Day: January 9, 2020

Pat Hurst selected as US captain for 2021 Solheim CupPat Hurst selected as US captain for 2021 Solheim Cup

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Collin Morikawa handles wind to lead Sony Open in Hawaii by twoCollin Morikawa handles wind to lead Sony Open in Hawaii by two

HONOLULU — The wind blew so hard that palm trees looked as though they were made of rubber. The Pacific looked angrier than usual. Some of the sights Thursday at the Sony Open in Hawaii made it clear that playing golf in Hawaii was no vacation. Collin Morikawa managed better than everyone. He learned enough about the wind last week on Maui to cope with it on Oahua, getting through the relentless 30 mph win without a bogey for a 5-under 65 and a two-shot lead. “It’s tough out here,” Morikawa said. “If you have a 20-foot birdie putt, you’ve got to factor in the wind, the rain, everything. So playing last week got me prepared for today in the wind, and I look forward to the next few days.” Ryan Palmer was among four players at 67, with Marc Leishman and Corey Conners among those at 68. Justin Thomas, who won a playoff last week in Kapalua, struggled early in the wind and had to keep it together for a 72. A year ago, that might have been the first step toward a weekend off. On this day, it was inside the cut line. Maui was hard work in the wind. This week might be worse because Waialae is so exposed. “Not exactly what you’re looking for after a week like last week,” Thomas said. “Just trying to find something where it’s easy to get in play and on the green. It was a grind, which was what last week was, so it was really hard to stay focused. Felt like I didn’t do a good job of that to start, but then played pretty well the last 13 or so holes.” A year ago, Adam Svensson of Canada opened with a 61, and all that gave him was a one-shot lead. Seventy-five players broke par. This year was a little different. Only 30 players broke par when play was suspended by darkness. The scoring average was 72.04, compared with 69.64 in the opening round last year. RELATED: Leaderboard | Morikawa has golf IQ beyond his years “It was hard work out there,” defending champion Matt Kuchar said after a 69. “This I don’t recall in a long time. What a challenge. The wind is blowing as hard as I recall it blowing.” It was so strong that even with the tee moved forward on the par-3 fourth hole at Waialae so that it played 162 yards, Morikawa still hit 4-iron. It was one of his better shots, 7 feet right of the flag, for birdie. The best was his finish on the par-5 ninth, 504 yards and typically the easiest scoring hole. His drive peeled to the right into a hurting, left-to-right wind and found a bunker. His next shot caught the top of the lip, leaving him 189 yards away. “At that point, I was trying to get out with par,” Morikawa said. He went with a 4-iron — the next longest club in his bag is a 2-iron — and hit it so well the wind didn’t move it. The ball came down about 6 feet from the cup for his final birdie. Rain pounded the course about an hour before the first tee time, making the greens even softer. The wind never stopped, and even in sunshine, showers popped up out of nowhere. It was not much different from last week on Maui, except it was a much easier walk on a relatively flat surface. Patrick Reed, who lost in a playoff to Thomas last week in the Sentry Tournament of Champions, was at 3 under midway through his back before dropping shots from the water (No. 2) and the sand (No. 4) and having to settle for a 69. Those who know Waialae well from playing so many years could not remember this much wind for so much of the day. “We’ve all probably experienced wind like this at some point, but it’s rare,” Zach Johnson said after a 69. “I’ve not experienced it here.” Morikawa can’t claim to feel at home, even with so much family living on Oahu. He had never played Waialae until a practice round on Tuesday, but he had enough recent experience in the tropical gusts to get the job done. He didn’t make everything, but he made the right putts — two birdies on par 3s, both par 5s and a wedge to 8 feet on No. 5. He also holed a 10-foot par putt after finding a bunker left of the green on No. 14. “I think the harder conditions, the better for me,” Morikawa said. “Ball-strikers just want to control everything — control the ball — and I had complete control today. That’s what you want to do.”

