Zac Blair makes cut after sleepless trip to Puerto Rico Open

For the record, Lanto Griffin is 30 years old and he has never eaten red meat. Well, he did have some pepperoni on a pizza at his hotel in Las Vegas during the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open last year. But that was the only thing on the menu. Griffin has never chowed down on a hamburger or eaten a crispy piece of bacon, though. And as for savoring a thick, juicy ribeye steak, cooked perfectly medium rare? Nope. He’s been tempted, to be sure.  “That’s why I went for pepperoni,â€� Griffin admits. “It looks so good on pizza. But a burger and a steak? A filet looks appetizing, but a burger, to my eye, I’m sure it tastes amazing but it doesn’t do a whole lot for me. “I did eat one bite of steak on New Year’s one year and it was fine. So I might down the road go for a filet or something. But the problem is then I might start wanting it all the time. “So maybe it’s better just to hold off.â€� Griffin’s brother and sister, Mitra and Allian, don’t eat red meat, either. Their parents, Julie and Michael, were “big hippies and very healthy,â€� he explains. His father, who died when Griffin was 12, ran a health food store and his mom tended to her organic garden. “I wouldn’t call her a tree-hugger but she’s very conscious of the recycling and growing the garden and all that stuff,â€� he says. Griffin, who recently completed his rookie year on the PGA TOUR, remembers his mom adding chicken and fish to his diet when he was 12 or 13. So what did Griffin eat before he became a teenager? “Tofu and a bunch of stuff nobody would want to eat,â€� Griffin said, chuckling. “We ate a lot out of my mom’s garden. So at least I was lucky to learn that from a young age and now I know what is healthy and what’s not healthy. But I’ve started to cheat a little bit once I got to make my own decisions.â€� Griffin says one of his mother’s specialties was Mexican pizzas — tortillas with refried beans, cheese, pineapple,  black olives and hot sauce. “I still make that now,â€� he says. “That was really good. We’d eat a lot of salad. We were fine. It wasn’t like we were malnourished or anything. We just stayed away from the red meat.â€� When he’s home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Griffin likes to cook salmon, tuna and buffalo chicken, the spicier the better — “hot sauce on everything,â€� he says. But as a kid who didn’t eat meat, now that was a source of amazement to his buddies. “My best friend growing up would always be eating cheeseburger, and say, hey man, it’s really good, you should have a bite of it,â€� Griffin recalls. “But it you’ve never eaten something you don’t really miss it. “Just like smoking a cigarette. I’ve never smoked a cigarette so if you’ve never done it, you don’t really know what it’s like so you can’t miss it.â€� Griffin was born in California but moved to Blacksburg, Virginia, when he was 4-years old. He learned to play golf at a 2,700-yard nine hole course called “The Hillâ€� where he used to play 45 holes a day for just $9. “It definitely wasn’t the country club kid growing up with wealthy parents but I wouldn’t change it for the world,â€� says Griffin, who played collegiately at Virginia Commonwealth. He says he always knew his parents were a little different from his friends’ folks – and it wasn’t just because they were so health conscious. They also meditated and practiced muscle testing, or applied kinesiology, that is based on the belief that muscles are linked to different organs and glands in the body. “Personality wise, they’re not different,â€� Griffin says. “It’s more their beliefs. So all my friends were welcome. They always had a great time. They loved us to death so we had a great childhood. “It wasn’t like we were going out on the weekends and meditating in the woods. We were playing soccer, baseball — I got to do everything I wanted to do. It’s just when they came to the house we weren’t eating cheeseburgers and soda. We were eating popcorn and lemonade.â€� Of course, then there’s also the matter of his name. Griffin was named after Lord Lanto, who is an ancient ascended spiritual master. “My dad was meditating when it came to him,â€� Griffin says. “Lord Lanto for some reason, I have no idea, maybe he read something? I know. It’s crazy I’ve never heard of anybody named it, first or last name. “They were just very, I guess, spiritual. We weren’t super-religious growing up. It was more of a spiritual, you know, live off the earth-type, harmony. It’s hard to explain. They’re just good people.â€� Who didn’t happen to eat red meat.

