McIlroy’s charge falls short, misses cut by one shot at The Open Championship

Last week’s CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES was the first tournament of the 2019-20 season for which ShotLink wasn’t used. That meant that fantasy scoring was determined by actual scores and bonus points only. Since all of the remaining four events this fall used in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf also won’t have ShotLink measurements contributing, it’s interesting to review how fantasy scoring at NINE BRIDGES stacked up against the first five tournaments. (The Seaside Course at The RSM Classic will be lasered, but because the co-hosting Plantation Course won’t be, ShotLink will not apply to that tournament for fantasy purposes.) The top performers at the first four tournaments recorded totals of 958 points (Greenbrier), 986 points (Sanderson Farms), 924 points (Safeway) and 1,081 points (Shriners). The weekly winner of the Houston Open amassed only 875 points. The broad-stroke analysis of why the best teams varied as such is rooted in the usual variables of distance off the tee and overall scoring. Golf Club of Houston yielded the shortest average of distance of all drives and the highest scoring average thus far. RELATED: Power Rankings | Horses for Courses | Daily fantasy advice Without ShotLink active at NINE BRIDGES, “tampatom” led all fantasy gamers with 880 points. While he collected bonus points with Justin Thomas (win), Danny Lee (2nd), Hideki Matsuyama (T3) and Byeong Hun An (T6), overall scoring was comparable to Houston (with ShotLink) because actual scoring was lower in the tournament proper. Scoring at Narashino Country Club this week is projected to be tempered during the first two rounds due to wind. Come the weekend, the only defense for the short course with three par-5s might be hole locations. The wind will lay down, so it could surrender low scores. As a long-time gamer and honest critic of the various fantasy formats that have been offered, I must stress that the current iteration of PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf finally gets it right. Any game in which you have as much to gain as you have to lose while covering the alternative dynamics such as the current stretch that covers the no-cut Asian Swing and without ShotLink, without golf shoes getting hurled at it, is impressive. Short- and long-range fantasy golf formats are far from perfect due to the nature of the sport, so appreciating what we have now is as important as the value that has been validated. PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf My roster for the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP (in alphabetical order): Tony Finau Matthew Fitzpatrick Hideki Matsuyama Rory McIlroy Xander Schauffele Justin Thomas You’ll find my starters in Expert Picks. Others to consider for each category (in alphabetical order): Scoring: Paul Casey; Adam Hadwin; Ryan Moore; Collin Morikawa; Kevin Na; Patrick Reed; Adam Scott; Jordan Spieth; Gary Woodland Driving: n/a Power Rankings Wild Card Jason Day … A rare second consecutive appearance by the same golfer in this space, so go ahead and debate it. He was sharp in the opener at NINE BRIDGES with a bogey-free, 6-under 66, but he didn’t break 71 the rest of the way and drifted to T31 for his sixth straight result outside the top 30. It’s irrelevant that he won Monday’s MGM Resorts The Challenge, except for what that could do for his confidence. Winning is winning is winning and he proved something to himself amid his current slump. So, maybe it’s not so irrelevant after all. Draws Joaquin Niemann … Bell answered. I was cool on him THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES because I wasn’t yet convinced that he had separated from the career achievement of winning at Greenbrier. How much time required to turn the page mentally from a breakthrough victory and the next start that showcases similar form varies. That he was the first Chilean to win a PGA TOUR event brought with it more significance than usual. Given his results in the two events that followed, we couldn’t rule out the hangover effect (even though he doesn’t turn 21 until Nov. 7, wink wink). Lo and behold, he walked off NINE BRIDGES with an eagle-3 and signed for a 4-under 68 to finish T12. Consider the page turned. Ian Poulter … Split the bull’s-eye at NINE BRIDGES with a T16. It piles onto a record there that started with a T15 and a T10, but he’s always flourished in the limited-field, no-cut events. The ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP is yet another that allows him to put another brick on the wall for the season. Marc Leishman … As he continues