This weekend the biggest winner’s cheque on Tour were nabbed by Jon Rahm on the European Tour and Kim Sei-young on the LPGA Tour. Check out how both closed out their respective events and raked in a rather obscene amount of cash.
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 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.
Players such as Rory McIlroy may believe that a Ryder Cup without fans is not a Ryder Cup and so should be postponed but the truth is Europe cannot afford to postpone the event if the knock-on effect is the pushing back of the 2022 match.
A quite mind-boggling act of vandalism took place at Walton Heath at the weekend as thugs on motorbikes delighted in churning up a green one of the courses. This truly unbelievable video footage shows the animals doing doughnuts on the green and then riding off as walkers watched in disbelief.
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.
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.
As the various tours are losing millions each week in TV and sponsorship income and the Coronavirus trundles on the R&A continues to put out woolly statements about continuing to look at the options. Given the likely time frames for the lifting of social distancing and the issues over international travel, the R&A must postpone.
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.
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.
GolfPunk favourite Ian Poulter saw red following comments by Paul Azinger at the weekend suggesting the European Tour was a lot easier than the PGA Tour. Poulter took to Twitter and did not hold back on what he thought about what was said by the ex-Ryder Cup captain.
There was plenty of excitement at the last week’s events and plenty of great play. Here is GolfPunk’s pick of the best shots and we use the word ‘best’ in a rather loose way for one of them!
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?
It was great to see Graeme McDowell win again on the European Tour but had the tour applied the slow play rules more strictly come Sunday afternoon might it have been a different story? The Northern Irishman was carrying a ‘bad time’ after a transgression during his second round and playing in the final pairing come Sunday he and partner Victor Dubuisson became detached at the back of the field.
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.
A lot of us have old clubs languishing in the garage or in the attic gathering dust. Those of a certain age may also have a modern-day antique - a wood actually made out of wood! But there is a man who has not one but over one thousand woods tucked away in storage and all of them made from what was the holy grail of golf manufacturing materials – persimmon!
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.
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.
There were lots of hugs and high fives as Team USA fought back from a 10-8 deficit to win the Presidents Cup, once again, by a score of 16-14. That huge smile we saw after Wood’s victory at Augusta was back and the there was obvious emotion in the US Captain’s voice when talking after his team’s victory.
Well they’ve had the boxing, Tiger and Rory have declined big pay days to play there and now Saudi has made history by announcing the first-ever professional women’s golf event in the Kingdom. The fully-sanctioned Ladies European Tour event will be staged in collaboration with Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation and carry a purse of $1 million.
GolfPunk send it condolences and prayers to Tom Watson and his family on the sad passing of Hilary Watson just before midnight on Thanksgiving Eve. Hilary, who Tom described as ‘my hero’ had been battling pancreatic cancer for two years.
Hats off to the European tour for coming up with another little classic for us all to have a laugh at. A few years back the tour let Little Billy loose on the players. Billy gave the pros a complete grilling with a series of cheeky questions, the Rory McIlroy one is a classic. Three years on, a documentary crew follow him as he returns to Dubai for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
France's Mike Lorenzo-Vera is riding high at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai but all eyes are on the battle for the Race to Dubai. After round two Tommy Fleetwood (69) and Jon Rahm (68) were sitting in joint second three shots behind the leader but Race to Dubai leader, Bernd Wiesberger, was a further six shots back in a tie for thirteenth.
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.
This coming weekend the LPGA Tour reaches its climax at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida. The winner will pick up a cheque for a cool $1.5 million. Meanwhile, the members of the ladies European Tour are sitting out yet another week. Their last event was the Hero Women’s Indian Open back at the beginning of October.
It’s been a while since this fine course has featured a major event and it’s been even longer since GolfPunk played it. If we recall correctly you head south out of Dublin on the M9 and you can’t miss it – well you can as its in middle of nowhere, if we recall.
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.
The haggis has been piped in, the Solheim tartan is out in force and the smiles are out, for the meoment. Countdown to the Solheim Cup has begun and may the best team win. This year, of the twenty four players taking part nine of them are rookies, three on Team Europe side and a record six joining Team USA.
In near perfect conditions at Royal Liverpool, team USA showed their class in turning an overnight deficit of two points into a resounding victory by a score of 15½ to 10½. Having clinched the morning foursomes by 2½ to 1½, the American crushed the home side in the singles 8-2.
