The post Lexi Thompson’s strategy for staying patient on the course can help your game too appeared first on Golf.

The post Lexi Thompson’s strategy for staying patient on the course can help your game too appeared first on Golf.

Usually, that means they’re feeling confident in the state of their games, and simply waiting for birdie opportunities that they know will eventually befall them.

It’s a state of mind that can be unfamiliar to recreational players. Many of us are simply hanging on for dear life during out rounds, exulting when something good happens to us and doing our best to mitigate the damage on our (many) bad shots.

But being patient is more than simply waiting for birdie opportunities.

Lexi Thompson has had plenty of experience with the art of practicing patience, and her second round at this week’s Dana Open was no exception. She opened with two bogeys on her first six holes, dropping all the way down to four under par.

News

But then, a flurry of birdies: a three-hole run on Nos. 16-18, and two more on Nos. 3 and 5. Her lone bogey on her final 12 holes was on the par-4 4th.

Thanks to her resurgence, Thompson got back in the hunt, only a few shots behind third-round leader Lucy Li.

After her round, Thompson was asked about the key to her patience, and her answer was relevant to not just her own game, but for anyone who is looking to gain more mental control on the course.

“I think we learn something new every single day, and patience is the biggest thing with golf,” she said. “It’ll test you, like today with the start that I had. But you just have to stay in the moment and focus on your pre-shot routine, really visualizing your shots out there. At least for me, that’s what I have to do. And just stay in the moment and not get too flustered, and I think that showed with making those birdies and coming back.”

Of course, Thompson’s advice is easy to say and much harder to put into practice. But her play on Friday is proof that it can help.

So next time you need a lift on the course, try Thompson’s advice and focus on your pre-shot routine and visualization. What works for her could work for you too.

The post Lexi Thompson’s strategy for staying patient on the course can help your game too appeared first on Golf.

The post How good was Lexi Thompson putting? Bubba Watson had to call a rules official. appeared first on Golf.

The post How good was Lexi Thompson putting? Bubba Watson had to call a rules official. appeared first on Golf.

Call in a rules official?

“She made some key putts,” Watson said. “It was funny, we weren’t sure of the rules. She made five putts in a row so I didn’t get to putt for a few holes, so I was like, am I allowed to like putt the same putt, like finish the hole? So I had to ask the rules official because I didn’t putt for a few holes.”

They were good. There’s putting well, there’s putting great, and there’s putting that somebody better call the police, and that’s where Thompson was living in Friday’s scramble format, where both players hit from the same spot throughout the hole (and the putting order is up to the team). In all, the Watson-Thompson team shot a 13-under 59 and are three strokes out of the lead. 

Of course, mention Thompson and putting, and you hear the murmuring. Of Thompson’s struggles on the greens at this year’s U.S. Open, where she coughed up a five-stroke lead in the final round. Or of Thompson’s disaster during the final round of the Pelican Women’s Championship, where she three-putted from 25 feet on 17 and bogeyed, missed a 4-footer on 18 that would have won her the event and lost in a playoff. One of the best ball-strikers in the women’s game, not to mention one of the longest, Thompson can get the ball to the green, but from there, it’s a bit of an effort to get the ball in the hole. 

So she went to work. The week after the Pelican, at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, she revealed that she had brought aboard a new putting coach (though she declined to say whom). Before this week’s QBE, about two and a half weeks after the CME, she told reporters that “I’ve been working extremely hard, especially on my putting and my short game.” Then came Friday, where, with a claw grip and a green glove on her left hand, Thompson had her partner feeling left out on the greens.

On the back nine, she just missed a 40-footer for eagle on 14, rolled in a 7-footer for birdie on 16 and just missed a 60-footer for eagle on 17. 

“She hits so many greens she can’t expect to make everything, but if this part of her game does get better, look out,” analyst Arron Oberholser said on the Golf Channel broadcast.  

Instruction

“Well, I think she’s really made a commitment to the claw,” analyst Karen Stupples said. “I think this is a grip now that she’s going to stick with it. She’s been known for changing quite a bit, but the short putts I’ve seen her make today have been pretty solid.”

Of course, the event is a scramble, where while putting first, Thompson also knew that Watson would putt next if need be. And the QBE is played on the same Tiburon course — and greens — where the LPGA Tour’s CME is held. Still, partners and past performance don’t make putts.   

“I liked what Lexi had to say, though, before the tournament started,” analyst Curt Byrum said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “You know, she’s had some time off since the CME, and she went home, took a few days off and relaxed a little bit. But then she said the last couple weeks, she’s really been in grind mode. She’s been working hard. And especially on her short game and her putting, which, for her, if that gets incrementally better, it’s going to be a good year next year.” 

Golf Magazine

Subscribe To The Magazine

Subscribe

The post How good was Lexi Thompson putting? Bubba Watson had to call a rules official. appeared first on Golf.

The post Tour Confidential: LPGA fireworks, Martin Trainer (?) and Phil does it again appeared first on Golf.

The post Tour Confidential: LPGA fireworks, Martin Trainer (?) and Phil does it again appeared first on Golf.

1. In a wild LPGA finish, world No. 1 Nelly Korda won the Pelican Women’s Championship by birdieing the first playoff hole (eliminating Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko and Sei Young Kim), after much turbulence down the stretch in regulation. What’s the bigger storyline: Korda’s continued excellence, despite a triple-bogey on the 71st hole (it was her fourth win of the year, and fifth counting the Olympics); Lexi’s continued shakiness when in contention (she missed short-ish putts on the last three holes, this coming five months after she was unable to convert a five-shot fourth-round lead at the Women’s U.S. Open); or Lydia Ko’s continued resurgence? (Write-in votes also accepted!)

