Author: ed5lokitor

Categories
Golf tournaments My Blog

Tiger Woods felt great eagerness to take part in the PGA Championship

Appearing at TPC Harding Park from 2/8, “Super Tiger” seems anxious before the opportunity to set a record of 83 titles at the PGA Tour.
Due to Covid-19, the PGA Championship from August 6 to August 9 will became the first major event in 2020. If winning this prize, Woods will break the top 82 titles at this present being shared with the legendary Sam Snead and he will own 16 major.
In preparation for conquering new milestones, Woods went to TPC Harding Park since Sunday morning last week. This was Woods’s first visit to the pitch after the 2009 Presidents Cup. It took him several hours to get inside the pitch because he waited for the nCoV test results. Accompanied the American superstar was caddie Joe LaCava and Rob McNamara – backup advisor and Vice President of Tiger Woods Ventures Group.
Early in the afternoon of the same day, Woods began to inspect the battlefield, but he went back from the second half to the first half of the field. In the second half of the round, Woods joined the team with Jason Dufner – the PGA Championship 2013. During the round, he repeatedly handled the ball situation, focused on the green, and felt relaxed. Scoring 18 holes is also a rare thing to take place because, throughout the year, Woods often failed to play the entire round of the field and cut events in his personal schedule.
Although the PGA Tour reopened on June 11 and has gone through nine stages, Woods has only played four rounds, all at Memorial from July 16-19. He complained this was because of his back hurts after 36 pits, then he finishes the T40 with a score of +6 and self-assesses his normal condition. It has also been Woods’ only debut since mid-February.

Categories
Golfers

Koepka occupies the first-ranked position of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational’s list

US champion Brooks Koepka scored nine birdies in the opening stage of the PGA Tour event with a $ 10.5 million prize fund in Memphis.

On July 30th, Koepka hit 62 strokes on TPC Southwind, par 70 with the only bogey in the scoreboard of hole 7 par 4. This is the second time this golfer has successfully approached 18 holes in the PGA Tour. He firstly hit 62 sticks at Shriners Hospitals for Children Open 2016.

Taking part in the TPC Southwind in the windy weather, Koepka delivered an average of 315 yards, won the fairway with the percentage of 57%, and hit the green rate with the percentage of 78%. He hit the ball into the outer hole 4.5 meters.
It was a good start for Koepka, who has been struggled to regain his performances’ quality and had to defend the title at TPC Southwind this week, major PGA Championship next week. Since the beginning of the season, he has taken part in 10 tournaments but only got in the top 10 once and four times without elimination, the latest was at 3M Open last week. At the age of 30, Koepka owns up to four major of the seven PGA Tour titles, who holds the top title of the world rankings (OWGR) for 47 weeks and has a history of serious injuries to his left knee.

“I’m not struggling today on the pitch. It’s different in comparison to the previous time” Koepka said.

Rickie Fowler and Brendon Todd in group T2 scored -6. Fowler collected seven birdies after 17 holes, including the ball chip into the 8 hole penultimate ring from 9.1 meters. This phase helped him to stay on top of the table when there was only one match left.

Categories
Golf tournaments

LPGA Tour detected nCoV before the rematch

Gaby Lopez who currently ranked 44th in the world is the first Covid-19 positive case in the return process of the US women’s golf system – LPGA Tour.
Lopez was found to be infected with nCoV during a test on July 27, before her incoming participation in the Inverness to play Drive On Championship on July 31.
The Mexican Golfer has withdrawn from the tournament and had to isolate himself, and the organizers are trying to make contact with all the people who used to contact her.
“According to the LPGA Tour’s Covid-19 test procedure, I was notified of a positive result and had to leave Drive On Championship this week. Now I have very mild symptoms, but I am still strong and is quarantining myself. It’s safe for everyone at the tournament and I am looking forward to coming back, “Lopez wrote on Twitter today.
“I’m eager to play again after a long vacation but then I’m disappointed and have to wait a while longer. Still, I’m happy to receive results just in time because there will cause no risk to everyone. I’m on my own isolation, and will comply with the epidemic prevention guidelines to be able to play safely soon.”, the golfer who was born in 1993 said.
According to the LPGA Tour procedure, Lopez must isolate herself at least 10 days. She will then be given a saliva test on day 10 and a medical evaluation. If the result is negative, Lopez reserves the right to return to the tournament.
Having been on the LPGA Tour since 2016, Lopez won the Blue Bay LPGA 2018 and Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions 2020. She is ranked 44th in the world rankings – Rolex Rankings.

Categories
Golfers

List out 5 professional golfers standing out with a spectacular HIO shot at the PGA Tour

After 94 years in the Open category, the Genesis Invitational has been recognized as one of the PGA Tour’s official events with many innovations. With the original name “Los Angeles Open” durring the first period in 1926, the tournament underwent many name adjustments because of the change in name sponsors.