With stunning views of the China Sea along with the city skyline Sentosa Golf Club is home of the Singapore Open and more recently has been the venue for the HSBC Women’s World Championship.
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!"
The Tour Championship is looking like it will provide a thrilling finale to the men’s season on Sunday as at the halfway point as Brooks Koepke leads Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas by one stroke, with Xander Schauffele and Paul Casey still very much in contention.
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.
Hot on the heels of the success of the ISPS Handa World Invitational Men | Women event in Northern Ireland presented by his Modest! Golf Management outfit Niall Horan has announced he will be teeing it up in the BMW PGA Pro-Am on 18th September at Wentworth. Horan who is a member of the Wentworth Club in Surrey will take to the fairways of his famous home club alongside some of world golf’s biggest names.
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.
Motocaddy, is upgrading its popular free-to-use GPS app to incorporate potential lifesaving features that indicate the location of on-course defibrillators and provide golfers with CPR instructions to administer to anyone suffering a cardiac arrest when playing golf.
The The European Tour has announced a concrete four-point plan aimed at tackling the issue of slow play in professional golf. The plan will be implemented at the start of the 2020 season and focuses on four key areas: regulation, education, innovation and field sizes.
After exhaustive reseach, including feedback from tour players, their caddies and PGA professionals, Titleist have produced their latest tour bag collection. This is a glimpse of what is to come from Titleist in 2020 and clearly the theme is a sleak jet black look.
Less than 24 hours after the Evian Championship was wrapped up by Jin Young Ko, 49 of the top 50 women in the world hightailed it to Milton Keynes to somehow prepare themselves for the very different test that Woburn Golf Club’s Marquess Course will offer. Or at least most of them would have been preparing had Lexi Thompson not left her passport in her bag!
As we sit and watch the various trials and tribulations of the players at the 148th Open, something pops up and immediately the whole team at GolfPunk are in total agreement, an event which I can assure you is as rare as rocking horse poop. The chance to own a luxury residence at the Hamilton Grand one of the most iconic buildings located virtually on top of the 18th hole of the Old Course at St. Andrews and in time for the 150th Open in 2021. The very definition of lovely stuff!
Lee Westwood backed up a first day 68 with an impressive 67 and is currently tied in 3rd position with Tommy Fleetwood, just one shot off the overnight lead. Based on his recent form this is somewhat unexpected. What has changed you might ask? Well he’s brought Helen Storey, his girlfriend, in as his looper and, despite her not knowing much about golf, it just might provide the fairy tale story for one of the finest golfers never to win a major.
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?
I just placed a bet on the US Open. I got odds of just shy of 6/1 on one Mr Brooks Koepka. My heart is with Justin Rose and, if his amazing short game continues, he may well win but my head says that Koepka will come through to make history.
How do you come back from blowing a seven shot lead in a major? Well, fortunately for Brooks Koepka it is a question that he will not have to answer. Staring down the barrel of the gun and the biggest collapse in golf major history, Koepka dug deep, held his nerve and took the title.
After the debacle of last year when no broadcaster wanted the 4th major of the 2018 season and you had to find some obscure Facebook page set up by Eleven Sport to watch it, Sky will be showing this year’s event from Bethpage Black.
Matt Wallace of England retained his lead of the British Masters at a windy Hillside. However, he was looking over his shoulder as the tournament host, Tommy Fleetwood, closed to within three shots. Fleetwood, who at one point trailed Wallace by nine shots, played the last eight holes in five under to close the gap to just three.
Matt Wallace, saw a return to form to take a one shot lead into the weekend at the British Masters at Hillside. Wallace’s new approach to the game, including the hiring of fitness expert Dr Steve McGregor, appears to be paying dividends as he added a 67 to his opening 65.
GolfPunk's resident tipster, Nick Fleming, picked 2nd place Joel Dahmen as an each way bet at Wells Fargo Championship at the weekend and sadly missed out on Jorge Campillo, who down as a winner, faded to finish third as Mikko Korhonen came through to see off France’s Benjamin Hebert at the first play-off hole.
Last night at our team get together we were discussing all things golf and one of the team asked what our Top 5 golf related movies were sparking heated debate until the boss put his foot down and decided what they were and also the order (which was perhaps even more hotly contested as you will see!).