to experience inconsistency, this is not a time to run. He’s only two starts and less than one month removed from a solo third at Silverado. It’s one of, count ’em, seven top-fives worldwide in the last 11 months. His class is permanent. What should excite you (and him) this week is that the wind is expected to play a role during the first two rounds (assuming no extended delays on Friday). Suit him up! Andrew Putnam … I’m slowly generating a man-crush on the 30-year-old. Go ahead and cite a weakness. I’ll wait. … Exactly. Since a T3 at Colonial, he’s 12-for-12 worldwide with seven top-25s. He’s nails no matter your format. He’s also affordable in DFS. Chez Reavie … Arrives on a downturn, but Narashino is a short track that will reward his tee-to-green precision. Invest in a likely upswing. Viktor Hovland Shugo Imahira Kevin Kisner Collin Morikawa Kevin Na Harold Varner III Fades Tiger Woods … Once upon a time, and still to a lesser degree today, playing time late in the calendar year for golfers coming off an injury was considered an opportunity for gamers to observe for relevant action to come. However, since the wraparound schedule was introduced six years ago, these guys can contribute to the bottom line. The trick is letting them come to you, no matter the billing. Monday’s exhibition was a bonus that allowed his owners to exhale in advance of his season debut, which is his first official action since the BMW Championship in August and, more importantly, since he underwent knee surgery. Yes, there’s no cut, Narashino is a short course and he’s capable of winning, obviously, but there are hotter, healthier and younger talents from which to choose. If you can’t help yourself, then just stow him on your bench in PGA TOUR Fantasy and surround him with chalk. Danny Lee … First and foremost, we have to respect the emotional component and unquantifiable motivation triggered by the premature birth of his second child on the eve of THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES. He mentioned it after the third round even though he wasn’t going to speak about it until after the tournament, and then decided not to elaborate. That tournament also was contested in his native South Korea, so it’s only natural to connect his focus to when he wanted to qualify for the Presidents Cup in the country in 2015, which he achieved. In terms of execution, he ranked just T56 in greens in regulation at NINE BRIDGES but led the field in both scrambling and fewest putts taken. On unfamiliar greens at Narashino this week, he’ll be better suited to hit more of them than he found of the massive targets last week. And now a week removed from the variables of going to work immediately after a significant life event and an admission of it, it’d be understandable if he lacks the same fire in Japan. Byeong Hun An … Although he led after one round at NINE BRIDGES and finished T6 for his second top-10 of the season, I prefer his hit-it-and-find-it style better on longer tracks where his distance is a distinct advantage. So, consider this as an opportunity to sit him out until the fit improves. Bubba Watson … His missed cut in his last start at the Shriners to open October was his fifth MC in 10 starts. He managed only one top-45 finish in the other five (T8, WGC-FedEx St. Jude). Daniel Berger Keegan Bradley Joel Dahmen Billy Horschel Jason Kokrak Returning to Competition Hudson Swafford … He got back after it in last week’s European Tour stop in Paris. After opening with 3-over 74 in the Open de France, he converted three eagles and four birdies en route to a second-round 65 to make the cut. After respective rounds of 69 and 76 on the weekend, he finished T29. The 32-year-old hadn’t played anywhere since missing the cut at the RBC Canadian Open in early June. It was his fifth straight MC and eighth in nine starts. Two weeks later, he withdrew early from the Travelers Championship, citing an injured foot. He opened this season with a Minor Medical Extension affording seven starts, but because he passed the four-month checkpoint without competing, he’s been elevated to the Major Medical category. If he earns 133.289 FedExCup points in seven starts, he’ll retain status for the remainder of 2019-20. He is not playing this week. Notable WDs J.B. Holmes … Withdrew during his third round at NINE BRIDGES with a shoulder injury, and then pulled out of the ZOZO not long after the commitment deadline. He’s had only one top-50 finish in his last 15 starts in individual competition (T21, Rocket Mortgage). Power Rankings Recap – THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES Power Ranking  Golfer  Result 1  Justin Thomas  Win 2  Brooks Koepka  WD 3  Sungjae Im  