1999.
The Golf Scientist, Bryson DeChambeau, and one half of golf's Odd Couple, Brooks Koepka, lit up day one of the Masters with rounds of 66 to take a one shot lead over fellow American Phil Mickelson.
Seven lucky golfers are heading to this week’s Masters to battle it out for a million dollars – all hoping they can land another ace to change their life.
The unofficial start to golf season is upon us and we are excited to see the azaleas, dogwoods and green grass again! Peter Millar will outfit five players for the 2019 Masters.
Remember when Europeans dominated the Masters? From 1980 to 2000, the tournament was won 11 times by European golfers. Since then, not so much, with only two winners in the last 18 years. It's worth noting, however, that those wins (Danny Willett and Sergio Garcia) make up two of the last three Masters. Maybe the transition of power at Augusta has already begun?
There have been some amazing moments at The Masters over the years and some incredible shot-making. We celebrate the 10 best shots ever here...
We love celebrating the truly great shots but nothing makes us mortal golfers feel better than seeing our heroes occasionally making berks of themselves. Especially at the Masters. In 2018... here are the worst offenders...
It's 2 more sleeps until the Masters!!!! We've put together a little Masters quiz to get you in the mood.
It's 1932 at Augusta and America is under prohibition. But people are still seeing things... aren't they?...
Rory McIlroy has been installed as the favourite to win The Masters after making a blistering start to the year.
