Golf Digest India - June 2018

VOLUME 3 | ISSUE 2

JUNE 2018 `150

THINK YOUNG | PLAY HARD

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how to play. what to play. where to play.

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Contents 6/18

ArgentinA l AustrAliA l Chile l ChinA l CzeCh republiC l FinlAnd l FrAnCe l hong Kong l IndIa l indonesiA l irelAnd KoreA l MAlAysiA l MexiCo l Middle eAst l portugAl l russiA l south AFriCA l spAin l sweden l tAiwAn l thAilAnd l usA

India Digest Newsmakers 14

India Announces Strong Teams For Asian Games

15

Indian Girls Finish 6th At Amateur Ladies AsiaPacific Championship

16

32nd Annual Usha Junior Training Programme at Delhi Golf Club

18

Club Round-Up Updates from courses across India

Features 52

by pAUlA cReAmeR 56

60

Jordan Spieth’s Straight Distance Keys for hitting every fairway—again and again

u.s. open preview Don’t Mess This Up It’s crucial that the USGA gets it right at Shinnecock.

20

Grow The Game

22

Business Of Golf Industry updates

24

Tête-à-tête with Ravi Garyali

26

Off The Course

28

World Corporate Golf Challenge World Final

Play Your Best

30

Lifestyle

78

by gUy yOcOm 72

corporate digest

100 18 Holes with

36

Setting Milestones In The Far East

80

82

Shubhankar Sharma Visits The Great Wall

44

Ireland Storm To GolfSixes Victory Over France

86

Report: THE PLAYERS Championship

48

Profile: Xander Schauffele

50

Jim Nantz named 2018 Ambassador of Golf

How Tiger Cured the Yips Top teachers explain how Tiger got his short game back swing sequence Jon Rahm

34

The Digest We’re here to help: 15 excuses for not having a good round.

48

by SAm weinmAn And Alex myeRS 88

46

Golf Made Easy Use your hips to power up. by dAvid leAdbetteR

by JOSH bURAck

40

Can’t Chip? Look Here My simple setup tips will eliminate chunks or skulls. by bUtcH HARmOn

79

India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar Back In The Spotlight

Rewriting History Now that the USGA has gone from 18 holes to two for U.S. Open playoffs, we look back on what might have been. by dAn JenkinS

Prateek Pant

34

52

How To Make the Ones That Matter Become a great putter in the clutch.

Gift Guide: 14 Presents Dad Actually Wants Light up Father’s Day with these better ideas. by bRittAny ROmAnO

91

Undercover Tour Pro The battle of dumb versus smart.

80

witH mAx AdleR

Corrigendum: In the article ‘MercedesTrophy Ends On A Dazzling Note’ published in May 2018, there was a misprint in the names of Sachin Gangal, Mahipat Shekhawat and Havovi Wadia. The errors are regretted.

8 golf digest india | june 2018

Cover photograph: Dom Furore

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Editor’s Letter Dear Readers,

L

ately there has been a lot of press coverage on the governing body of golf in this country – the Indian Golf Union (IGU). The key issue is that the IGU is now being told to change its constitution to fall in line with the National Sports Code laid out by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, and its voting members will be (the newly formed) state golf associations instead of golf clubs. The clubs in each state will be the voting members of the state associations. We understand the IGU will have 26 state associations each with equal vote regardless of the number of clubs in the state. The Ministry has come down hard because the IGU has known this change was inevitable Write to me at rishi@teamgolfdigest.com or for the past few years but has delayed taking the on Twitter @RishiNarain_ necessary steps. Now in an Asian Games year, the IGU is under pressure to quickly conform or be permanently derecognised. Thankfully, we understand the IGU has almost completed the process and will hold an Extraordinary General Meeting, sometime in June/July, to adopt the new constitution and this crisis will pass.

Meanwhile, thankfully, the most important job of the IGU — sending players overseas for international competition — hasn’t slowed down. Recently, teams have been to Singapore for the Asia-Pacific Women’s team championship where, perhaps in the best performance for the past couple of decades, the 3-player Indian team finished with a total of -2 after 3 rounds.