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Cut prediction: Sony Open in HawaiiCut prediction: Sony Open in Hawaii

2020 Sony Open in Hawaii, Round 1 (Delayed due to darkness) Scoring Conditions: Overall: +2.04 strokes per round Morning wave: +2.60 Afternoon wave: +1.45 Current cutline (top 65 and ties) 87 players at +2 or better (T63rd position) Top 3 projected cutline probabilities: 2 over par: 26.9% 1 over par: 23.6% 3 over par: 19.1% Top 10 win probabilities: Collin Morikawa (1, -5, 25.4%) Patrick Reed (T16, -1, 8.2%) Rory Sabbatini (T6, -2, 4.3%) Ryan Palmer (T2, -3, 3.8%) Corey Conners (T6, -2, 3.6%) Marc Leishman (T6, -2, 3.5%) Sungjae Im (T16, -1, 3.1%) Abraham Ancer (T16, -1, 3.1%) Justin Thomas (T63, 2, 2.8%) Matt Jones (T2, -3, 2.7%) NOTE: These reports are based off the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut�, “Top 20�, “Top 5�, and “Win� probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the Sony Open in Hawaii, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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Leaderboard: What’s happening at the Sony OpenLeaderboard: What’s happening at the Sony Open

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PGA TOUR players praise Pete Dye’s legacyPGA TOUR players praise Pete Dye’s legacy

Legendary golf architect Pete Dye died Thursday at age 94 but leaves an undeniable stamp on the game. As the news filtered through the golf fraternity TOUR players and others who have been touched by his contribution to the world begun reflecting on the World Golf Hall of Famer’s legacy en masse. RELATED: Pete Dye passes away at age 94 “We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Pete Dye, a true friend of the PGA TOUR and one of the most important course architects of this or any generation. A 2008 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame, Pete’s influence is far-reaching, leaving a global imprint on both the amateur and professional games. He designed some of the best known golf courses in the world, though none more recognizable than THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. It was here that Pete masterfully brought Commissioner Deane Beman’s revolutionary stadium golf concept to life, melding Deane’s vision with a brilliantly designed course that is celebrated annually as one of the game’s great strategic courses during THE PLAYERS Championship. Pete, though, was always quick to credit his beloved wife, Alice, with his success, including the concept for his most famous hole, the 17th island green at TPC Sawgrass. Together, Pete and Alice made a formidable team in golf and life, and with sons Perry and P.B., themselves successful course architects, they are recognized as one of the most accomplished families in golf. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Dye family.â€� – PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan “He leaves a huge footprint on the game. One of my best experiences with Pete was playing Whistling Straits one of the first times we went there and I was lucky enough he walked nine holes with me in a practice round and I would ask him, “Mr. Dye why would you put that bunker right there… what were you thinking?â€� and he would look at me and said dryly, “just to piss you off, that’s the only reason.â€� He was a good man who obviously loved golf and just a wonderful course designer who knew how to make difficult golf courses. If you were going to play well around his places you couldn’t fake it and it’s a sad loss for golf. His footprint was at all of his places, undeniably and not a lot of designers can say that. And boy you knew it was going to be tough.â€� – Charles Howell III “Pete and Alice Dye are royalty in golf, no question. My mother was friends with Alice and always enjoyed talking with Pete every chance I could get. I love TPC Sawgrass and my parents were members at The Honors Course which I think is one of his best of all time. He revolutionized golf, changed it, and made it better. We are all lucky to have had him. If you look at the history of golf I’m not sure there is a bigger change in architecture than when Pete Dye came along. It was the most radical change and it was a great change. He is timeless. They’ll be copying him till the end of time.â€� – Jerry Kelly “You can’t mistake a Pete Dye. You knew it was his as soon as you played it. He had a different set of rules when he built golf courses and every single one he built was tough. He built TPC Sawgrass and helped build THE PLAYERS, and Whistling Straits, plus so many golf courses that are amazing. It is sad to lose someone who meant so much to not just the game of golf but to so many of its players as well. I had so many good experiences with him, I learnt a lot from him and he was clearly a very smart man. He will be missed.â€� – Vijay Singh “There’s fingerprints (of influence), and if Pete Dye doesn’t have one of the biggest, certainly in the last 50 years, I don’t know who would rival that. I was fortunate enough to play with him at Hilton Head, one of his gems, in the Pro-Am. It was me and Mr. Dye, Mr. Finchem, and I believe there was another executive of the TOUR. I believe Mr. Dye shot 78 or 79 that day in the Pro-Am and this was within the last 10-12 years for sure. Just hearing the stories, you know, what he did with this hole and that… it was awesome. It was just fantastic to see a golf artist on his canvas he made. Very special. Condolences to his family obviously. He’s a legend.â€� – Zach Johnson “He was an icon when it comes to golf course design. He was a guy who really made you uncomfortable the whole round. And he did it visually. He’d always make you think. He’s one of those guys that you respected him because he built some great golf courses but in the midst of playing them, you hated his guts.â€� – Brandt Snedeker

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