Michael Bamberger, senior writer: Quite interesting choices! I would say Ko’s resurgence. Korda’s golf is excellent, superior in almost every way, and one poorly-timed triple doesn’t change anything. Lexi smashes her golf ball and short-putts poorly, so there’s nothing new there, really. But finding your game after losing your game is close to impossible. I’m voting for Lydia here.

Josh Sens, senior writer (@JoshSens): If we’re defining ‘bigger’ as ‘most unlikely,’ I’m with Michael. What Ko has done — pulling her game out of a death spiral — is a rare feat, and it’s been great to watch. But Ko has been playing great golf for a good stretch now. Korda has become so dominant, her wins have taken on an air of inevitability. That leaves Lexi’s story as the most notable story, to my mind. And the most relatable. Watching a world-class golf battle demons is compelling, even if it sometimes makes you squirm.

Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow): Good options, indeed. But it’s gotta be Korda. The last time an American women’s golfer won four times in an LPGA season was a decade ago, when Stacy Lewis did it. And Korda even added an Olympic gold for good measure! It’s no secret she’s a special talent, but to see her fully take the reins as the top player in the women’s game has been pretty fun. And I was even more impressed by Korda’s resilience. Lexi struggled to close. Nelly made a triple and then followed it with birdie (to join the playoff) and then another (to win).

Nick Piastowski, senior editor (@nickpia): I’m going with Korda, but more for her finish, as Berhow mentioned. Birdie-birdie to end it — after a triple bogey? That’s something special. That steadfastness is certainly one of the reasons why she has won the way she has this year. But we also can’t ignore that all of these fantastic storylines were relegated to tape delay on Golf Channel. I’m not a TV guy, and I know that there are contractual obligations, but man, you’d figure there’d be some way to squeeze in the biggest names in women’s golf.   

News

2. On the PGA Tour, Martin Trainer started the week at a whopping 2,000-1 odds to win the Houston Open, only to open with back-to-back rounds of 65 and lead on the weekend, before coming up four strokes shy of winner Jason Kokrak, in a tie for fifth. Before this week, Trainer had made just one cut since April. Where does Trainer’s run rank among Tour underdog stories in recent memory?

Bamberger: His career is not at the Jim Herman-level for overall oddness, but it’s close, pretty, pretty close.

Sens: Herman was the first to come to mind. But going back a bit further, was there anyone on the planet who expected Ted Potter Jr. to win at Pebble, with DJ among the gang there with him? Prolly no one other than Potter.

Piastowski: Way up there. It kinda reminds me a little of Matt Gogel, who stared down Tiger at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2002 — at the height of Tiger’s powers — then never won again. Those times when it actually does all come together — or at least the thought of them — are what keep us coming back.

Berhow: He ranked second-to-last in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green last season, yet was 38th in Houston. Also, he made a ton of putts. It’s a great story and fun to see him find it. Golf is a weird game. This one ranks up there among the unexpected and would have been even more so had he won.

3. For the third round in Houston, officials moved up the tees on the dogleg-right, par-4 17th some 75 yards — to 301 yards — giving players the option of either laying up, hitting left of the green or going for it. The setup led to eagles and double bogeys, including a double from leader Matthew Wolff, who was leading at the time and teed off on 17 with a wedge. Would you like to see more drastic tee-altering on Tour to keep players on their toes, or was this a setup step too far?

Bamberger: No, I think it adds to the test, tests another dimension, the player’s mental flexibility. I applaud it. But 301 is too short. That’s a long par-3.

Sens: More strategic decisions, risks and rewards. More better. Anything to break up the monotony of the bomb-and-gouge fest that too many events have become.

Berhow: The best hole in golf is the short par-4. I love this move, and no, 18 holes of it is no good, but for one hole, let’s have a little fun, eh?

Piastowski: Love it, love it, love it. Decision-making — instead of going driver-wedge, like Sens said — and a little carnage are fun theater. 

4. On the PGA Tour Champions, Phil Mickelson won the season finale, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship (and 64-year-old Bernhard Langer won the season-long points race for the sixth time). The win was Mickelson’s fourth in just six Champions starts in 2021. What does Phil’s dominance on the senior circuit tell you about what kind of threat he could still be on the PGA Tour?

News

Bamberger: Not much. It tells you about the nature of the courses they play on the senior tour, compared to the regular tour. No rough, accessible pins. I got religion on this subject years ago, when Langer won a senior event on the eve of the Masters. His play had been dominant. I asked Craig Stadler what his senior play would mean for top-10’ing or whatever at Augusta; was there any relationship between what he had done on a short, simple Florida course and what he might do at Augusta. None whatsoever, said Stadler, in language more colorful than that.

Sens: Apples/oranges. What tells us the kind of threat Phil could still be is the fact that he won the PGA at Kiawah. The senior wins are padding for his bank account.

Berhow: It wasn’t that long ago when Mickelson made pretty clear (many times) that he had no intention to play on the Champions Tour, so to see him do it now and be as successful as he has is pretty cool. I think two things can be true — these setups favor a game like Mickelson’s, and Phil still has plenty of game. As for his PGA Tour prospects, I don’t think it changes much. When a course suits him and he has a good week, he can do special things. It won’t be consistent, but he can still find it.