T39 4  Rafa Cabrera Bello  T26 5  Tommy Fleetwood  T20 6  Tyrrell Hatton  T6 7  Hideki Matsuyama  T3 8  Cameron Smith  T3 9  Danny Willett  T46 10  Marc Leishman  T43 11  Viktor Hovland  T31 12  Jazz Janewattananond  T65 13  Gary Woodland  T3 14  Kevin Na  T20 15  Pat Perez  T31 Wild Card  Jason Day  T31 Sleepers Recap – THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES Golfer  Result Joel Dahmen  T43 Kyonghun Moon  T46 Ryan Palmer  T12 Adam Schenk  T46 Brian Stuard  T72 Birthdays among active golfers on the PGA TOUR October 22 … none October 23 … none October 24 … Marc Leishman (36) October 25 … Troy Merritt (34); Xander Schauffele (26) October 26 … none October 27 … Fabián Gómez (41) October 28 … none

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Complete coverage of Happy Gilmore’s 20th anniversary. Editor’s note: This story was originally published on February 16th, 2016. We can all agree that Adam Sandler's movie “Happy Gilmore” - which celebrates its 25th anniversary this week — took several liberties with the Rules of Golf, flouted conventional wisdom and mocked some of the sport's time-honored traditions and decorum. That was part of the fun, right? Well, you should have read the first draft of the script ... or the second ... or third ... or fourth. Mark Lye did, as the one-time PGA TOUR pro-turned-broadcaster was hired as the official script consultant. As Lye worked his way through those early readings, he kept crossing out parts, wondering if there would be anything left to film. At one point, he told Sandler and his co-writer Tim Herlihy, "You gotta be crazy. You cannot do a movie like that." His concerns? "They had the green jacket. They were desecrating the USGA. Making fun of Augusta National," Lye recalls. "I just said, ‘No, no, no. I don't think you better go there at all. We can get the same effect by doing our own fictitious event.' " They listened, which is why Happy Gilmore (25-year-old spoiler alert!) wins the coveted Gold Jacket at the Tour Championship, not the Green Jacket at the Masters. Meanwhile, Lye was also worried about the movie crossing too far over the line of believability. Early scripts had Happy hitting 400-yard drives on every hole and acing par 4s on a regular basis. It was like the writing team had never been to a golf tournament - and that's when the lightbulb came on. Lye arranged to have key members of the movie crew attend the PGA TOUR event at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. He provided clubhouse badges, allowing them to get a feel for the atmosphere, to see the marshals, officials and volunteers and observe the demeanor of the pros. He thinks that visit paid dividends in dialing down some - the key word here being "some" — of the over-the-top situations. "They saw what the limits were," he says. Even so, this was a Sandler comedy, not a glorification of pro golf, and thus boundaries of believability would be pushed. Hockey blades as putters? Punching out members of the gallery - as well as playing partners? Washing underwear in the ball washers? Runaway Volkswagens driven down the middle of a fairway? Lye just had to grit his teeth. Finally after the fifth script, he gave his seal of golf approval. "I'm not sure about marking the ball with a cookie and eating it," Lye recalls telling the producers, "but as far as value and not offending anybody, I think you're fine." Of course, Happy's achievements aren't the point of the movie. It's the humor - sophomoric to be sure, but funny nonetheless - that has given it a cult following both in and out of golf circles since its release on Feb. 16, 1996. "There's just so much goofy, fun, stupid stuff in that movie," says five-time TOUR winner Jimmy Walker. "It just made you laugh. I don't even think you have to be a golfer to enjoy it. It could appeal to everybody just because it was funny." Certainly funny enough to turn a tidy profit - Happy Gilmore made more than $41 million on a $12 million budget. We can all agree that Caddyshack is the quintessential golf comedy, right? Well ... Released in 1980, Caddyshack mocked the stuffy environment of country clubs and its members, allowing Saturday Night Live alums Chevy Chase and Bill Murray free rein at the height of their comedic powers. Golfers routinely recite lines from the movie, and Murray's assistant greenskeeper Carl Spackler has carved out a special place in golf lore. But for young golfers today, their first exposure to a wacky golf movie was not Caddyshack but “Happy Gilmore,” which came out 16 years later and was made by another SNL alum in Sandler. Instead of making fun of country clubs, it mocked professional golf - which certainly hit home to those