About Jordan Spieth’s wobbly start and an eye-popping Tiger stat

Austin Eckroat, as expected, had some butterflies on the first tee at the 2020 Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN. The Oklahoma State senior was one of two amateurs in the event through a sponsor's invite and his only previous PGA TOUR start was the U.S. Open in 2019. "I was really nervous on the first tee but my caddie (Stone Coburn) was more nervous, so that was calming to me," Eckroat said. "I necked the drive in the fairway, way up the heel, but it went straight. I was telling Stone, I just need to get a couple good swings in me, and I'll be good." He hit a 6-iron to 8 feet on his first hole, and though he missed the birdie putt, he said, "I was pretty much calm for the rest of the event." He made the cut after back-to-back rounds of 69, and he got to 9-under after a birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie stretch early on Saturday. And that's when it hit him. "I looked up at the scoreboard and it said T2," Eckroat said. "I was like, oh my God. Holy sh*t! I have a legitimate chance of winning this event." Eckroat did not win the tournament, but his former teammate and current roommate, Viktor Hovland, did. He is also great friends with another former Cowboy and PGA TOUR winner, Matthew Wolff. Wolff advised Eckroat that the competition on the PGA TOUR is very similar to college golf, and if you feel like you're playing well enough to win or be in contention, then you'll be in contention. "I was super impressed with him. To put four rounds together as an amateur, that’s really impressive because most amateur events are only three rounds," Wolff said. "He made the cut pretty easily so that was really nice. From there he kind of just kept the pedal down." With his family in attendance in Mexico, Eckroat made his first PGA TOUR cut and finished a remarkable T12 in the event. "I played really solid at the tournament obviously, but it's not like I played way better than I've ever played in my entire life," Eckroat said. "You grow up playing and you're hoping that one day you'll good enough and you want to believe that you are but you're never sure until you get out there. And I think this last week really helped me believe that." Wolff sent Eckroat a congratulatory text and added, "It just proves that when he’s playing well, he can play with anyone. I guess maybe everything hasn’t fallen in place for him in college and I’m sure he wanted to leave a little bit ago, but he’s going to get his chance and I like his chances." Prior to the PGA TOUR event, Eckroat got a chance to flash his talent at the PXG College Golf Showcase, which airs on Golf Channel on December 16 at 7 p.m. ET. He teamed up with collegiate rival Garett Reband (Oklahoma), and Pro Football Hall of Famers Jerome Bettis and Brian Urlacher to raise money for the military. "Those two guys (Bettis and Urlacher) were good! They were also great guys and really fun to be around," recalled Eckroat. "It was funny to see their competitive spirit. It was cool to see that there's something about those guys when they get put on stage, and it was the same for us college golfers too. Once the cameras turned on, it was a completely different feel, everyone got better. It was a cool experience." Eckroat currently sits at No. 3 in the PGA TOUR University Ranking. A finish inside the top-5 would guarantee Korn Ferry Tour starts. Wouldn't that be a cool experience? "I never really dreamed of being an astronaut or a firefighter. I always dreamed of being a professional golfer. To have that right around the corner is pretty cool."

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RIDGELAND, S.C. – At THE CJ CUP in South Carolina, Shane Lowry – who had his putter snap in the ninth fairway on Thursday – wasn’t the only player needing to make some equipment changes on the fly. Cameron Young felt as if something had gone awry with his driver during his back nine Friday in the second round at Congaree Golf Club. Young is one of the hardest swingers on the PGA TOUR – ranking fourth in swing speed average (123.68 mph) last season, and third in driving distance (319.3 yards) – so every few months he said he takes a hard look at changing out driver heads. Friday, he did not crack his driver face but somehow altered it enough to remove it from play. Early into his back nine, it seemed strange to him to see a few of his drives react as they did. “I hit a couple off the heel that didn’t act correctly,” Young said.” I know the ‘heely’ ones tend to cut a little bit, but I hit a couple that curved like 60 yards. It just didn’t seem right.” On Saturday, he had a newly assembled driver in the bag, having borrowed a TSi3 9.5-degree head from fellow Titleist staffer Webb Simpson, attaching it to his regular gamer shaft. Young instantly could feel a difference. It showed in his play, too. Young birdied four of his first five holes and shot his low round of the tournament, a 5-under 66 that moved him to 5-under for 54 holes. “As soon as I hit the other one, the driver flights were just a lot straighter,” Young said. “I think the (original) driver was not fully intact. He (Simpson) was nice enough to give me one.” It was Simpson, a captains’ assistant to Davis Love III at the recent Presidents Cup, who surprised Young during his Wednesday news conference by delivering the Arnold Palmer Trophy that Young had earned as 2021-22 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year. (Simpson was joined by former ROY Sungjae Im of South Korea). Young earned the vote of his peers as the top rookie after a solid rookie campaign in which he finished second five times (including a solo second at The Open Championship at St. Andrews) and third twice (once at the PGA Championship, where he was finished one shot out of a playoff). For Young, it has been a memorable year, and the last few months have been busy. He climbed into the top 20 in the World Ranking, made the TOUR Championship, and played in his first Presidents Cup. Off the course, he and his wife moved into a new home in Florida as they ready for the arrival of their second child later next month. This week, Young has managed to go lower each day, opening with 73, shooting 69 on Friday despite his driver troubles (he ranked 73rd in Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee) and 65 on Saturday, even though he felt as if he left a few shots on the course. He said he has struggled to summon energy after a 15-hour return flight from Japan to start the week. Young will start Sunday too far back to earn that first victory this week, but many on TOUR expect him to notch that first win soon. Earning Rookie of the Year honors was nice validation that he is doing a lot of things he needs to do to break through. “I think mostly I just played some very good golf,” he said earlier in the week. “When I played well, I feel like I was able to kind of keep it going through the week and, you know, all it takes is a good start and then you can kind of hang around for a long time, or one good round Friday or Saturday. “Obviously, it takes a lot more than that to win a tournament, but I felt like I was able to take advantage of my good days and shoot some really low scores, and take advantage of my solid golf and put some really solid weeks together.”