Piastowski: I agree with all of the above, but winning also builds confidence, and I think Phil’s early success on the Champions played some role in him winning at the PGA. Win a few times, and you begin to think you can conquer the world, and that’s Lefty did at the end of May. 

5. The European Tour announced this week that under a partnership with UAE-based logistics company DP World, it will increase its overall purse money in 2022 to $200 million, or roughly twice as much as players vied for in 2021, with a minimum purse of $2 million for each event. In addition, the tour will be rebranded as the DP World Tour. The cash infusion comes amid an arms race that is raging in pro golf, driven by threats of rival circuits baiting away the game’s best players with huge guaranteed paydays. What do you make of this latest move on the gilded chess board?

News

Bamberger: That when you can spend your money as you please, when you don’t have to be responsible to a board and to shareholders, that $200 million is nothing to get up-and-close with a great tool of capitalism, professional golf.

Sens: That competition shakes things up. And that watching this particular brand of it unfold is a bit like watching Succession — the main characters already have plenty of money, and not all of them are easy to root for.

Berhow: I can’t wait to see what pro golf looks like in three years. It’s the Wild West right now as leagues are trying to gain momentum and bring in big names. So much, or so little, could happen.

Piastowski: It’s great to be a pro golfer right now. But as I’ve mentioned here a few times, it might not be so great to be a fan should the stars get divided among tours. The best events are when the players are there. All of them.  

6. On Tuesday, GOLF will reveal its Top 100 Courses in the World list. Ahead of the announcement, and as the year winds down, what’s the best course you played in 2021 that you had never played before?

Bamberger: Pine Valley, National Golf LInks, the Tillinghast course of the Philadelphia Cricket Club, among others. I have played those three courses many times, in actual fact. But I take the view that every time you play a course, it’s as if you are playing it for the first time, because the course is not precisely the same as it was any other time you were there — and neither are you. Also, I can’t think of a course I played in ’21 that I had never played before. 

Sens: I didn’t get to as many places as I would have liked this past year, but even if I had, I’m not sure any course would have topped Lawsonia Links in Wisconsin. A revived Langford-Moreau design that is going to be even better when they finish the bunker work they’ve got going. Big, dramatic features. Tons of variety. Best of all, it’s public and bargain-priced. It’s a must.

Berhow: I played Pinehurst No. 2 a week ago (or at least 13 holes of it), so that’s a pretty easy pick. I heard the greens were maddening but really didn’t understand just how maddening they were until I was greenside in two on the first hole and made seven. Definitely maddening. Honorable mention: Lawsonia Links (absurd value) and White Bear Yacht Club (superb logo; also great golf course).

Piastowski: I played both Bandon and Sand Valley for the first time this year, and while those both are at the top of the list, I also wanted to mention here a gem I played during the summer. Rock Spring Golf Club in eastern New Jersey was 80 bucks with a cart, had a great restaurant — and is one of only two public courses in the U.S. designed by the famed Seth Raynor. It was really good.  

Golf Magazine

Subscribe To The Magazine

Subscribe

The post Tour Confidential: LPGA fireworks, Martin Trainer (?) and Phil does it again appeared first on Golf.

The post 5 storylines to watch in the final round of the AIG Women’s Open appeared first on Golf.

The post 5 storylines to watch in the final round of the AIG Women’s Open appeared first on Golf.

Nelly Korda chasing the leaders

Nelly Korda started the Women’s Open with a superb round of 67 to hold a share of the lead, but her two rounds since have been a bit flat. She fired rounds of 73 and 70 in Rounds 2 and 3 to stay in contention, but it’s been a far cry from the dominant run she had been on throughout the summer.

The good news for Korda is she’s only three shots back of the lead held by Anna Nordvist and Nanna Koerstz Madsen at nine under. If Korda can put together a solid round ahead of the leaders tomorrow, she can put some serious pressure on the front runners as they navigate the diabolical closing stretch at Carnoustie.

News

A win would be an exclamation point on one of the best seasons we’ve seen in recent memory. Already this year Korda has become the top-ranked player in the world, won her first major and claimed a gold medal. Another major victory would cement 2021 in the record books for Korda as she’d become the first American woman to claim multiple majors in a single season since Juli Inkster accomplished the feat in 1999.

Louise Duncan making a run as an amateur

Louise Duncan is making her major debut this week at the Women’s Open, and thus far, she’s made it a memorable one. The 21-year-old sits T4 through three rounds and is just two shots off the lead heading into the final round.

“To have everyone supporting me and cheering me on, like that is just phenomenal,” Duncan said. “And to be sitting only two shots behind currently, feels great. I can’t wait to get going tomorrow.”

Duncan will play in the third-to-last group tomorrow alongside Madelene Sagstrom as she looks for an unprecedented win in her major championship debut. Will we witness history tomorrow?

Lizette Salas trying to break through

Lizette Salas is the consummate journeywoman, playing for 10 seasons on the LPGA Tour, making four Solheim Cup teams and winning once in her career. But a win in a major championship has always alluded her.

Now playing in her eighth Women’s Open, Salas is in position to make a major championship breakthrough. She’s alone in third after three rounds and just one behind the leaders as she readies to battle through 18 holes on Sunday.