And for the first time in history, the women's team finished under par, and just 13 strokes behind eventual winners - the powerhouse team of Korea. This is perhaps the best result for Indian golf (besides Shubhankar Sharma’s heroics) thus far in 2018 but the girls haven’t got due credit in the media.

The Asian Games trials have been completed four months before the tournament and importantly, the boys and girls teams have already spent a week-long practice session at the Asian Games course in Jakarta. This type of advance preparation is welcome, creditable and gives our teams a fair chance to perform their best when the medals are on the line.

Meanwhile, hope everyone is enjoying the longer days with golf possible early mornings and late evenings.

Keep swinging!

TEAM GOLF DIGEST INDIA Editor & Publisher Rishi Narain Contributing Editor Karthik Swaminathan karthik@rnsportsmarketing.com

Sales & Marketing Nikhil Narain, +91-9999990364 nikhil@rnsportsmarketing.com

Senior Content Executive Amit Pandey amit@rnsportsmarketing.com

Krishna Kant Dubey kk@rnsportsmarketing.com

Art Director Guneet Singh Oberoi

Prateek Chaturvedi prateek@rnsportsmarketing.com Subscription Monika Chhabra, Gautam Chhabra subscribe@teamgolfdigest.com +91-9999868051

Published and Printed by Rishi Narain on behalf of Rishi Narain Golf Management Private Limited and Printed at Thomson Press India Limited, 18-35 Mile Stone, Delhi-Mathura Road, Faridabad-121 007, Haryana and published from 501, Sushant Tower, Sector - 56, Gurgaon - 122101, Haryana. Phone Number - 0124-2841370, 1371, 1372. Editor: Rishi Narain. Contains material reprinted by permission from Golf Digest® and Golf World®. Golf Digest India is a monthly publication of Rishi Narain Golf Management Private Limited.

10 golf digest india | june 2018

Rishi Narain

GOLF DIGEST INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS AND EDITORS-IN-CHIEF GD ArGentinA Hernán SimÓ, Jorge R. Arias AustrAliAn GD Brad Clifton GD Chile Rodrigo Soto GD ChinA Echo Ma GD CzeCh republiC Robin Drahonovsky GD FinlAnD Sami Markkanen GD FrAnCe Henry Trouillet GD honG KonG Echo Ma GD inDonesiA Irwan Hermawan GD inDiA Rishi Narain GD irelAnD Linton Walsh GD KoreA Eun Jeong “EJ” Sohn GD MAlAysiA Patrick Ho GD MexiCo Rafa Quiroz GD MiDDle eAst Robbie Greenfield GD portuGAl João Morais Leitão GD russiA Fedor Gogolev GD south AFriCA Stuart McLean GD spAin Óscar Maqueda GD sweDen Oskar Åsgård GD tAiwAn Jennifer Wei GD thAilAnD Chumphol Na Takuathung GD usA Jerry Tarde

GOLF DIGEST USA EDITORIAL ChAirMAn & eDitor-in-ChieF Jerry Tarde exeCutive eDitor Mike O’Malley CreAtive DireCtor Ken DeLago MAnAGinG eDitor Alan P. Pittman Deputy eDitor Max Adler