who hoped to make their living on the PGA TOUR. And instead of Spackler's Cinderella story, it gave us Happy's much-imitated running-start tee shot. Asked which movie he prefers, 31-year-old Jonas Blixt responds, "Happy Gilmore, but I like Caddyshack too. The older guys probably will go more with Caddyshack." Adds 32-year-old Marc Leishman: "I didn't actually see Caddyshack until about five years ago, so I prefer Happy Gilmore. I love it." Patrick Rodgers, 23, says Happy Gilmore and Tin Cup are his two favorite golf movies. No mention of Caddyshack. Longtime golf announcer Verne Lundquist, who plays himself in the movie, told The Sherman Report that the movie has "helped keep me relevant to a generation, maybe even two. I get more questions about Happy Gilmore than I do about the game." Lundquist recalled the time he and Billy Packer were scheduled to call a basketball game at the University of North Carolina in 2009. Lundquist was asked to visit the locker room and address the home team; he replied that they surely wanted Packer. No, it was Lundquist they wanted - and Tyler Hansbrough, then a star for the Tar Heels, told him why: "We need you to say, ‘Who the hell is Happy Gilmore?" It was a line from the movie. Lundquist obliged - and the players went crazy. "I said, ‘If you guys win the national championship, I expect to get credit for giving you a motivational speech,'" Lundquist told The Sherman Report. "They won, but I never got any credit." While Happy Gilmore may speak more to millennials, older golfers still seem to prefer the classic. Zach Johnson, 16 years older than Rodgers, puts Happy Gilmore in his top five among golf movies but not at the top. "We all know what No. 1 is," he said. "Caddyshack." Eight-time TOUR winner Geoff Ogilvy, 38, used to be able to quote Caddyshack from start to finish. He's never been able to do that with Happy Gilmore. "I was truly a Caddyshack junkie," Ogilvy says, "but not really a Happy Gilmore junkie." It's safe to suggest that Murray and Chase (along with Rodney Dangerfield and Ted Knight) have a broader, more approachable appeal than Sandler, who can be an acquired taste for some. Lye was one of those who didn't always get Sandler's kind of humor; in fact, he gravitated more to the subtle humor of Sandler's nemesis, Shooter McGavin (played by Christopher McDonald). But as he worked on the movie - he was close friends with the father of producer Robert Simonds - Lye began to appreciate what Sandler brought to the table. Lye remembers the first day he showed up on set in Vancouver, British Columbia (due to the conversion rate, it was cheaper to film movies in Canada than in the United States). It was early in the morning, about 5:30 a.m., and Lye was escorted to his trailer. The trailer next door had loud acid rock music blaring. He asked what was going on. "That's Adam Sandler's trailer," he was told. "That's how he gets fired up in the morning." Today, when asked about Sandler, Lye says "He was a meek guy, but as soon as the cameras came on, he became a beast. It was like Gremlins — just feed him after midnight. A cute little guy off the set but hilarious on it." We can all agree that the Happy Gilmore sidestep-and-swing tee shot is the most imitated in golf, right? C'mon, you know you've tried it. Instead of standing perpendicular to the ball at address, you stand behind it, take a couple of side steps and let it rip, Happy-style. Essentially, it's Happy's way of converting his hockey shot into a golf swing - and the results are extremely accurate 400-yard drives that became his calling card. Goodness knows how many TOUR pros have tried their hand at it - Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy among them. All in good fun, of course. "I'm not very good at it," says five-time winner Nick Watney. "I don't have the timing down. I've got some work to do on my Happy Gilmore shot, that's for sure." FedExCup winner Bill Haas isn't very good at it, either. "It's tough to do," he says. "I can hit it every now and then, but it doesn't help me hit it any further. I probably can make contact, but it's not going to be good contact." Others, however, became quite adept at it. "I was pretty good at it when I was younger," Blixt adds. So was Carl Pettersson when he tried it on the range. "Never done it in a tournament," he says, adding, "Maybe I should." Technically, it's not illegal to attempt the shot during competition, so there is no penalty stroke. But a rules spokesman for the R&A told CNN in 2012 that the "major concern we do have is regarding whether it fits with the etiquette of the game as defined in the rules. Players must have respect for the course itself and perhaps this shot lends itself to increased likelihood of damage to the course." Of course, if players thought it would give them a significant advantage, they might be prone to at least experiment with it. But not even the most recognizable Happy Gilmore imitator on TOUR is willing to go that far. Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington has become pro golf's poster boy for the swing. His peers are amazed as his consistency in using the run-up tee shot. "He hits it like 15 yards by his normal swing," says Ben Crane. "And he hits it pure." "He does it as a training aid to separate his body," adds Pettersson. "Arms going one way and body going forward. It's actually the correct way to hit a driver." Harrington was featured on a Sport Science video that asked the question of whether a successful Happy Gilmore swing could provide more distance off the tee than the standard golf swing. Using motion capture cameras, Harrington's Happy Gilmore swing was found to generate an addition 4 mph in clubhead speed, as well as increase his shoulder turn for more torque. Meanwhile, the swing plane was nearly identical. His drives averaged 30 more yards than his traditional set-up. But with more distance comes potentially less accuracy if the ball isn't properly struck - and that's why Harrington never plans to use his Happy Gilmore swing in competition. "I don't believe I'd be as accurate," he says during the Sport Science shoot. "Would the gain of 20-30 yards be worth it? I'd like to do it on the golf course but I'm too cautious for that." But he does have advice for anybody who wants to try it? "Don't think too much about it," he says. "Just give it a good hit." We can all agree that Bob Barker punching out Happy Gilmore is the most absurd scene in a movie that has many such moments, right? It starts at the Pepsi Pro-Am, with Barker - playing himself, the legendary host of the game show, The Price Is Right - meeting Happy for the first time as playing partners. " You know, Faldo and I won this thing last year," Barker says to Happy. "I'd like to win this year." As a professional golfer who has played hundreds of pro-am rounds, Lye says that line most sticks with him. "How many times have I heard that on the freakin' first tee," he notes. "Heard it about 100 times." But it's the fight scene that's best remembered, especially since Barker was 72 years old and Sandler just 29 when the movie was released. At one point, Barker threw 11 consecutive punches — mostly left jabs — at Gilmore, who eventually got the upper hand and landed (what he thought) was the ending blow, resulting in the signature line from the movie (which we'll post here with a little family-oriented editing): The price is wrong, b—-! Of course, Barker rises up, grabs Happy by the throat, and gets the last laugh as he punches out Happy and leaves him writhing on the course. "The Bob Barker scene is pretty fantastic," says Brandt Snedeker. "Hell, yes, I've wanted to do that, and I'm sure some guys have wanted to do that to me. "It sets up the pro-am scene pretty well on some weeks." When Lye left the movie set after filming his lone scene - a cocktail party in which he plays himself as a Gold Jacket winner - he asked one of the executives how the movie was going. "It's going to be a classic," was the reply. "How would you know?" asked Lye. "Wait until you see the Bob Barker scene." So when Lye attended the premier in Hollywood 25 years ago, the first person he saw was Bob Barker. He couldn't help but laugh. "It looked like he had died 10 years earlier," Lye said. "He was just a wisp of a man. Wore a spatula full of makeup." Then he saw the fight scene and thought, "Damn, that was pretty good." Barker has said on many occasions that following the release of Happy Gilmore, he never taped an episode of The Price Is Right without being asked about the movie by someone in the audience. He said young men, in particular, ask him: "Did you really whip Adam Sandler?" Barker's stock reply: "Adam Sandler, he couldn't whip Regis Philbin." Perhaps that's what makes Sandler's Happy Gilmore so endearing. He beats up gallery members and fellow competitors, but he wasn't above taking one or two - or 11 - punches on the chin himself from the person you least expect. Of course, what Happy Gilmore does best is whack you over the head with absurd humor. "I was just blown away at the golf inaccuracies that were in there, but also how funny it was and how it brought the attention of Hollywood to the golf world," says three-time TOUR winner Johnson Wagner. "It was cool, but I just remember thinking how horribly inaccurate it was for professional golf." Good thing he didn't see the first few drafts of the script.