“Ten years out here, I should have some experience in playing in these conditions,” Salas said. “I think that just really fits my game as far as hitting fairways and greens … Everyone has a different game plan and I’m just sticking to mine. I know what my capabilities are and what I can hit and what I can’t hit. I feel pretty good.”

Salas came agonizingly close to winning this championship in 2019, and she finished runner-up to Nelly Korda at the KPMG Women’s PGA earlier this summer. This time, she’ll look to win a big one at last.

Lexi Thompson lurking

Lexi Thompson’s closing nine at the U.S. Women’s Open earlier this summer was difficult to stomach, but so far, she’s shown no ill effects from the collapse as she’s in contention at a major yet again. After rounds of 69-70-70, Thompson is only two back in T4 with a round to play.

“I don’t feel like I have any point to prove. I feel like I’ve done that already in my career,” she said. “Things like the [U.S.] Open happen, but I played some great golf the whole week. I enjoyed every bit of it.”

What a statement it would be to add her second major victory just two months after the disaster at Olympic.

Can the leaders hang on?

Anna Nordvist and Nanna Koerstz Madsen share the 54-hole lead at the Women’s Open, but the big question is if they can hang on for the win. Nordvist has won two major championships in her career, so the pressure should not be a factor for the Swede. But Madsen has never won on the LPGA Tour, let alone in a major championship.

With 17 players within four shots of the lead, the leaders will have little room for missteps on a penal Carnoustie setup. Will they be up for the challenge?

NEWSLETTER

The post 5 storylines to watch in the final round of the AIG Women’s Open appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘We’ve kind of separated ways’: Lexi splits with caddie but contending at Women’s Open with local looper appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘We’ve kind of separated ways’: Lexi splits with caddie but contending at Women’s Open with local looper appeared first on Golf.

Thompson, who is just two off the lead after 36 holes, has local Carnoustie caddie Paul Drummond on the bag this week. Thompson said she is no longer with her regular caddie, Jack Fulghum, so she got in touch with some people at Carnoustie and they connected her with Drummond.

After rounds of 69 and 70, Thompson and Drummond are off to a good start.

“He’s such an amazing person,” Thompson said. “Great personality to have out on the bag. He caddies out here a bunch and is a great player as well. So that’s even better. Just the local knowledge, especially for me, I don’t play over here a ton, only really once a year. So knowing the local knowledge of the golf course, the bounces, where to miss if you need to, it helps out tremendously and makes you a lot more free over certain shots.”

Fulghum last caddied for Thompson at the Olympics in Tokyo, but he struggled with heat exhaustion in the opening round and Thompson used fill-ins for the rest of the week.

“I think he’s doing better right now. That extreme heat, 97 feels like 110. It was probably the hottest that I’ve ever played golf in too,” Thompson said. “It’s definitely worrisome, just having him out there. It was so hot. You couldn’t drink enough water, but he’s doing better now and getting healthier. So all the best for him.”

Asked if he’d be on the bag again, Thompson said, “I think we’ve kind of separated ways for now.”

Thompson sits at five under and two behind co-leaders Mina Harigae and Georgia Hall, with some players still finishing up their second rounds. She has 11 LPGA wins but hasn’t won since June 2019.

“My game’s definitely in a good spot,” Thompson said. “It’s probably the hardest I’ve ever worked on my game, in the mental side as well. I went home five days [after the Olympics]. I forget what day I landed, but I was out the next morning grinding on my game. I probably practiced five to six hours a day out on the golf course for those four or five days and training twice a day. It was just a lot of hard work. That’s how I always am. If I’m struggling, I’m going to be right back out there, just trying to keep on improving on my game. Even when I’m playing well, there’s always something you can improve on. So I was right back out there to it.”

NEWSLETTER

The post ‘We’ve kind of separated ways’: Lexi splits with caddie but contending at Women’s Open with local looper appeared first on Golf.

The post Heat exhaustion and Nelly Korda contending: What you missed overnight at the Olympics appeared first on Golf.

The post Heat exhaustion and Nelly Korda contending: What you missed overnight at the Olympics appeared first on Golf.

It was so hot that Thompson’s caddie Jack Fulghum was forced to bow out after 15 holes due to heat exhaustion. “He just asked me, ‘Do I look white to you?’” Thompson said. “And I’m like, I didn’t really notice, but, he just didn’t look good.”

Fulgham took a seat behind the 15th green after he started feeling unwell. He tried to continue, getting Thompson the yardage to the hole on the 16th tee, but was asked to sit down, where volunteers held ice packs up against his body to help cool him down. Luckily, Team USA manager Donna Wilkins was in the area, so she looped the final three holes. Fulghum received IV treatment onsite and is feeling better, but it’s unclear if he’ll continue throughout the weekend. “It’s so hot out there,” Thompson added. “I’m from Florida and I’m still not used to that bad of heat.”

This comes after Yuka Saso’s caddie Lionel Matichuk was rushed to a local hospital earlier this week with heat stroke. He’s recovering now, but her swing coach has picked up caddie duties for the weekend. To make matters worse, a tropical storm is approaching Japan and could cut the women’s event down to just 54 holes.

The No. 1 player in the world shot 67, the No. 2 player in the world shot 68. Yet the buzzword of the day was electrolytes. Nelly Korda, who shot that 67, said she even felt lightheaded a few times after sticking her tee into the ground. “We were talking, probably drinking a water bottle a hole would probably be sufficient,” she said. “But you get so sick of water. After I’m like, I don’t want to see water, give me some juice.”