ARTICLES eDitoriAl DevelopMent DireCtor Craig Bestrom senior eDitor Ron Kaspriske senior writers Bureau Jaime Diaz, Dave Kindred, Tim Rosaforte, Ron Sirak, Guy Yocom AssoCiAte eDitor Stephen Hennessey AssistAnt eDitor Brittany Romano eDitor-At-lArGe Nick Seitz writer-At-lArGe Dan Jenkins ContributinG eDitors Dave Anderson, Peter Andrews, Tom Callahan, Bob Carney, Marcia Chambers, David Fay, John Feinstein, Peter Finch, Thomas L. Friedman, Lisa Furlong, Matthew M. Ginella, John Huggan, Dean Knuth, David Owen, Steve Rushin, Dave Shedloski, Roger Schiffman, Geoff Shackelford INSTRUCTION senior eDitor Peter Morrice senior writer Matthew Rudy plAyinG eDitors / pGA tour Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Rickie Fowler, Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson, Nick Price, Jordan Spieth, David Toms plAyinG eDitors / lpGA tour Paula Creamer teAChinG proFessionAls Rob Akins, Todd Anderson, Chuck Cook, Sean Foley, Hank Haney, Butch Harmon, Hank Johnson, David Leadbetter, Jack Lumpkin, Jim McLean, Tom Ness, Renee Powell, Dean Reinmuth, Randy Smith, Rick Smith, Dave Stockton, Josh Zander proFessionAl ADvisors Amy Alcott, Dr. Bill Mallon, Gary McCord, Randy Myers, Judy Rankin, Lucius Riccio, Ph.D., Dr. Bob Rotella, Ben Shear, Ralph Simpson, Frank Thomas, Stan Utley EQUIPMENT senior eDitor Mike Stachura equipMent eDitor E. Michael Johnson AssistAnt eDitor Keely Levins teChniCAl pAnel John Axe, Ph.D.; Martin Brouillette, Ph.D.; Thomas E. Lacy Jr., Ph.D.; David Lee, Ph.D.; John McPhee, Ph.D.; Dick Rugge; George Springer, Ph.D. GOLF COURSES senior eDitor / ArChiteCture Ron Whitten ContributinG eDitor Topsy Siderowf GOLF DIGEST INTERNATIONAL GROUP senior DireCtor, internAtionAl Develop Ment & strAteGy Angela Byun ContributinG eDitor, internAtionAl Ju Kuang Tan

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Newsmakers

PLAYERS IN THE NEWS INDIA ANNOUNCES STRONG TEAMS FOR ASIAN GAMES India’s track record in golf at the Asian Games has been impressive. When the sport was introduced at the Asian Games in 1982, Lakshman Singh and Rajiv Mohta won gold and silver, respectively, and the

India will be fielding a young but strong team of golfers at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, this August. The four-member boys team and the three-member girls team were chosen after a grueling six-round trial that concluded on April 30.

All contenders were required to play six rounds conducted by the Indian Golf Union. Two of the rounds were held at Classic Golf & Country Club, Gurugram, while four were played at Jaypee Greens, Greater Noida. After six rounds, the best five scores were considered.

17-year-olds Sifat Sagoo, Ridhima Dilawari and Diksha Dagar were the top three girls.

Kshitij Naved Kaul, Aadil Bedi and Harimohan Singh, also 17, were the top three among boys. 18-year- old Dubaibased Rayhan Thomas, whose achievements include a win in a pro tournament (2016 Dubai Creek Open) while still being an amateur, was given a discretionary spot based on his ranking (21 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking).

The Asian Games will be conducted from August 20-23, 2018 at the Pondok Indah Golf Course, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Indian contingent comprising Amit Luthra, Laxman Singh, Rajiv Mohta, Rishi Narain won gold in the team event. Shiv Kapur then won the individual gold in 2002.

India have since clinched

silver in the men’s team events in 2006 (Anirban Lahiri, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Chiragh Kumar and Joseph Chakola) and 2010 (Rashid Khan, Rahul Bajaj, Abhinav Lohan and Abhijit Chadha).

The Indian contingent attended a practise session between May 20-25 at Pondok Indah Golf Course, Jakarta, the golf venue for this year’s Asian Games. L-R: Deepak Kumar (Team Manager), Amandeep Johl (Coach), Ridhima Dilawari, Kshitij Naveed Kaul, Sifat Sagoo, Harimohan Singh, Pauline Singh (Manager), Aadil Bedi, Rayhan Thomas and Diksha Dagar

Anirban Lahiri misses cut at Wells Fargo The firm and tough greens took a toll on Anirban Lahiri as he missed the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship on the PGA TOUR after shooting 76-74 in the first two rounds. Tiger Woods (71-73) squeezed inside the cutline which fell at three-over 145. The event currently boasts of $7.7 million as the prize fund and was started in 2003.