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Editor’s Note: Kevin Techakanokboon is in his second full season as a PGA TOUR Series-China player and has played professionally throughout Asia since turning pro in 2015 after playing collegiately at Long Beach State University in California. Techakanokboon was roommates with Malaysia’s Arie Irawan in Sanya, China, when Irawan died in his sleep early Sunday morning, April 7. The American-born player of Thai descent wrote this piece in memory of his friend. When I would room with my good friend Arie Irawan during PGA TOUR Series-China tournaments, one of the things I noticed we both did after our rounds, good or bad, was overanalyze things about our play. Because of that, I would always try to find ways to get us to disconnect once we were off the golf course. We would play a video game, or we might watch TV. We would definitely do stuff to get us to relax and get ready for the next day and not necessarily talk about golf. Last year, we were playing the Zhuhai Championship in Zhuhai, China, the second-to-last tournament of the PGA TOUR Series-China season. The two of us sharing a hotel room to cut down on expenses was our normal pattern when Arie’s wife wasn’t traveling with him. That week, I was playing pretty well, but Arie missed the cut. Friday night, we were back in the room watching “The Office� on Netflix when Arie said, “I’ll come caddie for you tomorrow.� He said it kind of jokingly, so I came back with, “Yeah, sure.� I didn’t use a caddie in the first two rounds, so I could use one. But I honestly didn’t think he was being serious. He then said, “Yeah, I’ll take the first shuttle bus from the hotel to the course, I’ll get my practice in and then I’ll see you on the first tee.� Well, Saturday morning came, and Arie left the hotel to go to the course way before I did. By the time I got there, he found me and said, “I’ll see you in a little bit.� I thought he was going to practice putting or have a little breakfast. But a few minutes later, he comes back from the locker room, and he had changed into shorts, he had his running shoes on and he was at the practice tee ready to go. All he needed was a caddie bib. All right, I thought, I guess we’re doing this. That was the first time Arie Irawan served as my caddie, and what a weekend it was. For my third round I was paired with my close friend Gunn Charoenkul, and Gunn’s girlfriend—now wife—Vichuda, or “Koy� as she’s more commonly known, was caddying for him. Here’s an admission: Since turning professional, I have never really had much success on weekends of tournaments. Now, whether that’s a fatigue issue or mental issue or something else, I really don’t know. For some reason, though, I haven’t played well. That Saturday, with Arie as my caddie, I put a strong round together. I felt very lucky to be paired with Gunn and have Arie carrying my clubs. To be honest, the round didn’t feel like we were playing in a tournament at all. It felt like we were just out there going about our business playing a casual round of golf and joking around all day. Between shots, Arie and I talked a lot, but we didn’t talk about golf. Instead, we joked about something he saw or something I saw. We talked about stuff that would take us away from the golf just enough before we had to get back into it. It was just what I needed. That weekend Arie was definitely a reassuring presence for me. We had played practice rounds together earlier in the week, so we both knew the course pretty well. On hole 4 in Zhuhai, there is a big bridge you can see in the background off the tee. I would look at my line and say, “The fourth pillar on that bridge, OK?� I knew it was OK. I just wanted to hear someone say, “Yeah, it’s perfect.� Arie did that for me so many times during those two rounds. When the third round ended, I didn’t know what position I was in, and instead of going straight to the bus, I went for a little practice. I knew I wasn’t that close to the lead when the day started. I shot a 66, 5-under, but I didn’t think I would close the gap by more than three shots on the leader. When Arie and I got on the bus to go back to the hotel, we checked the scores on my phone and saw I had a three-shot lead. The next-closest score to my 66 was a 69. This was new territory for me. After the second round, Arie and I watched “The Last Samurai� and I ended up playing really well. Saturday night we followed our normal plan of decompression and, being a bit superstitious, we watched it again. It was a relaxing night, and the next day I won my first professional tournament, with Arie Irawan as my caddie. This past Sunday, Arie died in the room we shared. He was sleeping in the bed right next to mine. I’m still trying to process what happened. The coroner said his death was from natural causes. We just don’t know what caused this, and we may never know. What I do know is not having him around is what I’m going to miss the most. We first met in Indonesia when we were both playing the Asian Tour and the Asian Development Tour. We hit it off, but we didn’t spend a ton of time together. It