Most players these days carry electrolyte tablets or packets they can mix into water on the go. For Thompson, it’s a LivPur packet. I caught up with Team Great Britain’s physio Nigel Tilley behind the 18th green, where he was wisely seated in the shade against a grandstand. “How many of these do you see out there,” he said, holding up his umbrella. “Everyone out there should be walking with one.”

Tilley has been urging Team GB’s players to drink at least one bottle of water every other hole, dumping electrolyte tablets into every other bottle they consume. “We had Tommy [Fleetwood] and Paul [Casey] downing 10 bottles per round,” he said. 

The science behind it is simple. Sweat removes important nutrients from your body that water struggles to replace. Tilley hands out “Hydro tablets” to Team GB players to replenish any sodium, protein or Vitamin B deficiencies they incur over the course of seven or eight hours in the heat. That’s almost surely what hampered Fulghum. Wilkins gave him an electrolyte bottle, she said, and he immediately chugged it. 

3 other things you missed overnight:

The pride of India is BACK

After a rousing first Olympics in 2016, where Aditi Ashok began 68-68 in Rio, she is back to those scoring ways in Japan. Ashok is just one shot back of Medelene Magstrom’s (Sweden) lead after shooting 67 in the first round Wednesday. Representing India once again, Ashok gained more than three shots on the field with her putter alone, adding truth to what course setup manager Kerry Haigh said Tuesday: “If you hit good putts on line, they go in.” Simple as that.

Ashok has her mother caddying for her this week, after her dad caddied for her in 2016. She talked afterward about that experience in Rio, recalling how much her social following “blew up” after her first few rounds. From about 400-500 followers to about 14,000, she said. She became known as the golfing girl who did well at the Olympics to fans back in India. When asked what that social following might jump to if she won gold, she laughed. “Oh, I think it would go to like hundreds of thousands for sure,” she said. “Yeah, it would be really big.” She’s at 22.7k right now.

Title defense off to good start

Inbee Park is also back. The seven-time major winner won gold at the women’s event in 2016 and kicked off her title defense with a two-under 69. She made 11 straight pars in the middle of her round, finishing with a disappointing bogey on 18. Park talked about how much better she’s feeling this week than she was when she won five years ago. She was battling a nagging injury in 2016, and was feeling pressure just to stay in the field.

“My family, my staff and probably the whole of the Korea was worrying that I am not in the best condition,” Park said Monday. “So I think that was kind of the pressure that I was dealing with and to overcome that was really, really hard.” This week, there’s no injury to speak of. Park will get going again Wednesday night at 9:36 ET for viewers in the United States.

Sagstrom up top

Just days after winning the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, her first career senior major, Annika Sorenstam has arrived in Japan. Sweden’s greatest golfer of all-time was there to greet her countrywoman Madelene Sagstrom on the 1st tee. It might be total coincidence, and it might not be, but Sagstrom took the baton from Sorenstam and is leading the women’s Olympic competition after 18 holes.

The 75th-ranked player in the world reached five under through 10 holes and kept her card clean the rest of the way for a 66 and the round of the day. The course has tended to play longer for the females than the men’s competition, and Sagstrom ranks 13th on the LPGA Tour in driving distance. She reached the 5th green today in two — Kasumigaseki’s longest hole — which few other players were able to do. It took everything she had, though. Driver off the tee, then driver off the deck.

“Some holes like that I can take advantage of,” she said. “And just some of these greens coming in with shorter irons helps and also even if you’re in the rough having a short iron in will give you at least, if you can’t get the spin it will at least give you the height of it.”

The post Heat exhaustion and Nelly Korda contending: What you missed overnight at the Olympics appeared first on Golf.

The post LPGA star Lexi Thompson launches new skincare line for athletic lifestyles appeared first on Golf.

The post LPGA star Lexi Thompson launches new skincare line for athletic lifestyles appeared first on Golf.

Style

As we know, golfers spend a lot of time in the sun, so having a quality, affordable product that merges with the lifestyle of athletic, on-the-go women is imperative. All of the products are dermatologist tested and 100% cruelty free, and the company vows to make annual donations to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. 

They have everything from eye cream to facial cleanser to scar gel. Head over to their website to shop the complete collection.

NEWSLETTER

The post LPGA star Lexi Thompson launches new skincare line for athletic lifestyles appeared first on Golf.

The post Tour Confidential: U.S. Women’s Open, Jon Rahm and Covid-19, Brooks-Bryson appeared first on Golf.

The post Tour Confidential: U.S. Women’s Open, Jon Rahm and Covid-19, Brooks-Bryson appeared first on Golf.

1. Nineteen-year-old Yuka Saso of the Philippines defeated Japan’s Nasa Hataoka in a playoff to win the U.S. Women’s Open at the Olympic Club. Saso became not only the youngest Women’s Open winner (joining Inbee Park, who was the same age to the day when she won the U.S. Open in 2008) but also the first Filipino major winner. What most stood out to you about Saso’s performance?

News

Michael Bamberger, senior writer: She held up to the moment. Yes, Lexi had a collapse for the ages, but Saso had to be there to take advantage of it. Usually, you lose before you win. She didn’t. 

