Monday 20 June 2016
Dustin Johnson won his first major championship at the US Open with a stunning display of precision power at Oakmont. He was regularly booming tee shots well over 350 yards using his TaylorMade M1 driver, tearing up the 7,255 yard par 70 track and winning by three shots over Shane Lowry. But Johnson played his last seven holes knowing he had to...
Written by Rob McGarr on Monday 20 June 2016
In the end, Dustin Johnson won the U.S. Open by three clear shots. His final round 1-under par 69 contained three birdies and two bogeys. It all sounds straightforward and free from drama, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, as is often the way with DJ, it was anything but. On Oakmont’s fifth green, as Johnson prepared to address his ball, it moved slightly. Johnson...
Written by Michael Catling on Wednesday 15 June 2016
Forget the Euros. The 116th US Open starts tomorrow which means you’ve got a great excuse to put your feet up, rekindle your on-off relationship with the local takeaway and send your electricity bill rocketing skywards. There’s plenty at stake this week as well, and we’re not just referring to your livelihood if you don’t show your partner a bit of...
Monday 13 June 2016
Bryson DeChambeau, the self-proclaimed ‘golfing scientist’, is as wacky as they come. His one-plane swing is unconventional, and he’s already fascinated Rory McIlroy with his same-length clubs. He lists Albert Einstein among his idols, sports Ben Hogan-style flat caps on the course and ensures his golf balls are perfectly balanced by floating them in Epsom salts. The 22-year-old American’s radical...
Monday 13 June 2016
The U.S. Open starts this Thursday at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. The course has been described my many of the world’s leading players as the toughest in the world. 22-year-old Jordan Spieth will be making his first visit as he attempts to defend the U.S. Open crown he won at Chambers Bay last year. We examine what he and the rest...
Written by Rob McGarr on Monday 13 June 2016
Most players crowned Rookie of the Year pick up at least one win on their way to that award. Daniel Berger, Rookie of the Year for the 2014-2015 season, took the crown for a series of accomplished performances that saw him finish 25th on the PGA Tour money list, but didn’t have a tour title to his name until yesterday. Berger’s...
Sunday 12 June 2016
China’s Ashun Wu won the Lyoness Open, his second win in 38 starts on the European Tour. The win makes him the first Chinese golfer to win on European soil, and also the first to win more than one European Tour event. Wu’s previous European Tour title came on home soil at the Volvo China Open last year. “It’s been my...
Written by Rob McGarr on Friday 10 June 2016
We get used to seeing the world’s best golfers make mincemeat of the world’s best courses on a weekly basis, but, once in a while, the course bites back. The U.S. Open tends to be one of those weeks, and when the tournament heads to Oakmont next week, the players could be in for the toughest test they’ve ever faced. Here’s...
Written by Rob McGarr on Thursday 9 June 2016
The Women’s PGA Championship starts today at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington. Inbee Park has won the tournament for the last three years in a row, meaning she would be hot favourite to become the first female golfer to win the same major four times in a row, were it not for an injured thumb that has kept her off...
Wednesday 8 June 2016
It’s that week before a major, when many of the game’s biggest names are prepping their game for the torture that awaits at a US Open at Oakmont. Some – like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson – are fine-tuning at the FedEx St Jude Classic, while many Euros make their way over to the US for the year’s second major. The European...
Written by Rob McGarr on Tuesday 7 June 2016
We recently ran a story about tour players not shouting fore after hitting a shot that is heading towards spectators. If you missed it, you can read it and watch the video here. The response to that article was overwhelming, ferocious, and, in many cases, too loaded with profanity to reproduce. Amongst all the impassioned swearing, a great number of interesting points...
Written by Rob McGarr on Tuesday 7 June 2016
Tiger Woods got everyone a bit excited whe he registered for the U.S. Open back in April, but with the tournament now only a week away, the 14-time major champ has confirmed that he will not be teeing it up at Oakmont. “While I continue to work hard on getting healthy, I am not physically ready to play in this year’s...
Written by Rob McGarr on Monday 6 June 2016
The videos posted on the PGA Tour YouTube channel normally showcase the best moments of recent action from golf’s biggest professional tour. This week, they posted this: We’ve spoken about the need for players to shout fore in the past, but until it starts happening, every single time, we’ll keep saying it: IF YOU HIT A PROJECTILE TOWARDS ANOTHER HUMAN BEING THAT HAS...
Written by Rob McGarr on Monday 6 June 2016
As Solomon Northup would tell you, 12 years is a very long time. It’s longer than the sentence for trying to lethally poison someone. It’s the same amount of time since Arsenal last won the Premier League. It’s longer than it takes to become a fully qualified doctor. It’s also how long William McGirt has had to wait for his first...
Written by Rob McGarr on Sunday 5 June 2016
Ask any legend of the game and they’ll tell you the golf ball goes too far. “When are the USGA, the R&A and the PGA going to have more vision and cut the ball back by 50 yards?” says Gary Player. “The main culprit in slow play is the golf ball and the distance it goes,” says Jack Nicklaus. It’s easy to see...
Written by Rob McGarr on Sunday 5 June 2016
In an era when golfers seem to spend as much time in the gym as on the range, there’s something refreshing about 21-year-old Matt Fitzpatrick, who looks like he’d struggle to snap a 7-iron. “Everyone always says the same things about me needing to get in the gym and get bigger, and I probably do,” said Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick trains in the...
Written by Rob McGarr on Thursday 2 June 2016
Golfers withdraw from tournaments all the time and for all manner of reasons from injury to overloaded schedules, family matters to fears of catching the Zika virus. But it’s not often they admit that they’re withdrawing from a tournament because they’re suffering “incredible anxiety while chipping [and] pitching”. You might think that the most surprising part of this story is that an...
Written by Rob McGarr on Wednesday 1 June 2016
The idea of playing a round at TPC Sawgrass is enough to get most golfers very excited. Throw in Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler as playing partners and you’re getting to a scenario that is simply too good to be true. Unfortunately, for most of us, it’s a dream that’s unlikely to ever come true. Fortunately, Justin Thomas is currently starring...
Written by Rob McGarr on Friday 27 May 2016
Golf’s return to the Olympics, after a 112-year hiatus, has not gone entirely smoothly. There have been calls from fans and players that it should be for amateurs, rather than professionals. There have been doubts over whether the course would be ready in time. There have been suggestions that a 72-hole strokeplay format is unimaginative and boring. And there have been...
Written by Rob McGarr on Tuesday 31 May 2016
Elisa Buster was having a lovely day at the Dean & Deluca Invitational at Colonial Country Club in Texas. 300 yards away, Tony Finau stood on the tee of the par-5 11th hole. “Someone shouted ‘watch out!’ and the next thing I knew a golf ball hit me on the head,” says Buster. Big-hitting Finau had sailed his shot into the crowd,...