Two Americans peaked on the same Sunday. One of them is going to Medinah, and the other won at Wentworth because he isn't.
IN THIS ISSUE
Spaun Wasn't Even Supposed to Be at Wentworth
Bridgeman Was the Only Guy in Asheville Who'd Just Played East Lake
Bushnell Put Slope on a Watch for $189.99
$899 for 27 Body Metrics and a Drill. Wait on It.
Chatham Park Is Getting a 1,270-Acre Fazio Golf Community
Coharie Country Club Has All 18 Open for the First Time in Two Years
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DP WORLD TOUR . BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Spaun Wasn't Even Supposed to Be at Wentworth
J.J. Spaun entered the BMW PGA Championship because Brandt Snedeker didn't pick him. He had planned to be in Chicago this week instead. Instead he birdied four of his last five holes for a 67 and won at 17 under, the third American to take the title after Arnold Palmer and Billy Horschel.
Manuel Elvira made him wait. The Spaniard eagled 17 to tie, then chose iron off the last tee, laid up into a fairway bunker, flew the green, chipped into more sand and made double. Rory McIlroy closed 68 to share second with Elvira, Adam Scott and Aaron Rai, his best finish since the Masters, and cut into Patrick Reed's Race to Dubai lead.
"I played with a huge chip on my shoulder. I definitely had something to prove this week."
Third American ever to win at Wentworth. Four wins worldwide, three in the last 15 months. And no seat on the plane to Medinah.
PGA TOUR . BILTMORE CHAMPIONSHIP ASHEVILLE
Bridgeman Was the Only Guy in Asheville Who'd Just Played East Lake
Jacob Bridgeman was the lone player in the 132-man field at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove who advanced to the Tour Championship three weeks ago, and he played like it. A bogey-free 10-under 61 on Sunday got him to 26-under 258, two clear of rookie Ben James, who also shot 61 and still lost by two.
So much for six inches of rough at the FedExCup Fall opener. Bridgeman banked $900,000 of the $5 million purse for his second win of the calendar year, after Riviera in February.
$900,000, 32 world ranking points, and a locker at Medinah. Some September.
PRESIDENTS CUP . TEAM USA
Snedeker Spent a Pick on a Hunch
Snedeker says 15 to 17 players had a legitimate case for his six picks, so he called past captains from Nicklaus to Azinger to Davis Love and got the same answer every time: trust your gut. His gut took 21-year-old Jackson Koivun, the first American that young on a Presidents Cup team since Jordan Spieth in 2013, and Bridgeman with the last one.
The résumé picks were easier. Cameron Young won The Players and the Cadillac Championship. Wyndham Clark won a second U.S. Open and the BMW. Scheffler earned nearly double the points of anyone else in the standings and carries a 3-5-1 Presidents Cup record plus a 1-4 week at Bethpage. The best player alive has a losing record in team golf. That's the Medinah subplot.
"I don't know why, I can't put my finger on it, I just have a gut feeling about this kid."
First tee at Medinah, Thursday.
LIV GOLF . BANKRUPTCY
LIV Owes Its Players $400 Million and Nobody Has Signed Anything
The rescue deal is wobbling. The Financial Times reports that PIF now wants proof BC Partners actually wants to run a golf league rather than harvest LIV's $5 billion in net operating losses for tax purposes. Deadlines tied to the September 8 Chapter 11 filing have already come and gone. BC Partners is now floating another $10 million loan, mostly as a show of good faith.
Meanwhile LIV carries roughly $400 million in gross obligations to players, Rahm and DeChambeau among them, and is asking the court for permission to tear up their contracts and pay them in equity instead.
"We're at the hospice, not the funeral."
Ten events, five continents, half the prize money. That's LIV 2.0, if it happens at all.
ALSO THIS WEEK
U.S. Mid-Amateur Heads to The Lido The USGA's championship for players with real jobs runs Sept. 26 to Oct. 1 at Sand Valley's Lido course in Nekoosa, Wisconsin.
Senior Women's Amateur at Portland GC The U.S. Senior Women's Amateur plays Portland Golf Club in Portland, Oregon, the same week, Sept. 26 to Oct. 1.
The Tour Takes a Week, Then Goes West Next PGA Tour stop after the Presidents Cup is the Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort in Ivins, Utah, Oct. 1-4.
LOOKING AHEAD
Presidents Cup at Medinah Country Club
The Presidents Cup runs September 24-27 at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois. Snedeker's last two U.S. picks were Jacob Bridgeman, who won at Riviera this year, and 21-year-old Jackson Koivun, who won the 3M Open in his third start as a pro. Scottie Scheffler is the one the International side has to solve.
