Topgolfgears Morning 9: John Daly Rd. 1 Euro Tour leader | The Song of BK & DJ | Island Green

By Top Golf Gears On Aug 28, 2018

August 24, 2018

Good Friday morning, golf fans.

GolfWRX Morning 9: John Daly Rd. 1 Euro Tour leader | The Song of BK & DJ | Island Green

1. Long John!

While he’s since put it in reverse (+2 through 14 on his second round, at the time of this writing), 52-year-old John Daly fired an 8-under 64 to open the D+D Real Czech Masters.

ESPN report…”American Daly, a former British Open and U.S. PGA champion who has failed to make the cut in a major since 2012, started strongly at the Albatross Golf Resort with birdies on his first three holes before adding two more to turn in five under.”

“The 52-year-old, nicknamed “Long John”, birdied three more times on the back nine to equal the course record, showing that his booming drive is still a powerful weapon.”

2. No. 1 & No. 2 start strong in “anonymity”

Golf Digest’s Joel Beall…”Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka turned in a pair of 67s to sit one shot off the early lead in the first round of The Northern Trust.”

“The Nos. 1 and 2 ranked players in the world, with Justin Thomas rounding out the threesome, played in relatively anonymity. There were crowds, sure, although most were sprinting ahead to see the next shot of Woods rather than the ones about to be played. But Tiger failed to muster much of merit, sluggish in his even-par 71, while golf’s Bash Brothers provided their share of impressive shots.”

“Better yet, in dissonant fashion. Although Johnson paced the early wave with seven birdies, and Koepka posting five red figures of his own, they broke par together on just one hole (the par-5 13th).”

3. More on BK & DJ

The No. 1, No. 2 pairing inspired Rex Hoggard to pick up his pen… He writes, “The much-talked-about exhibition between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson later this year in Las Vegas may be generating headlines and interest, but from a purely competitive standpoint there’s not a better title bout in the game at the moment than Johnson and Koepka.”

“There’s the obvious drama created when the world’s top two players go head-to-head, along with the added intrigue of Koepka possibly unseating DJ in the world math this week. There’s also an interesting sidebar over the upcoming PGA Tour Player of the Year voting, although two majors certainly gives Koepka the upper hand in that match.”

“But it’s the duo’s unique relationship that creates the most compelling narrative….When they aren’t pounding drives ridiculous distances and winning Tour events – they’ve won a combined five times this season – Johnson and Koepka can normally be found working out together at the Joey D Performance Center in Jupiter, Fla.”
“There’s no bitterness or jealousy, simply an organic competition that drives both players….”In the gym, obviously working a little bit harder, trying to out-train him and he’s trying to out-train me, and on the golf course, I’m trying to out-perform him and he’s trying to do the same thing,” Koepka said…. “It’s been good for the both of us, so hopefully it continues for the next however many years.”

4. Ryder Cup dinner

No word on the menu, but Captain Jim Furyk broke bread with a few members of the team in New Jersey, Tuesday.

“I’m excited to go play a Ryder Cup over there [Europe], I remember in ’14 it being so crazy and honestly that kind of pressure that you feel every single hole really helped me in ’15 when I got in similar situations in major championships,” Jordan Spieth said. “It was another dinner with a great group of guys.”

5. Woods in neutral

Tiger Woods opened the Northern Trust with an even-par 71, rarely looking at an approach shot he felt comfortable over.

AP Report…”Professional golfers will tell you they had a “perfect number” to the flagstick after knocking an approach shot close, the yardage to said flagstick fitting precisely to the club in hand.”

“That cherished pre-shot data triggers confidence and trumps caution, allowing players to attack rather than protect, to swing fully and freely instead of trying to manipulate the distance with less than a full swing.”

“Tiger Woods received no such numbers at soggy Ridgewood Country Club in Thursday’s first round of the Northern Trust, the first leg of the FedExCup. With players allowed to lift, clean and place their ball in the fairway because of the damp conditions, Woods still was unable to control the flight and distance of his shots into the greens.”

“Just didn’t have the situations where I had the full club and I could go ahead and take a rip at it and start being aggressive and going after these flags,” said Woods, who is 20th in the FedExCup standings. “I kept having to play a little defensive because I was taking more club, trying to shape it and take spin off. Just one of those days.”

6. Why your practice swing doesn’t translate

Ah, one of golf’s eternal mysteries! Tim Mitchell explores why your “perfect” practice swing often doesn’t translate when you actually step up to the ball.

In short, Mitchell says your practice swing probably isn’t so perfect, and it may be a good indicator of the root flaw in your golf swing. “Look at what your club face is doing at impact. Study where the bottom of your swing arc is. Is the bottom of your arc where you want it to be when you’re taking practice swings? Are you taking practice swings starting where your ball position would be for the given shot? Look how you deliver your golf club. Is it on your desired swing path? Is it with your desired angle of attack? Study these components to ensure that your practice swing has an opportunity to perform more efficiently, and ultimately replicate your real swing.”

“The moral of this story: there are always reasons why your perfect practice swing doesn’t show up when you’re trying to execute your real swing, including the pressure to actually perform! But, if you fix the root cause of your swing and actually use a practice swing that works for the shot you want to hit, then you can replicate your practice swing and hit better shots, even under pressure.”

7. Island Green

Aptly named, indeed. Golf Digest’s Christopher Powers filed a look at arguably the most interestingly named member of the PGA Tour’s internship program.

“A soon-to-be junior at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina who says his mom just wanted to name her son “something different,” Green heard through students and advisors about the tour’s internship program. With a little bit of golf in his background (Green was part of The First Tee of Greater Charlotte when he was younger), he gave it a shot and applied, unaware of the connection of his name to the tour’s flagship event.”

“I think we taught Island more about the island green during the interview process then he knew beforehand,” said Jim Clarke, the tour’s Senior Director of Human Resources who also oversees the internship program.

“According to Clarke, no one knew Island’s name when going through the first round of applications, the committee looking initially at blind resumes with no names or schools, just backgrounds and essays.”

“No one at the tour even knew until we started announcing the class,” Clarke said. “This wasn’t something that came from [PGA Tour commissioner] Jay Monahan like, ‘Hey, we need this guy to be here.’ When I called Island’s manager at first, he picked up and said What’s his real name? I said, I know, he’s going to get a lot of that this summer. But we go through applications, essays, a pre-recorded series of video questions they have to answer and then a live Skype call. So that helps narrow everything down, and outside of our admissions committee, people didn’t know we had an Island Green in the mix.”

8. For your viewing pleasure

GolfWRX’s resident equipment geek, Brian Knudson put together a handy 5-minute video tutorial on how to stamp and paint fill wedges. If you’ve ever wondered how it’s done, fire up Knudson’s 101-level guide.

9. New details in Woods-Mickelson match

Credit to Redditor babbage_ct for the scoop on the Woods-Mickelson playoff format, or lack thereof. Reportedly, the other possibility was a game of ping-pong.