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – There will be no glitzy ceremony. Jarrod Lyle wouldn’t have wanted that. Instead, the 73 players who made the cut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open will quietly (sort of) pass by a makeshift tribute to Lyle on the normally rowdy 16th tee at TPC Scottsdale on Saturday. Lyle’s death last summer at 36 after a long battle with leukemia devastated the Australian golf community and others. For ballast and cheering up, they watched a video of his ace on 16 in the third round of the 2011 WMPO, a career highlight that seldom fails to bring a smile to anyone who sees it. “When Jarrod passed, I just watched that video of him making the hole-in-one over and over again, like a lot of us did,� said WMPO Tournament Chairman Chance Cozby. “It just got me thinking about it and saying, OK, what can we do for Jarrod?� Cozby, who in his day job handles player contracts for PING, called his friends at Titleist, who in short order sent a replica of Lyle’s golf bag with his clubs, including the 8-iron he used for the hole-in-one. Atop the bag would rest his signature yellow hat. Next to all that would be a temporary memorial marker: a yellow disc with the Australian flag and an inscription in memory of Lyle, and his most memorable shot. The Thunderbirds, who run the tournament, set up the temporary memorial under cool, cloudy skies Saturday morning. “We just wanted something for the guys who come through today,� Cozby said. “They can give it a little pat and remember Jarrod, and that this is just a game they’re playing.� A big man with a matching sense of fun and mischief, Lyle was first diagnosed at 17. He fought through it and later turned pro, winning twice on the Web.com Tour and eventually reaching the pinnacle, the PGA TOUR. When the cancer came back, he beat it again. Finally, after it had returned a third time, his body had no more fight. Lyle died during the PGA Championship in August, the news hitting players and others hard. Rickie Fowler, the leader at this week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, was especially close to Lyle. They had recently spoken by phone to say goodbye, and Fowler wore yellow at the PGA at Bellerive to honor his friend. Others pinned yellow ribbons to their hats. Greg Chalmers tweeted, in part, “It is through a river of tears I say goodbye to my friend Jarrod Lyle.� That sentiment was shared far and wide. Lyle left behind his wife, Briony, and two daughters, Lusi and Jemma, and players contributed financially in addition to offering their condolences. “Thanks for your support, it meant the world,� Lyle said in his final message, shared by his wife after his death. “My time was short, but if I’ve helped people think and act on behalf of those families who suffer through cancer, hopefully it wasn’t wasted.� The final threesome of Fowler, Justin Thomas and Branden Grace are expected to come through 16 sometime around 2 p.m. local time, 4 p.m. ET. It will be loud and crazy, it always is, but also poignant as players remember big, happy Jarrod Lyle hitting the shot of his life.

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The PGA TOUR shifts from Maui to Oahu this week, and while the state may be the same, the island change calls for a dramatically different style of golf. Gone are the sweeping elevation changes of Kapalua and in comes the flatter, European and Hamptons-inspired Waialae Country Club, home of the Sony Open in Hawaii. Waialae pre-dates Hawaiian statehood, was featured in a popular 1960s comedy flick, and has been part of the PGA TOUR schedule since 1965. That’s a lot of tournament film to study, but Waialae still packs a few new punches every January. 1. It pays tribute to legendary courses When golf course architect Seth Raynor and his then-associate Charles Banks crafted Waialae in the early part of the 20th century, they looked to some of the famous courses of the day for inspiration. Raynor designed the first hole, now a 488-yard par 4, with the “Road Hole” from the Old Course at St Andrews in mind. Like the 17th hole in Scotland, the first hole in Hawaii demands an approach shot into a shallow green with a deep bunker guarding in front. No. 7 at Waialae is a sibling of No. 6 at National Golf Links of America in Southampton, New York, one of the trademark courses of Charles B. Macdonald, Raynor’s mentor. Both par 3s play short – the back tees at National Golf Links stretch to 141 yards and the Sony Open hole reaches 162 yards – but both provide a layer of bunker troubles in front of a wide green. Raynor originally surrounded the entire green with sand as a further tribute to Macdonald, but today it’s only in the front. Waialae’s par-3 17th hole employs a “redan-style” green that was recently restored to Raynor’s original vision with a large bunker on the left and four smaller bunkers to the right of the green. Macdonald and Raynor were important figures in establishing the redan concept in the U.S., bringing it over from its origin at North Berwick Golf Club in Scotland. The par-3 fourth hole at Waialae, with its 55-yard green including a deep swale running across the middle, is said to take its shape from the Biarritz Golf Club in France. Unfortunately for Raynor, he never saw the full fruit of his labors, as he passed away in January 1926, one year before Waialae officially opened. 