Harpenden’s Joss Gosling implemented a smart irons-only game plan in winning last weekend’s 60th Berkhamsted Trophy in association with Bushnell Golf, at Berkhamsted Golf Club.
It's Masters Monday and to celebrate here we bring you the Top 20 Masters Dramas Ever...
The Masters at Augusta is coming up and PUMA Golf has been inspired to launch its Union Camo Collection, a unique take on the ubiquitous camouflage trend that is sweeping the sportswear world.
The 25th anniversary edition of the RMB 20 million Volvo China Open will once again be tri-sanctioned by the China Golf Association and the European and Asian Tours when the tournament is staged at The Genzon Golf Club in Shenzhen from May 2-5.v
We've all had a bad haircut or three over the years, but the pictorial evidence is probably buried deep down in some box of memories only to be opened when suitably drunk. The PGA Tour pros don't have it so lucky...
If you want t really REALLY good laugh, take a look at this brilliant compilaiton of golf fails from the 'cart jumping maniac' to the lake dancing bafoon!
It's the Players Championship this week at TPC Sawgrass - check out these Top 10 Putts on the infamous 17th hole with shots from Tiger, Bubba and more.
We all long to hear success stories of people in various fields. There are top professional golfers who have soared so high and The Golf Punk team sought to learn how they made it to the levels they are at today, and below are the betting stories of the best golf gamblers.
The great players won everything right? Well, not the USPGA they didn't. The USPGA proved elusive for many serial major winners. Here's the Top 7 players never to win the PGA.
Laguna Golf Phuket will become the first golf course to host a PGA TOUR Series-China event outside of mainland China when it hosts the Tour’s third and final Global Qualifying Tournament from March 5-8.
Leading golf club rental agency Clubs to Hire is now offering Titleist products for the first time.
When Padraig Harrington took one on the elbow whilst giving an amateur a lesson, he thought his career was over. In very ludicrous fashion. Padraig, you are not alone. Check out these Top 10 bizarre golfer mishaps.
Gleneagles, the world-famous Scottish hotel and sporting estate, is giving all golfers the chance to celebrate its hosting of The Solheim Cup, September 9-15, with the launch of a special four-ball green fee that runs until the end of April, 2019.
Motocaddy, the UK’s leading trolley and cart bag brand, has launched a revolutionary dual-purpose stand bag which has also been designed to fit perfectly onto any Motocaddy trolley.
La Reserva de Sotogrande Invitational, a Ladies European Tour event sponsored by La Reserva de Sotogrande and organized by Deporte & Business that will be played from 16 to 19 May, will mark the first of three visits to Spain for the LET in 2019.
Golf fans visiting this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Fla. will have a special opportunity to immerse themselves in the life and experiences of the tournament’s iconic namesake in the Arnold Palmer Experience, a series of interactive experiences designed to celebrate the life of Mr Palmer.
After hosting Regional Qualifying for The Open Championship and the English Boys’ U16 Open Amateur Stroke Play (McGregor Trophy), during a benchmark year in 2018, Kedleston Park has been named as one of four finalists in the Championship Venue of the Year category of the England Golf Awards 2019.
With the new SX500 growing in popularity among tour players, SkyCaddie’s top mapper is heading to this season’s Staysure Tour venues in Europe to ensure that all course measurements are up to date.
Callaway Staff Professional Phil Mickelson claimed his 44th career win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with the help of Callaway’s revolutionary Triple Track and Epic Flash Technology.
The R&A and the USGA have provided two clarifications to Rule 10.2b(4) regarding restrictions on caddies standing behind players which take immediate effect.
Callaway has further strengthened its team of Staff Professionals representing the brand on the PGA European Tour with the signing of Tom Lewis.
Globally-renowned whisky distillers Tomatin are returning as headline sponsors of a prestigious Pro Am golf tournament over three of Scotland’s finest links courses.
40 of Ireland's leading golf clubs and resorts are coming together next week in Belfast, brought to you by Golf Ireland in association with Fáilte Ireland.
Patrick Reed has been awarded Honorary Life Membership of the European Tour in recognition of his Masters Tournament victory last year. Or was it his sterling work in destabilising the USA Ryder Cup team in Paris...