This year, the Genesis Invitational will take place its 58th season on the Riviera, par71, co-chaired by Tiger Woods and his TGR organization.
The Genesis Invitational bounty fund in 2020 will reach USD 9.3 million, which increases nearly USD 2 million in comparison to previous years. Aside from the trophy and $ 1,675 million, this year’s champions will receive a special slot for the PGA Tour during the next three years, instead of the usual two years.
Yesterday, 5 most impressive golfers were awarded by PGA Tour with spectacular HIO hits at The Genesis Invitational for this past week.
The first is Justin Rose, an English professional golfer who plays most of his golf career on the PGA Tour, but still maintains his membership in the European Tournament.
The second is Tiger Woods, an American professional golfer, rated as one of the most successful golfers of all time. Next is American professional Bryson Dechambeau who now plays on the PGA Tour.
Brooks Koeoka is equally good with spectacular plays.
Finally, Rory Mciroy, a professional Northern Ireland golfer, it was a pity for him when the ball was almost at the hole.

Categories
Golfers

DeChambeau has been criticized for being detrimental to golf

Royal & Ancient CEO (R&A) Martin Slumbers was taken aback, however showed his disapproval towards Bryson DeChambeau’s practicing distance kicking at the PGA Tour.

“I was hypnotized by Bryson. I’m not sure I can remember any athletes who could impressively change their body shapes as quickly as Bryson. Bryson is a special case. Despite the fact that he was not the one who gain more muscles to competing in different golf rounds, he is extraordinary in his physical strength and ability to control the ball with the new body shape.”, the top executive of R&A told Sportsmail on 13/7. R&A and the American Golf Association (USGA) together manage and develop the world of golf.

After a long break due to Covid-19, DeChambeau re-appeared just at the same time PGA Tour reopened on June 11. This golfer underwent great fitness training to gain muscles and 10 kg, which turned his weight into 108 kg with a height of 1.85 meters. Thanks to this body size, he can reach now the ball which speeds up to 305 km per hour and often hits the 350-yard milestone when using the driver sticks.

With an average distance of 323 yards, DeChambeau is now the CEO of the PGA Tour in terms of ball-kicking which brought back positive results. During the five closed events since the opening, DeChambeau attended four and finished in the top 8, became the champion of Rocket Mortgage Classic on July 5th. He didn’t attend the Workday Charity Open last week.
However Slumbers did not approve of the way that DeChambeau has kicked the ball recently. “I still believe that golf is a sport requiring special skills. And we need to balance it with technology in this subject,” the CEO of R&A said.

Categories
Golfers

Tiger Woods made a comeback in Memorial

Tiger Woods recently confirmed to take part in Memorial – a PGA Tour event being held on the Muirfield Village stadium next week – after 5 months staying at home to recover due to Covid-19.

“I am waiting to make a comeback in the next week. I remember the feeling of competing and taking part in different golfcourses. I am feeling greatly eager for the comeback this time.” Woods wrote it on Twitter on the 9th of July. At this period, this golfer is ranked 14th on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) and the schedule of making a comeback for him only focus on the one and only destination.

Memorial was also the first destination where Woods made his first debut in PGA Tour since he became the host as well as player for Genesis Invitational in this year’s February. Since then, he claimed to suffer from back pain, therefore withdrew from big tournaments such as the WGC-Mexico Championship, Arnold Palmer Invitational and the main event The Players Championship and then on the “Force Majeure Holiday” due to Covid-19 which literally put an end to the PGA Tour..

During his absence from competitions, Woods used to play golf at The Match during its second season in May, but it was a special play in which Tiger took part in to raise funds with the viewing to helping victims of the pandemic. It was until PGA Tour reopened on the 11th of June did Woods keep on ignoring his peers in the fifth stage – the Workday Charity Open in Muirfield Village. This is also the Memorial Stadium which is hosted by the great Jack Nicklaus. The tournament will be kicked off on July 16 and must follow all of the strict “Health and Safety” rules of the PGA Tour. According to the epidemic’s regulation, Woods will have to undergo different tests before he left for Ohio and then have to undergo a screening before entering Muirfield Village.

Categories
Golf tournaments

American Golf suffers from hard damage due to Covid-19

The pandemic has made the American golf field lose 20 million each play just during the period of 2 months, according to the latest report of the National Golf Foundation (NGF).

NGF is a highly recognized golf specialized research organization in the US. This agency estimates the number of rounds that American golf has lost from March to April to be equivalently one billion dollars. This is also the loss of American golf revenue during the peak period of the epidemic, not including events, cuisine, and retail of specialized products.

Before the crisis, NGF recorded the number of golf rounds to undergo the double-digit growth during the first and second months of February. However, due to the negative effects of the pandemic made on the whole world and its consequences for the socio-economy in the US this ratio – in comparison to the same period in last year decreased by 9% in March, 42% in April and 16% for the whole industry.

According to NGF statistics in 2019, the US has 16,383 golf courses in total and more than 50% of them were closed in almost April. However, by the beginning of May, American golf began to prosper again, with 79% of golf rounds have been re-opened. As of June 7, this rate is 98%, 6% higher than the retail segment of golf courses.