Lahiri, a resident of Bengaluru, turned pro in 2007 and his current record on the PGA TOUR is not as impressive as his 2017 season, where some some of his best performances included — a T-2 at the Memorial Tournament (in June 2017) and a T-3 at the CIMB Classic (October 2016). His total earnings for 2017 stood at $1,944,289 including three Top-10 finishes. The 30-year-old’s last professional win came in 2015 at the Hero Indian Open, where he defeated SSP Chawrasia in a playoff. The only Indian to record a victory on the PGA Tour is Arjun Atwal who triumphed by a stroke over David Toms (of the United States) to clinch the Wyndham Championship in 2010. Lahiri currently stands at 104 (294 points) on the FedEx Cup Ranking with earnings of $774,856 and has made 10 cuts out of his 14 starts with two Top-10s finishes for his 2018 season.

14 golf digest india | june 2018

Indian Duo Finish Runner-up In Malaysia Team India comprising Number 1-ranked amateur Aadil Bedi from Chandigarh and sixth-ranked Kshitij Naveed Kaul from Delhi, both 17 years of age, finished runner-up at the 116th Malaysian Amateur Championship at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Golf & Country Club in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The team from Thailand were crowned winners. Bedi and Kaul will represent India at the Asian Games in Indonesia later this August. Pondok Indah Golf Course, where the golf action will take place, is famously known as the Beverly Hills of Indonesia.

Newsmakers Women’s Golf

18-YEAR-OLD NEPAL GIRL GETS PRIVATE LESSON FROM TIGER Pratima Sherpa made it to Jupiter, Florida, where Tiger

Diksha posts India’s Best Ever Score At Asia-Pacific Championship In a highly-competitive tournament where Indians have traditionally struggled, 17-year-old Diksha Dagar returned with the best numbers ever by an Indian golfer at the 40th Queen Sirkit Cup Asia-Pacific Amateur Ladies Golf Championship, which concluded in Thailand on May 11.

Diksha totalled 4-under 212, the lowest score any Indian has recorded in the event’s 40-year history, to finish tied-fifth. Her performance also helped the Indian girls team to finish sixth overall as she, 14-year-old Anika Varma from Noida and 15-year-old Pranavi Urs of Mysuru posted a team total of 2-under at the Thana City Country Club (just 13 strokes adrift of the winners). The Koreans, who have won the event for 20 times, totalled

Woods was scheduled to give a clinic at a private outing held at Medalist Golf Club. Raised in a maintenance shed on a golf course in Nepal, the 18-year-old aspires to become her country’s first female professional golfer.

Having learned that Pratima was coming, Woods met with her prior to the clinic, gave her a lesson on the back of the driving range for about half an hour — she used his clubs — and later introduced her to those in attendance, all donors and sponsors, to what is now known as the TGR Foundation.

“Pratima is simply incredible,” Woods said via email.

“I read her story and I was amazed. The chance to meet her and talk to her was inspiring. It was great to witness her journey and to see the happiness she exudes.”

15-under and emerged victors for the fifth consecutive time.

The tournament saw participation from 14 national teams — Australia, China, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Diksha has been India’s Number 1 ranked Amateur for the past three years.

She won the Singapore Ladies Amateur Open in March and qualified for the Asian Games soon after.

The Haryana lass has now set her sights on the continent’s biggest multisports event. “My focus in the last three-four years has been the Asian Games. I want to play in the Asiad, and want to do well, so all my energies and preparations have been towards that.”

DIKSHA TOTALLED 4-UNDER 212, THE LOWEST SCORE ANY INDIAN HAS RECORDED IN THE EVENT’S 40-YEAR HISTORY, TO FINISH T-5.

THE INDIAN GIRLS TEAM, COMPRISING DIKSHA, ANIKA VARMA AND PRANAVI URS, POSTED 2-UNDER TO FINISH SIXTH OVERALL...

ADITI ASHOK NOTCHES TOP-10 LPGA FINISHES IN SUCCESSIVE WEEKS

Young Indian golfer Aditi Ashok finished tied-sixth at the US$ 1.3 million Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic on May 6. The tournament, cut short to 36 holes owing to inclement weather, saw Aditi set the clubhouse target as she carded 5-under 66 in her second and final round to finish at 7-under 135.