Golfers heading to Portugal's second-largest city, Porto, and its unique atmosphere, will no longer have to fret about dragging their golf clubs around the airport, now that market leading rental agency Clubs to Hire is now serving the beautiful location.
Abu Dhabi was once again at the centre of the golfing world this January; as all eyes turned to the Middle East to watch some of the top golfers in the world descend onto some of the best-conditioned courses on the circuit.
The British Speedgolf Pairs Championships will take place on Saturday 8 June, at Sweetwoods Park Golf club, a parkland course bordering East Sussex, Kent and West Sussex.
It takes a lot for Tiger Woods to turn down a massive appearance fee (reportedly north of $6m) and a free yacht, but that's what happened recently when the European Tour came knocking with an invite to the Saudi International, the country's first professional significant golf tournament.
Ayla Golf Club is finalising preparations to stage three consecutive events on the MENA Tour calendar, kick-starting what will be an action-packed season for the spectacular Red Sea venue.
We may still only be in January, but there has already been a major rules incident, which in this case has left Haotong Li €100,000 out of pocket. HIs fellow tour players have come out in condemnation.
Galvin Green has boosted the line-up of global ambassadors for the 2019 season with the addition of proven Tour winners to wear its premium apparel.
TaylorMade Golf announced today that it has signed 4-time PGA TOUR winner and one of the most recognisable players in the game today, Rickie Fowler, to a multi-year contract to play TaylorMade’s flagship golf ball franchise, TP5x.
When Lexi Thompson decided she wanted to rid herself of the 'little girl on the big tour' image, who she gonna call? That's right, GolfPunk!! Here's our exclusive photo/video shoot with the world number 4!!!!
Tired of being asked to take part in ‘viral’ videos by ‘media types’, five European Tour stars decided to take matters into their own hands and assemble The Content Committee.
So close last week at the Sony Open with Andrew Putnam 69/1 leading until the final stages eventually finishing 2nd to Matt Kuchar. But now I focus on the Desert Classic.
Following the signing of American star Gary Woodland to its Tour Advisory Staff last week, Wilson Golf has confirmed its line-up for the 2019 European Tour, mixing young and upcoming talent with established Tour winners and Major champions.
Team TaylorMade’s Sung-Hyun Park, whose remarkable play in 2018 elevated her to world #2 and who has five LPGA Tour victories including two major championships to her impressive career resume, has chosen to add distance, spin, control and all-around performance with the new 2019 TP5x golf ball.
Abu Dhabi Golf Club’s fairways will be graced with some of the world’s best golfers this week as they compete to be crowned champion at the ‘Home of Champions’.
Padraig Harrington has to be the right choice for the Ryder Cup captaincy, and it’s a brave decision on his part. But it is his time, not his turn to be Europe's captain.
Dom Pedro Hotels & Golf Collection has announced that it will be hosting the 21st edition of the Dom Pedro International Golf Classic from 12th to 19th January 2019.
2020 Ryder Cup Captain elect Padraig Harrington invited GolfPunk to go All Back To His with him where he treated us to a trick shot spectacular, showed us his man cave, took us on at pool & table tennis and let us hoist the Wanamaker Trophy and Claret Jugs!!!!
Cody Blick shot a magnificent 63 in the final round to earn his conditional PGA Tour status... without his own clubs, as they had been stolen the night before. Now Cody has his clubs back, and there is some story behind their return...
Whistling Straits better brace itself for an Irish Invasion after Padraig Harrington was confirmed European Captain for the 2020 Ryder Cup...
Rory McIlroy has welcomed the sweeping changes that have been implemented to the rules of golf and hopes that the new rules will bring a greater clarity within the sport.
The New Year saw the much-anticipated release of TaylorMade's M6 range of drivers, fairways and hybrids - and Clubs to Hire (CTH) customers can rent them on golf breaks from March 1.
Titleist will continue to build its long association with the world’s best players through their sponsorship of Sky Sports Golf’s coverage of the 2019 PGA Tour and World Golf Championships (WGCs).
Happy New Year to all GolfPunk followers. Just the one event this week in Hawaii, it’s a small but select field in which I do fear the two favourites, DustinJohnson and Jon Rahm the biggest hitters in the field but with wind forecast I think and hope there is value to be had elsewhere??? 9 points risked.