Sean Zak, senior editor (@sean_zak): An opening was created for her, and she pounced. Seems emblematic of her game — that she can pounce. She made consecutive doubles to play her way out of it, but she didn’t collapse. She battled back for a hard-fought 73, which she probably would have signed up for at the beginning of the day, too. It’s not about how, it’s about how many.

Alan Bastable, executive editor (@alan_bastable): I was touched by Saso’s post-round interview, when she tearfully thanked her team of supporters and said that she will strive to be better. Better?! She just won her sport’s biggest title — at 19! They’ll be dancing in the streets in Manila. Her humbleness was so charming.    

Dylan Dethier, senior writer (@dylan_dethier): Her second putt on the second hole of the playoff, after she’d rammed the first one some 8-10 feet past the hole. I have never made one of those comebackers in my entire life, but she rammed it in the middle to extend the playoff in the biggest event in the game.

2. For much of the final round, it looked like Lexi Thompson’s day. Thompson had a four-stroke cushion with just eight holes to play, but she let her lead slip away, ultimately missing out on the playoff when she failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker on the 72nd hole. Simple/complex question: What happened?

News

Bamberger: The easy answer would be to say Olympic happened. And Olympic is funky. Hogan and Arnold and Payne Stewart will all tell you that. But Lexi’s game, as great as it is, is out of the smash-and-pitch game. That’s not Olympic. The course and the moment caught up to her, sad to say.

Zak: I think Bamberger is right, but there’s more. The course and moment did catch up to her, but in harsher terms, she got yippy. She got quick. She got caught thinking about the score for the first time Sunday. It all leads to Johnny Miller’s favorite word: nerves. 

Bastable: Lexi said the wind got her, but the putter seemed like the biggest culprit. From the first green, Lexi’s stroke looked shaky — credit to Brandel Chamblee, who noted that Thompson’s first putt of the day was nowhere near the center of her putter face. The closer Lexi got to the hole, the more uncomfortable she looked over the ball. U.S. Open pressure is no joke, even if you’ve been there many times before.

Dethier: A little bit of everything. Drives increasingly found the rough. Approach shots started coming up short. Putts got wobbly. To close out that tournament, in front of that crowd, on that golf course, after a year without fans, was a really tough position. That’s what made it unfortunate to watch.

3. Where does Lexi’s Sunday rank on the major meltdown meter?

Bamberger: South of Greg Norman at the ’96 Masters by a length.

Zak: It’s definitely up there. It all happened on the back nine, and after a par on 10! The final eight holes. With a pair of par-5s in the final three holes. And the 18th that allowed her to play iron off the tee. One mistake begetting the next. It’s pretty high, even if that hurts.

Bastable: Thing is, similar to Norman’s collapse, there was no signature meltdown moment. Sure, there was the double at 11, but, mostly, it was a slow burn paired with some strong play (and surely Lexi heard the roars) from a couple of other players nipping at her heels. Most stunning moment had to be the putt at 18 — that’s an insanely fast putt, which I thought would help ensure that she’d get it the hole. Nope, not even close. Many props to Lexi for keeping her chin up (smiling, laughing even) through what had to be an excruciating couple of hours.

Dethier: I have no data to back this up, but it feels like we’re often accustomed to players with four- or five-shot leads bleeding a couple shots down the stretch, giving the illusion of a close tournament before they ultimately right the ship. Think Phil at the PGA. That’s what I was expecting midway through the back nine. But then the ship never righted. No. 17 was the most surprising — bogey on a birdie hole, especially for long-hitting Lexi. Anyway, I have no idea where it ranks historically. But I’m confident it’s the most painful blown lead I’ve seen since I took this job.

4. The Olympic Club, as it has in so many men’s Opens past, delivered in its debut as a Women’s Open site. How would you assess how the USGA set up the Lake Course for this championship, and are there any takeaways for future U.S. Women’s Opens? 

News

Bamberger: U.S. Open courses, through the years, have been defined by their trees. The Lake Course has trees. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Zak: A tough event where the greens were firm, the rough was long and few scores under par? Sounds exactly like a typical U.S. Open. My real takeaway is major kudos to the USGA for hosting this event here. The first Women’s Open at Olympic. The first Women’s Open at Pebble will take place in two years. About damn time! Ask the best women in the world what they want, and a lot will tell you they want a piece of all the tracks that have hosted the best men in the world. GIVE. THEM. THAT. 

Bastable: Zak nailed it, and I loved how juicy they kept the rough. When Lexi can advance a ball only 40 yards, you know that’s some gnarly spinach. Fairly certain I couldn’t hit the 18th fairway with a large bucket. Come to think of it, the 18th green, too. Fabulous USWO swan song for Mike Davis. 

Dethier: They got creative with the yardages, varied the looks and kept the course tough but reasonable, which meant we saw birdies and doubles aplenty. It went swimmingly! If you’re into par, four under seems like a proper U.S. Open final score. And to Bamberger’s point, Olympic has zero penalty areas, which can make it tricky for viewers to distinguish between holes — but the setup and the broadcast kept it fresh. And the trees.

5. Meanwhile, in Ohio, Patrick Cantlay won the Memorial in a playoff over Collin Morikawa. But the story that dominated the weekend unfolded on Saturday when Jon Rahm was forced to withdraw from the tournament after 54 holes — with a six-stroke lead — after testing positive for Covid-19. Rahm was notified of the test result moments after he walked off the 18th green Saturday. “It’s kind of the worst situation for something like that to happen,” said Patrick Cantlay, Rahm’s playing partner. What did you take away from this surreal episode?