This was the 20-year-old’s second top-10 result in as many weeks following her tied-seventh at the US$ 1.5 million LPGA Mediheal Championship on April 29.

The Bengaluru-native has made 8 LPGA appearances thus far in the 2018 season and missed only two cuts (ANA Inspiration and ISPS Handa Women’s Aus Open). She has earned US$139,416 and is currently India’s top-ranked lady golfer (39th on the LPGA Rankings).

Aditi turned pro in 2016 and has already won thrice on the Ladies European Tour (LET) with titles at the 2017 Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open, 2016 Qatar Ladies Open and 2016 Hero Women’s Indian Open. june 2018 | golf digest india

15

Newsmakers Junior Golf

FINAL JGTA OOM ANNOUNCED; FIRST EVER ALL-ASIA TEAM NAMED With the completion of the inaugural Junior Golf Tour of Asia (JGTA) season, the Junior Order of Merit and All-Asia Team Honours on May 12.

Camille Boyd and Junyi Tang were crowned the first Junior Order of Merit Champions. All-Asia honours are given to the top 5 boys and top 5 girls in the Junior Order of Merit, which also earns them Fully Exempt Status in the American Junior Golf Association. The players named to the All-Asia Team are considered to be among the top-ranked junior golfers in Asia.

Girls - All-Asia Team Camille Boyd, China

PRARTHANA WINS U-12 GOLD 9-year-old Prarthana Khanna won gold in the Under-12 category of the 52nd Lufthansa

Junior Golf Club Tournament on April 27. Nearly 70 players from across the country took part in the event, organized by DLF and Lufthansa at DLF Golf & Country Club (Gurgaon), in various categories.

Prarthana, who took to the sport at the age of 6, qualified for the tournament based on her last ranking by Indian Golf Union (No. 1 in the Under-10 category). She played five matches in the Indian Golf Union Feeder Tour 2017 and came first in Chandigarh.

“Winning means everything for me. My goal is to win every tournament I take part in,” the Tiger Woods fan said.

The Gurgaon-based youngster trains at Hamoni Golf Camp and made her mark in 2016 when she won the ‘Player of the Year’ award on the Albatross Tour, on the back of three wins.

Natachanok Tunwannarux, Thailand Jana Ni, China Selina Li, Hong Kong Annie Sun, China Boys - All-Asia Team Junyi Tang, China Jiakun Li, China Conor Kelly, Thailand Bhitchayoot Sima-Aree, Thailand Xuan Luo, China

32nd Annual Usha Junior Training Programme at Delhi Golf Club

The 32nd annual Usha Junior Training Programme (JTP) got underway at the Delhi Golf Club on May 14, 2018. Meant to introduce youngsters (aged 8 to 17) to golf, the programme is divided into four 10-days camps — starting May 14, May 24, June 3, and June 13 — and has discovered and nurtured talented juniors like Rashid Khan, Ashok Kumar, and Gauri Monga.

The JTP trains over 200 kids on several aspects of the game under the guidance of well-known Category-A coaches that include, Vikram Sethi, Nonita Lall Qureshi, and Jasjit Singh. The kids are segregated by their level of ability – to provide the best guidance accordingly. A daily session of two-hours covers different aspects of the game. Besides spotting talent, these camps also help inculcate a healthy and active lifestyle amongst the youth.

Ms. Komal Mehra (Events Head, Usha International) said, “Usha International’s continued partnership with JTP for over a decade is but a reiteration of its commitment to developing golf in the country. It is amazing to see the talent pool in our country. I feel so fortunate to be a part of an initiative where children who may not otherwise have access to a golf course also get a chance to shine.”

16 golf digest india | june 2018

Across The Country

CLUB ROUND-UP

To share news on your club or updates from across the country, please email karthik@rnsportsmarketing.com

Pune

Southern Star Clinch Prestigious Annual Quadrangular

Pune

IPL Stars Unwind On The Fairways

Pune’s 4 oldest golf courses competed in the 2017-18 Quadrangular Golf Tournament. Participating clubs included Southern Star Training Area & Sports Complex (SSTA&SC, earlier known as RSI Golf Course), National Defence Academy (NDA) Golf Club, SEPTA CME Golf Course and Poona Club Golf Course (PCGC).