wasn’t until the 2018 season in China that we really started to bond. I remember we played the final round of China Q-School in February 2018 at Mission Hills in Haikou. We were paired together. He didn’t have the best of days. He had just an awful start, but he never stopped trying to claw his way back. On the last 10 holes, he kept inching his way closer and closer to fully exempt status. I think he may have missed getting his full card by a shot, maybe two. We were talking afterward, and he was pretty confident. He kept saying he was going to get his starts, that he was going to play his way into the top 50 on the Order of Merit. That’s the kind of guy he was. No matter how tough times got, he never had it in him to give up. He “got his starts,� he finished 49th last season, and I ended up No. 19, mainly because of my win in Zhuhai. We both kept our cards. One of the many memories that I’ll look back on was our first night in Hong Kong. It was after the final round in Zhuhai, and it was also Ben Lein’s birthday. Ben is a Long Beach State guy as well who had also played in Zhuhai. So, we took the ferry to Hong Kong immediately after the tournament ended and found a street with a bunch of bars and restaurants. We went out to a nice dinner and decided to head out for some drinks afterward. But Arie doesn’t drink. He did, however, stick around for the party because he was so happy for me and so proud of what we had just accomplished. We were sitting there with a few of the guys we spend most of our time: Ben, Matthew Negri and Eugene Wong, and we were all having a great time celebrating the win as well as Ben’s birthday. Arie was texting his wife, Marina, letting her know he was out with the boys but that he wouldn’t stay out too late. Arie knew how to maintain relationships even if he was friends with people who didn’t quite walk along the same path as him. He was great that way, he was never much into judging people and he was always quick to share information or knowledge he had that he thought would help me or whoever else. Arie and Marina shared themselves with us, and I’m so grateful they were such a big part of my life on Tour. Whether it was playing practice rounds with one another or and having dinner together with our group of friends, I’ll never forget the presence both Marina and Arie had on us. Life on Tour is so much more than just the hours that we spend on the course during competition, and it’s those times that we shared that I’ll look back on the most when I remember my friend, Arie Irawan.  I’ve had a flood of emotions since Sunday morning. Nothing really prepares you for something like this. How am I supposed to tell his wife what happened? How am I going to face his parents? There was just so much that I didn’t know how to say and so much that was left unsaid to Arie. But once Marina and Arie’s parents, Ahmad and Jeny, Marina’s sister and Arie’s aunt arrived in Sanya, I had the chance to meet with them. They were all so strong and so calm. You could really feel how much they all love him and miss him. You could see it in their eyes and hear it in their voices. We all did our very best to hold it together and be strong for them in their time of suffering. In the end, it was Ahmad who told those of us who were with them that day to not let what happened with Arie stop us from going out and doing what we needed to do to take care of business. “Don’t stop,� he said to us. “It’s not what Arie would have wanted for you to do. Look back at all of the good times that you shared with Arie and be happy.� I can do that, and I will try to continue doing that. Many of those good times involved us in California. For almost two years, we’ve shared the same swing coach, Dana Dahlquist, in Long Beach. Dana is a really good guy, and we would just try to soak up as much information as we could from listening in on Dana’s lessons. Then we would go out and practice and play together and put into practice the things we learned. I always figured I could be a second set of eyes for Arie out on Tour based on the things I learned while listening in on his lessons. The best part about spending that time in California was I had the chance to show Arie a little of what my world back home is like. Last September, before our final stretch of events in China, I brought Arie to Heartwell Golf Course in Long Beach so he could play in the infamous Heartwell Skins Game, held every Wednesday evening. A typical turnout for the game includes some of my closest friends from junior golf, college teammates, my brother and some of the guys who had been playing at that course since I was about 7. I was able to introduce Arie to all of these friends of mine, and he cleaned up that night. That’s the thing with Arie. There weren’t a lot of guys who he didn’t get along with. Everybody was touched by the guy in some way, and everybody has Arie stories to tell. Today, you talk to people from any of the Tours he played on who knew him well and they will all tell you—every one of them—he was not just another face on the Tour.

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