News

Bamberger: Reading the fine print, it would seem that Rahm did not get vaccinated, or was not fully vaccinated (two weeks past second shot, in most cases). Too bad for him. The Covid-19 vaccines are a miracle of modern science.

Zak: My takeaway — thanks to the mentions of a popular tweet — is that there is still a lot of people who don’t know what they don’t know about vaccines, about Covid-19, about the PGA Tour’s rules about vaccines and Covid-19. Perhaps that’s Twitter, but I think it speaks for a lot of non-Twitter users, too. Subscribe to a newspaper and read it.

James Colgan, assistant editor (@jamescolgan26): That we (and the PGA Tour, for that matter) aren’t out of the woods yet! And that’s OK. And also that the Tour’s protocols exist for a reason, and maybe they ought to look at extending them indefinitely for unvaccinated players rather than lapsing them at the end of June.  

Bastable: That this happened more than a year since the PGA Tour restarted is yet one more grim reminder of how this virus turned the world on its head.     

Dethier: There were no winners from this episode. The entire thing was just a huge bummer — for the tournament, for the fans, for the Tour, for Rahm, for our polarized online discourse. I cede the rest of my time to Senator Morikawa, out of California. Here’s what he said:

“People know the risks of not getting vaccinated versus vaccinated.” 

He added this:

“What I was seeing yesterday with how many people were judging Jon for doing this, doing that, like, it’s got to stop. Why are we judging people off that? Jon’s a great guy.”

6. Bryson vs. Brooks took another spicy turn last week. After DeChambeau was taunted by Memorial fans with cries of “Brooksy,” Koepka threw more gas on the fire by releasing a video in which he promised to send beer to any fans who had been ejected. When asked whether all the attention on Bryson and Brooks is good for golf, DeChambeau said, in part, “I’m happy that there’s more conversations about me because of the PIP fund” — aka the Tour’s Player Impact Program, which rewards players for generating engagement on social media. How much of the Bryson-Brooks rivalry do you suspect is being driven by the promise of a payday?

News

Bamberger: None of it. Because we’re the ones driving it, and we’re not getting paid. We’re paying, if anything. Who do you think ultimately banks that PIP fund, those endorsement deals and all the rest? Not Brooksy! Not Bri-Bri! We do.

Zak: I think Koepka seems to be acting differently since the PIP was made public … but we all forget that the PIP has been known to players for much longer. So why now? I think the answer is that he genuinely does not like Bryson, for reasons Bryson shouldn’t necessarily have to answer for. The way he discusses his shots, the way he discusses his game, the sound his cleats make on pavement. Is BDC the most likable dude on Tour? Nope. Is Brooks? Nope. I’m ready for them to put this to bed. 

Colgan: This is a delightfully cynical question. I actually don’t think it’s being driven by a payday — at least not anymore. Bryson was clearly bothered by the taunting he received at Muirfield, and Brooks clearly loved it. Brooks genuinely didn’t love Bryson to begin with. Maybe he’s playing it up a bit for the PIP of it all, but I’m holding out hope my man Jim Herman is going to pull up the rear in those rankings, anyway.

Bastable: It all feels a bit silly and frivolous at this point. When you’re integrating sponsor activations into your smack-talk, it’s probably time to step back and cool the jets. 

Dethier: Brooks is after something far more valuable than money: Clout. Clout has no true dollar value. Except when it does.

Golf Magazine

Subscribe To The Magazine

Subscribe

The post Tour Confidential: U.S. Women’s Open, Jon Rahm and Covid-19, Brooks-Bryson appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Brandel Chamblee sensed Lexi Thompson was going to struggle on Sunday appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Brandel Chamblee sensed Lexi Thompson was going to struggle on Sunday appeared first on Golf.

But that lead, Brandel Chamblee said, might as well have been no shots.  

“I don’t think she could have built a big enough lead to have felt comfortable,” the analyst said on the Golf Channel’s Live From postgame show. 

Thompson, through a back-nine stretch that saw her make three bogeys and one double on her way to a 41, would, in fact, lose all of that lead, and a missed 10-footer on the 18 would keep her out of a playoff. Chamblee said that first putt, the missed eagle, was a preview of the putts to come. Thompson hit it off the toe, and the ball slid past the right edge of the cup. 

News

“She’s got 6 feet away,” Chamblee said on Live From. “Now professional golfers don’t miss the center of the face by a pinhead. Look where she hits this putt on the very 1st hole. Look where this putt comes off the face. She would have missed the center of the putter there by a half an inch. I have never — I have never — seen a professional golfer miss the center of the putter by a wider margin than that. That was at the 1st hole. …

“When you miss a putt, the center of the face, on the first hole of a major championship, the final round, by that much because — look if you miss the middle of the face by this much [gestures], it feels horrible to you. You feel it all the way through your body. You miss it by that much [gestures], you think to yourself, what just happened here? 

“How short does the putt need to be?” analyst Paige Mackenzie said.

“How short does the putt need to be?” Chamblee said. “It needed to be in there. [Chamblee gestures 2 feet.] When I saw that putt, and mind you the scorecard said birdie, but I thought unless she gets an eight-shot lead, nine-shot lead, and her closest competitors fall away, which they did early and I thought, OK, everything is going her way, but they fought back and she shot 41 on the back nine.”