Bushnell Put Slope on a Watch for $189.99
The iON Elite is $189.99, down $30, and it's the first Bushnell watch with their slope-adjusted distances. Color touchscreen, 38,000 courses preloaded, movable pin placement on the green view, shot distance tracker. Two things to know: slope has to be switched off for anything with a trophy attached, and Bushnell's own page claims 18-plus hours of battery in the marketing copy while the spec sheet underneath says 12-plus. For $190, if you'd rather glance at your wrist than dig out a rangefinder, this is a fair buy.
$899 for 27 Body Metrics and a Drill. Wait on It.
NeoPace's G10 Pro pairs 24 GHz radar with three cameras, two shooting the impact zone at 480 fps, then rebuilds the swing in 3D and traces your miss from body to club to ball before prescribing a drill. It tracks 22 ball and club numbers plus 27 body metrics. At $899 that's a motion-capture room for the price of six lessons. The catch: nobody independent has tested its accuracy yet, and accuracy is the whole product. Sit on your money one more quarter.
ALSO THIS WEEK
A Robot Hit 30 Irons Six Different Ways Golf Digest ran 30 7-irons through six strike zones at 82 mph and Callaway's Quantum Max OS held its carry inside 4.3 yards across all of them, while PXG's 0311XP Gen 8 flew 13 yards farther on pure center contact.
Foresight Killed FSX FSX Play and FSX Pro are now a membership called Foresight+, where the 100-plus-course library runs $295 a year on top of the launch monitor you already bought.
Chatham Park Is Getting a 1,270-Acre Fazio Golf Community
Southern Land Company is building a master-planned golf community on 1,270 acres inside Chatham Park in Pittsboro, and Tom Fazio has the multi-course project. That's roughly 40 minutes from downtown Raleigh and the biggest new golf land grab the Triangle has seen in years. No timeline and no word on public access yet. That second part is the only one that matters to most of us.
Coharie Country Club Has All 18 Open for the First Time in Two Years
The new TifEagle greens on the back nine grew in by early August, so the renovated Ellis Maples layout in Clinton is finally whole again after two years of nine-hole golf. It's 6,500 yards from the tips with five sets down to 4,968, walkable, and the par 3s are the teeth: the sixth plays 219 through a chute of pines to a green that sheds anything short. Greens fees with cart run $45 to $55. Straight shot down I-40 and U.S. 701.
Minton Wins the N.C. Mid-Amateur on the Third Playoff Hole
William Minton opened 67-65 at North Ridge Country Club's Lakes Course in Raleigh, shot even-par 72 Saturday, and finally beat Sam Jenkins on the third extra hole to win at 12-under 204. A two-shot 36-hole cushion that took 21 holes to convert. Anybody who has played North Ridge in September knows exactly how that happens.
ALSO THIS WEEK
UNCG Arrives at Duke Off a 26-Under Win The Spartans won their own Bryan National Collegiate at 26 under with five players in the top 10, so don't sleep on them this week in Durham.
Pinewood in Asheboro Shut the Public Out The Triad club stopped its Monday and Tuesday public play this month, so cross the $52 walk-on off your list.
J.T. Poston Shot 60 in Asheville North Carolina's own Poston closed with a 12-under 60 at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove to tie for fifth and still finish six back.
Sep 21-22: Rod Myers Invitational, Duke University Golf Club, Durham, NC
Sep 26-27: Drip Golf Series “Justin Williams” Junior Open at Lonnie Poole, Lonnie Poole Golf Course, Raleigh, NC
Sep 28: CGA One-Day Senior Four-Ball, Pinewild CC (Magnolia), Pinehurst, NC
Sep 28: CGA One-Day Four-Ball, Statesville CC, Statesville, NC
Oct 2-3: Kappas of Durham Foundation Annual Golf Tournament, The Crossings Golf Club, Durham, NC
Oct 5: Cristo Rey Classic Golf Tournament, UNC Finley Golf Course, Chapel Hill, NC
Oct 6-8: 65th Carolinas Senior Amateur, Waynesville Inn, Waynesville, NC
TWO WAYS TO KEEP THIS GOING
Show up to a new course already knowing the move.
The next time a buddy picks a Triangle course you have never played, you will know which tees to play, where the trouble is, and what the locals actually pay before you leave the parking lot. That is the Triangle Golf Guide: 23 courses deep, plus the curated sim spots and the membership math worth knowing. Less than a range bucket, at $5.99.
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That's your read this week.
Tour intel, gear picks, and local course intel every Tuesday.
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