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Editor’s note: Ernie Els has been writing a blog in 2017 and this is his latest installment. For more information on the World Golf Hall of Famer, visit www.ernieels.com. Having had a few weeks off, and needing to recover from a heavy dose of flu, it was a relief to get back into the swing of tournament action at last week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.  I’ve played this event in back-to-back years now and it’s a superbly run tournament. Congrats to Shriners on all that they’re doing there and indeed on the amazing work they’re doing in the Las Vegas area across various facilities helping children in need. And nice job Patrick Cantlay getting your first PGA TOUR win there! Anyway, considering I’ve not been able to play as much golf as I’d have liked in the last 3-4 weeks, there was a lot about my game that pleased me at TPC Summerlin. I hit a lot of greens out there, especially across the first three days, and I could have easily shot better scores than I did. Admittedly a bit of a disappointing final round, but never mind. I’m just looking forward to trying to build on some of that good play in this week’s OHL Classic at Mayakoba in Mexico. We’re back at El Camaleon Golf Club in Playa Del Carmen, roughly 40 minutes south of Cancun on Mexico’s stunning Yucatan Peninsula. Last year was my first ever visit to this part of the world and it really is beautiful. So, too, is the golf course, a Greg Norman layout that winds its way through three distinct landscapes – tropical jungle, dense mangroves and sand-lined oceanfront. It was a joy to play there last year and I’m excited to be returning this week.  Before that, I just want to recap on some events off the golf course from the last few weeks. First of all, a huge thank you to our family of golfers, donors, sponsors and partners who made this year’s Golf Challenge and last week’s Grand Finale another big success. There is a long list of people and organizations who make this all possible and, in particular, I’d like to take this opportunity to make special mention of our long-time presenting sponsor, SAP, and organizing sponsors RBC, TaylorMade and Wine Spectator. Also our platinum sponsors – EY and Boeing – and our gold sponsors Downsview Kitchens, 18Birdies, Boeing, Duane Morris, Tierra South Florida, EY, eBay and Tata Consulting Services. Thank you all so much. Special congratulations from Liezl and me to Rachel Barcellona, winner of the 2017 Els for Autism Spectrum Award, and to Tanner’s Team Too! who were the year’s highest fundraising team with more than $50,000 on the board, an incredible effort. Honestly, it was a pleasure for me to spend time with you and everyone who earned their place at this year’s Grand Finale. This was the seventh year of the Golf Challenge and we had a new venue for this year’s Grand Finale and I want to thank the whole team at The Breakers in Florida for the great job hosting us.  In the seven years that we’ve been running the Golf Challenge our fundraising total has now topped the $18 million mark. It’s truly humbling to have got to this stage and obviously, the results of our fundraising efforts are evident every day in the wonderful work being done at The Els Center of Excellence. We’ll start the ball rolling on our eighth Golf Challenge in 2018 and we look forward to welcoming back old friends and hopefully some new participants, too. Meanwhile, over in South Africa our final three events on the Drive to SA Open series took place in recent weeks. At St. Francis Links on 5 October our generous custodians Jeff and Liesel Clause once again produced an amazing day, while Mother Nature provided the weather to match! Thank you to the Irish three-ball of Roy Picken, Robert McKormick and Bertie Warwick who kindly donated a prize auction item signed by Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke. Congrats to the day’s winners, Frank Crabstick and Alan Carstens. Next up was Silver Lakes on 20 October and I hear we had great weather there as well. This course is the home of my old friend, and Drive to SA Open organizer, Nico van Rensburg, and the team there did us proud. A total of 128 players took part, including cricketers Mark Boucher and Dean Elgar, and rugby player Chester Williams. The winners on the day were Alastair MacDonald and Dean Asset. Big thanks to Sun International for getting involved as a sponsor on the day.  Last but not least, the flagship event of our 2017 schedule took place at Ebotse on 26 October. Nico tells me the course was again in superb condition. Big thanks to Peps Pretorius for all the work he does to make this such a special day, this year raising an incredible R413 000 and concluding with a prize shoot-out from the top deck of the clubhouse. As always, I send my thanks to everyone who took part, including Lions coach Swys De Bruin.  Lastly thanks again to Sun International and to Imperial KWS logistics for getting on board for the 2018 series. We really appreciate your support. Okay, that’s it for now. Follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.

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