News

Chamblee said Thompson could win “seven, eight, nine times” a year with her game tee to green. Mackenzie said Thompson, who has won 11 times over a nine-year career, could have “a lot more trophies.” 

Then they watch her putt. 

“But when you watch her on the greens, she always looks like she has a rattlesnake in her pocket,” Chamblee said. “And that’s tough to overcome.”

“There were so many good things today, Brandel, and that, I think, is the perplexing part of it, is that her great, is really, really great,” Mackenzie said. “Some of the drives that she hit, some of the iron shots that she hit were tremendous. Sbe has a skill set that other players do not have. But it’s impossible to ignore the deficiency on the putting greens. The standard which we measure her is mediocre. If she has a good putting day, it’s a mediocre putting day.”

Golf Magazine

Subscribe To The Magazine

Subscribe

The post Why Brandel Chamblee sensed Lexi Thompson was going to struggle on Sunday appeared first on Golf.

The post Inside Lexi Thompson’s collapse: How her U.S. Women’s Open lead evaporated appeared first on Golf.

The post Inside Lexi Thompson’s collapse: How her U.S. Women’s Open lead evaporated appeared first on Golf.

“Yeah, of course it’s tough,” she said. “I really didn’t feel like I hit any bad golf shots. That’s what this golf course can do to you, and that’s what I’ve said all week.”

But soon after the questions started, the press conference was brought to an abrupt halt. Thompson’s agent intervened after just two questions and declined to allow his client to speak any further. She was whisked away in a flash, and attention turned to the playoff between Yuka Saso and Nasa Hataoka starting just 100 yards away.

Six hours earlier, Thompson stood on the range and pounded ball after ball looking in total control of her swing. One after another the shiny Titleist practice balls penetrated the Pacific Ocean breeze. At 10:35 a.m., it was go-time.

Thompson walked to the 1st tee with a smile on her face. This new-and-improved version of herself got Thompson into this position, and she brought that attitude to the course on major Sunday.

“I just realized that I needed to change my mindset,” Thompson said after her third round. “It was only hurting me. … The mental side was really getting to me. I was just taking it way too seriously and thinking that Lexi depended on my score.”

She striped her opening tee shot and hit her approach onto the green for a great look at eagle. The putt didn’t go in, but a birdie to start the day never hurts. Thompson smiled as she made her way to the 2nd tee.

However, what many couldn’t see was the quality of the strike on that eagle putt. Brandel Chamblee later minced no words about the stroke.

“Her putt on the first hole, she missed the center of the putter by a half an inch,” the Golf Channel analyst said. “I’ve never seen a professional golfer miss the center of the putter by a wider margin than that.”

Those putting woes would prove to be her undoing later in the afternoon.

The rest of the front nine was rather uneventful for Thompson. She bogeyed No. 2 but bounced back with a birdie at the 5th. She made the turn at eight under for the tournament and was four clear of the field.

The final group made the turn, and Thompson made par at 10. The smile remained on her face. A cheer came from the gallery.

“You got this, Lexi!”

Four-shot lead with eight to play. But with one swing on the 11th tee, things began to unravel. Thompson hooked her drive into the rough and drew a terrible lie. She muscled it up near the green. A chunked chip and three putts later and her lead had been cut in half. Still, the smile remained.

A drone buzzed overhead, and the crowd size swelled. Everyone wanted to be a part of the coronation. Thompson made par at 12 and stepped to the tee at 13. The day before she had blistered a 3-wood onto a downslope and converted for birdie. Sunday was much different.

Perhaps fearing the thicket of trees left of the fairway, Thompson pushed her shot into the right rough. Again, all she could muster was pushing the ball to the front of the green. And again, she left the chip short. Another bogey.

“That’s OK, Lexi, we still love you!”

Pars followed on 15 and 16, but with Nasa Hataoka making her move in the group ahead, the lead was reduced to one. Still, pars at the last two would be enough.

Off the 17th tee, Thompson again pulled her shot into the rough. She pitched out and held a wedge in her hand looking at the green. The ball ballooned into the air and came down 15 yards short of the green. Her par putt never had a chance. Yuka Saso made her second birdie in a row, and there was a three-way tie at the top.

Murmurs went through the crowd.

“Is she really going to blow this?”

“Why can’t she make any putts?”

“What hole do they use for a playoff?”

Thompson fired her tee shot into the fairway on the 18th. Suddenly, fans broke the rope line. For a moment, it felt like we would have a repeat of the PGA Championship with patrons flooding the fairway, but a line of volunteers and a lone police officer wrangled the masses before it got out of hand.

Still, the smile on Thompson’s face remained. She struck her wedge from the fairway and watched helplessly as the ball found the deep bunker fronting the green. The crowd groaned.

She splashed out to 10 feet. It was a must-make to keep her fading title hopes alive. She pulled back the putter, stroked the ball and …

“Flavortown!” a fan yelled.

The ball never had a chance. It stopped two feet short of the hole. All Thompson could do was laugh. The win that had felt like a foregone conclusion hours earlier had been squandered. She walked up the hill to the scoring tent and disappeared inside.

Her second major title will have to wait.

Check out the Pro Shop

Izzo Catch All 12′

$199.99

View Product

Scotty Cameron Phantom X 11.5 Putter

$429.99

View Product

Adidas CodeChaos

$149.99

View Product

The post Inside Lexi Thompson’s collapse: How her U.S. Women’s Open lead evaporated appeared first on Golf.