‘Golf is hard’: Clark draws crowd at LPGA pro-am

Horschel’s wife reveals her alcoholism battle

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The Mexico Open has a storied if somewhat disjointed history since it was first played at Club de Golf Chapultepec in 1944. Ben Crenshaw, Billy Casper and Lee Trevino helped put it on the map with victories, and Al Espinosa, a California native of Mexican descent, won it from 1944-47 before the tournament took its first hiatus, in 1948. It was a harbinger of things to come. World events, politics, disinterest, and/or the pandemic shuttered the event 19 times between 1944 and today. The longest drought was from 1985-89, and that’s when Jim Cook, the father of PGA TOUR Champions veteran and 10-time PGA TOUR winner John Cook, got involved. Jim had established Championship Management and was running three TOUR events – the San Diego Open, Las Vegas Invitational and NEC World Series of Golf, which later became the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone. The iconic Akron, Ohio course was a particular favorite of many top TOUR players, and it’s where many got to know Jim Cook. He built the NEC World Series of Golf into a monster because it offered one of golf’s biggest purses. When the field expanded in 1976 from just the four major winners, the winner’s check was $100,000. The highest payout for a major in 1976 was the PGA Championship, at $45,000. Cook, who is 88 now and makes his home in Ashville, Ohio, just south of Columbus, says it was 1988 when he first was approached about reviving the Mexico Open. “I was at the Masters that year watching my son play,” he recalled. “Seve Ballesteros had been enlisted to introduce me to Francisco Lavat, who then was the president of the Mexican Golf Federation. Now of course I knew Seve pretty well from the World Series of Golf. Just a great guy. And he introduced me to Francisco, and we hit it off.” Lavat got Cook to believe the event could be a success if they put the event in the PGA TOUR offseason and lured some of the better U.S. players to come. Cook, who had proven himself a powerhouse in securing sponsors for the other events he ran, immediately went to work on some big companies in Mexico to get the ball rolling. “I got Corona, which was a very big deal,” he said. “AeroMexico and Porsche/Audi, which had a big plant in Mexico City.” With those companies aboard it was time to appeal to top players. The reimagined event would be played in November 1990, and Cook used his son, who by then had racked up three TOUR wins, to help him attract a solid field. The winner’s share of the purse, $100,000 – the rival of any event in golf at the time – helped with buy-in. “The first time I went, I won,” said Jay Haas, the 1991 Mexico Open champion. “That was at Chapultepec. It was a great course – kikuyu fairways and bent greens. The ball went a long way because of the elevation. It was a pretty good challenge distance-wise. “I remember you had to make a lot of up-and-downs at Chapultepec,” he continued. “I made a nice par on 18 to tie Ed Fiori and won on the third playoff hole with a birdie.” How exactly Haas ended up playing in the first place can be traced directly back to Jim Cook. “I knew it would be run right,” Haas said. “Jim was doing all of the fundraising. Purses weren’t that high even on the PGA TOUR. I had a great week. It was a very fun time.” Asked about his winner’s check, Haas didn’t remember it being that large. Nor did the 1993 winner Fred Funk and 1995 winner – one John Cook – recall exactly what they’d won. Funk said he thought it was $30,000. Haas and John Cook believed it was $50,000. When informed Jim Cook said it was $100,000, Haas said he would research it. He later confirmed via text that he indeed made $100,000, which he said was another good reason to have played. “That and the cerveza!” Haas said. Jim Cook said the purse was his biggest selling point in year two. He also was paying the players a small appearance fee – $5,000 to $10,000 – and covering their expenses. “I was astonished at how great the golf courses were,” said Funk, who beat Donnie Hammond at La Hacienda. “I wasn’t really an established player on TOUR (Funk had won for the first time at the Shell Houston Open in 1992). The field didn’t have all of the studs in it. I was just trying to make some money.” Another selling point for Cook, as if he needed it, was that the event didn’t have a cut. The field also had fewer than 100 players, about half of whom were U.S. players. The pitch: Come to Mexico for free and play in a no-cut event for a shot at a hundred grand. John Cook’s job recruiting players was a lot easier than his dad’s job had been. “The guys went down for money and a good time,” John Cook said. “It was the off-season, and it was a nice getaway. And we played a number of good golf courses. The courses were unreal. It was like Riviera light. Every course looked like Riviera.” Jim Cook split with the tournament after 2000. Lavat had been succeeded as president of the Mexican Golf Federation, and new leaders had new ideas. They wanted the tournament to be played throughout the country instead of just around Mexico City. The tournament wasn’t played in 2001, but it trudged on and in 2013 it was moved to March and became an official event for PGA Tour Latinoamérica. Now it’s making its PGA TOUR debut. “I’m glad it’s still around,” Jim Cook said. “I have a lot of fond memories of Mexico. I hope it has a long, successful life.”

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Two-time Wyndham Championship winner Brandt Snedeker is a creature of habit. Although the Tennessee native became an equipment free agent late last year, his dedication to some aspects of his bag has been unwavering. Take his putter, for example. The Odyssey Rossie has been in the bag his entire career. He’s been gaming it since he competed on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2006. He’s had it in the bag so long, in fact, that he’s had to replace its White Hot face multiple times. His irons shafts, Aerotech SteelFiber I95 S, have been a fixture since 2011. Since his second Wyndham win in 2018, however, the rest of his equipment has been in flux. He has been in multiple drivers, fairway woods, irons, and wedges, with the only constant being the putter. Snedeker’s launch profile compares to players like Ryan Moore, Zach Johnson, Brian Gay, and Jim Furyk. Snedeker doesn’t hit it a long way—averaging just 284.1 yards off the tee this season—nor does he hit the ball particularly high. He relies more on spin and accuracy than the now-popular high-speed game. Snedeker earned his first PGA TOUR title at the 2007 Wyndham and won the tournament 11 years later on the strength of a first-round 59. Some aspects of his bag remain unchanged since his last Wyndham win. The putter, 5-wood, lob wedge, and iron shafts have all stayed the same. It’s worth noting that although the logos and make of some of the equipment have changed, the DNA remains the same. Snedeker always leans towards a forged cavity-back iron. In his woods, he prefers metal shafts that are mid-launch and mid-spin. The structure of his set is exactly the same, as well: driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, 4-PW, 52-, 56- and 60-degree wedges…and the old trusty Odyssey. Here’s a closer look at what was in Snedeker’s bag when he won the Wyndham two years ago versus what he has in play today. 2018 Winning WITB Wyndham Championship Driver: Bridgestone Tour B JGR prototype (9.5 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD IZ-6X Fairway woods: TaylorMade M3 (15 and 19 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Pro Tour Spec Irons: Bridgestone J15CB (4-9 iron) Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber i95 S-Flex Wedges: Bridgestone J40 (48 degrees), Bridgestone J15 (52 bent to 51 degrees, and 56 bent to 55 degrees), Titleist Vokey TVD Prototype (60-06K) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Odyssey White Hot XG Rossie Length: 34 inches Ball: Bridgestone Tour B X Grips: Lamkin Crossline WITB as of 2020 PGA Championship Driver: Ping G410 Plus (9 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X 3-wood: TaylorMade M6 “Rocket 3” (14 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 7 X 5-wood: TaylorMade M3 (19 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X Irons: Srixon Z785 (4-9) Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber I95 S Wedges: Callaway Mack Daddy 4 (48-10S, 52-10S, 56-10S) Vokey SM8 (60K) Shafts: (48) Aerotech SteelFiber I95 S (52/56/60) True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Odyssey White Hot XG Rossie Length: 34 inches Ball: Bridgestone Tour B X Grips: Lamkin Crossline

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