The quadrangular was first held in 1979 with the aim of promoting interclub bonhomie and understanding amongst the city’s golf fraternity. The 39th edition was played over four rounds — one on each golf course and the final round, as per tradition, is played at SSTA&SC. This year, each team comprised 9 players out of which the 7 best cards were taken into account. For the first time in the event’s history, there was one lady golfer participating in each team.

OVERALL RESULT: 1st: SSTA≻ 2nd: PCGC; 3rd: NDA; 4th: SEPTA, CME

Stephen Fleming (R), coach of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK), with his team at Oxford Golf Resort

L-R: Capt Rajiv Pusalkar (Captain of SSTA&SC Quadrangular Team), Maj Gen Rajeev Chaudhry, VSM (Captain of SSTA&SC), and Lt Col Ashwani Tyagi (Secretary SSTA & SC)

CSK cricketers David Willey (L) and Mark Wood (C) pose in front of the Clubhouse at Oxford Golf Resort

Shillong

Kevin and Yaalisai shine in Shillong Open

Local lad Kevin Khyriem scored his maiden victory on the IGU East Zone Feeder & Sub Junior Tour as he clinched the Milky Moo Shillong Open at the Par – 70 Shillong Golf Club. The match went down to the penultimate round with Kevin carding 84 to edge out the trio of Subham Adak, Lakshya Bajaj and Rakshik Basu by one stroke and emerge victorious. Shillong Club Ltd. (Golf Section) hosted the event in collaboration with Meghalaya Golf Promoters’ Society (MGPS), who have been instrumental in getting the event in Shillong. The girl’s event saw Yaalisai Verma take home the overall title while Divyanshi Agarwal & Srivani Agarwal won the Category B & C titles respectively. The special guest list included Mr. A.L. Hek, Hon’ble Minister, Govt. of Meghalaya; Mr. A. H. Scott Lyngdoh, Former Minister and Director in Charge - Golf Shillong Club Ltd.; Mr. John F. Kharshiing, Working President, Meghalaya State Olympic Association; and Mr. Daniel S Jyrwa (Vice President, MGPS) among others.

18 golf digest india | june 2018

Yaalisai Verma (L) collects her prize for winning the girls’ event

Kevin Khyriem (L) collects his prize for winning the boys’ event

Across The Country

Ahmedabad

Caddies Day Out

Arjun Koli edged Mayur Goriya in a playoff to win the 2018 Caddie Golf League. This was Koli’s second league title, having previously triumphed in 2016.

Caddie Golf League (CGL) was started in 2014 by Siddharth Naik and Brijesh Patel, with the intention of giving caddies a true experience of playing the game. In its fifth edition this year, the event saw strong support from the 3 participating golf courses – Gulmohar Greens Golf & Country Club, Kensville Golf Living and Kalhaar Blues & Greens Golf Club – and their promoters. More than 70 caddies took part in CGL 2018. The qualifying rounds were played at the individual courses on April 30.

Ten top scorers from each course were then selected to play the finals at Kensville Golf Living on May 7.

CGL 2018 Results — Winner Arjun K Koli (Gulmohar Greens G&CC) Runner-up Mayur Goriya (Kensville Golf Living) Third place Dinesh Vaghela (Kensville Golf Living)

Pune

Sachin Tendulkar Receives Honorary Membership At Oxford Golf Resort

Anil Seolekar (Chairman, Oxford Group) with cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar

june 2018 | golf digest india

19

Promoting Golf

Jaipur

GOLF FOR POSITIVE AFFIRMATION

T

he Ultimate Foundation — led by renowned golfers Jyoti Randhawa and Digvijay Singh — in partnership with Jaipur-based NGO ‘Rays - Aasha Ki Ek Kiran’ launched a golf program for HIVpositive children at Rambagh Golf Club, Jaipur. The foundation has been working towards transforming lives through golf.