2. The front and back nines are flipped Hawaiian golf is primetime golf in the contiguous United States. And to make sure fans see the most picturesque views of Oahu as they watch the late-night action, the Sony Open swaps the front and back nine for tournament play. There are two notable reasons for the change. First of all, aesthetics: The back nine holes (front nine for members) best highlight the beauty of the Hawaiian sun setting in the west. Second, this affords the opportunity to use the par-5 dogleg left 18th hole (ninth hole for members) as a dramatic finishing hole. While the 18th only played 546 yards in 2021, a series of bunkers at the dogleg require a precise tee shot to set up a feasible second shot into the green. Last year, Kevin Na put his second shot through the green on 18 before getting up and down for birdie and a one-shot win. In 1983, Isao Aoki holed out for eagle from 128 yards to become the first Japanese player to win on the PGA TOUR. No matter what the contenders do on 18, it’s almost always entertaining. 3. It’s a mad, mad ‘W’ The most iconic feature of Waialae is the “W” formed by four coconut trees behind the 16th green. This formation is on purpose, and while it has only been around since 2010, its history goes back more than 50 years. In 1963 – two years before the debut of the Sony Open – Stanley Kramer’s “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” debuted in theaters, and it featured one of Hollywood’s all-time star-studded casts with Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle and Sid Caesar, among others. The film’s plot revolved around a group of individuals racing to uncover $350,000 hidden under a W-shaped tree in the fictional California city of Santa Rosita. Waialae member Ethan Abbott estimated he was around 9 or 10 years old when he originally saw the movie. His boyish enthusiasm about the film never left him, and as an adult in the 2000s, he started lobbying the course to create its own W. After some initial pushback, Waialae relocated four trees from the hundreds on the course, planting them behind the No. 7 green for members. The entire alteration cost $3,500 and came from a gift already earmarked for a project on the course. While the trees are tricked into thinking they are growing straight, they now form one of golf’s iconic images, with the “W” appearing on Waialae merchandise and earning the club a series of national landscape awards. Weddings have even become common at the “W,” a prime photo opp spot for golf enthusiasts. But did Abbott hide any cash under the trees? That remains unknown. 4. Justin Thomas has the course record In 2017, Justin Thomas arrived at Waialae directly from a victory at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. He backed that up with an opening-round 59 at Oahu, a new course record, surpassing Davis Love III’s 60 in 1994. Thomas started on the back and book-ended his round with eagles on No. 10 and No. 9. At age 23, Thomas became the youngest player to ever shoot a sub-60 round. Along with the 18-hole record, Thomas proceeded to set the 36-hole, 54-hole and tournament records at the Sony Open, finishing at 27-under 253 to beat Justin Rose by seven strokes. The Sony Open was Thomas’ third of five wins en route to his 2016-17 FedExCup title. 5. It’s a flat track The Sentry Tournament of Champions field climbs as high as 510 feet above sea level at the Plantation Course at Kapalua. At Waialae, players can leave their hiking boots back at the hotel. The Oahu course has an elevation change of roughly 10 feet. While Waialae includes features unique to Hawaii – coconut, monkey pod and kiawe trees, along with Pacific Ocean views – water hazards are minimal and 83 bunkers span the grounds. Breezes can play a factor, but after the mountains and unexpected winds of Kapalua, Waialae presents a more subdued atmosphere. The last three Sony Open champions are Kevin Na, Cameron Smith and Matt Kuchar, which suggests ball-striking and putting are more important than distance on this classic course.

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