In addition, NGF has also collected various opinions from the golf community in the current issue of playing golf in a “new normal” condition despite the fact that many places still recommend “social distance”. The results showed that more than 50% of the participants felt comfortable to maintain a distance of one meter or less with people around them.

Categories
Golfers

Koepka withdraws from Travelers Championship

Brooks Koepka together with the other 3 golfers decided to withdraw from the competition list after PGA Tour announced that there were 2 more caddies who were tested to be positive to Covid-19 before the event taking place in Connecticut.

Two caddies being tested positive to nCoV are Ken Comboy and Ricky Elliott. Comboy is the assistant, however, did not turn up on the TPC River Highlands golf course with golfer Graeme McDowell as he soon suspected himself to be Covid-9 positive and was given the final result at the beginning of the week. Comboy guessed that he had been infected after the commercial flight full of people to Orlando. After that, both of them went on the same car and stayed together in the same hotel room throughout the period of solving each other’s issues.

Elliott surpassed the medical testing and checking round before stepping into the golfcourse, then accompanied Brooks Koepka during the rehearsal round taking place on the 23th of June. In this rehearsal, there are McDowell, Koepka together with Chase’s brother and Shane Lowry. Afther the second test, all of them were announced to be Covid-19 negative, except from Elliott.

What happened has drawn 4 golfers to the final decision to withdraw from the tournament, before the opening round of Travelers Championship this year.

“Even though being tested negative, I still considered this issue as a serious one. I do not want to make bad effect on the health of other people and will cease competing during the next 2 weeks. The most reasonable thing to do at this time is to go home and support caddie Ricky.” Koepka said about his decision to leave Travelers Championship. Chase’s brother and McDowell also had the same reason while Simpson withdrawed not because of the recent situation. “During the last 24 hours, I had one of my family member test infected, I had the responsibility to take care of my family and keep all of my closest safe by withdrawing from the tournament.”

Categories
Golf courses

CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE GIVES NO PERMISSION TO OFFLINE SPECTATORS

Charles Schwab Challenge 2020 will be the first event which is tailored by the most top-notch competing list throughout the history of being held since 1946. However, to practice all the measures and rules for prohibiting the large spread of Covid-19, the tournament will give no permission to the spectators for coming to the competing golf course.

According to the latest announcement from the The Organization Department, Charles Schwab Challenge will take place from the 11th of June to the 14th of June on the Colonial golf course in Fortworth, Texas. 

Throughout some previous seasons, there have been very few golfers who are well-known in the golf field chose this tournament to compete. However, to all the negative effects that Covid-19 has made on different aspects of life recently, everything in Texas will be differentiated. It is expected that in this year’s season, there will be 144 golfers who take part in as competitors in the challenge, among all of them there will be 30 golfers who are in Top 50 best golfers of the world.

The golf raking expert of Golf Channel, Alan Robiston revealed that based on some commitment made during this year season (including the top 1 worldwide player Rory Mcllroy, the top 3 Brooks Koepka, the 5th-ranked Dustin Johnson and the 7th-ranked Patrick Reed), Charles Schwab Challenge will gain the total point of 560 and 66 points will be spared for the winner. 

The one and only bad news for this year’s tournament is that there will be no spectators on golf course. Even though previously, in the 28th of May, Ms Greg Abbott – The governor of Texas gave out the indication of allowing spectators coming to the outside sports events (not over 25% of the revenue’s capacity). However, Schwab Challenge Organization Department still keep their behind-the-door competing plan unchanged. 

Categories
Golfers

Justin Rose sponsors the professional female golf tournament

The England golfer couple will be the sponsors of the events within Ladies Series taking place in the area of England from the 18th, June until the end of July.

Justin Rose Ladies Series includes 7 different rounds with the total rewarding prize of up to 44.000 USD, each round only lasts within 1 day. All the events and plays will prohibit all the spectators coming to the coure and will be lively streamed on the Sky Sports.

The list includes different destinations, Royal St George’s course is one of them, which used to be chosen to be the revenue for helding major Open Championship, however was cancelled later due to Covid-19. All the courses that were chosen to held Open Championship are now offering service for organizing gofl free. The tournament will be kicked off in Brokenhurst Manor Golf Club in the 18th, June.

“On this well, I will have the chance to rematch, however, it is impossible for female and young golfers. It is sad to see that Ladies European Tour (LET) has been badly affected and has yet to be organized again. To me, this is totally unfair.” Rose said on the Telegraph on the 7th of June.

One week before this annoucement, this newspaper wrote post about an open female golf tournament on the Brokenhurst Manor course. However, this event does not have any sponsors as well as media partners.

“Both Kate and me thought that is is the gold chance for use to lend our peers a hand. The prize will be modest, however, female golfers only need to pay the fee for taking part in the trophy competition. We want to offer hem a chance to meet, compete and feel ready for the comeback of LET.”, Rose said about his decision to support the professional female golfing community financially.

Evian Championship will be held from the 6th to the 9th of August, which is the first tournament on the present schedule of LET.