‘Rays’ is an initiative of Capt. Virk and Mrs. Kucal who, with the support of some well-wishers, have set up homes for HIV-positive children. The children are housed and educated by the NGO which relies on funds generated through individual efforts.

The idea of positive affirmation through golf originated from a desire to grow the game among all sections of society and remove the elitism that the game is generally associated with. That golf is a non-contact sport seems to be eminently suitable for positive children.

The initiative has been welcomed by Rambagh Golf Club and its team, led by its captain Giriraj Singh.

The Princess of Jaipur Mrs Diya Kumari, who is also a legislator, has come in support of the initiative too.

The coaches from Ultimate Foundation — Pritam Saikia and Karanbir Singh — regularly travel to Jaipur to take the program forward. Efforts are being made by the foundation and ‘Rays’ to generate funds to expand the program and one hopes that few positive children will be participating in the amateur circuit in the next three years.

Wg Cdr Arun K Singh (Retd.), former Director General of the Indian Golf Union (IGU), has been working with both NGOs to support the growth of golf in the country.

Princess Diya Kumari of Jaipur has come in support of the initiative

Pune

SUMMER CAMP AT OXFORD The Leadbetter Golf Academy at Oxford Golf Resort, Pune, is conducting a golf camp for children of all ages this summer.

The ‘Junior Summer Golf Camp’, which commenced mid-May, comprises an 8-lesson programme — spaced out over four weeks — and is designed to introduce young golfers to the game and build their confidence on the fairways.

ACADEMY DIRECTOR LAURENCE BROTHERIDGE SAID, “WE AIM TO CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT WHICH IS CONDUCIVE TO FUN, LEARNING AND FRIENDSHIP… WE TEACH PROVEN METHODS THAT PRODUCE RESULTS SO THAT EACH JUNIOR HAS THE BEST CHANCE OF FULFILLING THEIR POTENTIAL.” 20 golf digest india | june 2018

Laurence Brotheridge (Academy Director) guides a participant

Promoting Golf

E • GO L F DI GE S T I ND

G AM

FD E • G O L I G E ST I ND

On May 6, Eco Park Golf Arena (EPGA) hosted more than 60 runners as part of Sports Utsav.

After completing their 5km run around Eco Park, the competitors converged at EPGA to learn and understand the nuances of golf.

They were taught to make “contact” initially with different clubs and then shown the art of putting.

The participants were also taken through the various stages of training currently on offer at EPGA — hitting with soft balls and plastic balls initially, before focusing on getting contact and yardages right with different clubs and then graduation to the beginners’ course where scoring, course management and course ethics are taught.

EP GA and Decathlon (the sponsor) have decided to conduct more of such programs, on a regular basis, in future which would further enable them to promote the sport.

GAM

RUNNERS LEARN GOLF DURING SPORTS UTSAV AT ECO PARK

• ITATIVE GROW THE N I IA

IA I

Kolkata

TIVE • GRO W T NITA HE Nashik

ENGLISH PGA COACH VISITS RIVERSIDE

Noida

FORMER PRO HELPS NGC LADIES GET GOLFING BASICS RIGHT Former international golf professional, Amandeep Johl conducted a clinic — “Introduction to the basics of golf” — for the lady golfers of Noida Golf Club on May 4 at the Noida Sports Stadium golf range.

18 women participated and all of them got an insight into the fundamentals of the game while also busting myths that surround it. The two-hour session was followed by individual attention on swing techniques.

The clinic was initiated by Mrs. Kiran Chowdhury, the Lady Captain, with the objective to help improve the golfing skills of the ladies of Noida Golf Club, and to encourage more women to take up the sport.

The management of the driving range

was taken over by Amandeep Johl Golf Academy in April and the space has since been spruced up with new mats, an improved turf, new range balls and an allnew Golf café, thereby providing users with a fun golfing experience.

The interactive golf session ended with a long drive competition that was conducted by the newly installed ball tracking simulator at the range, the GC2. Ms. Simran Bajaj emerged winner with a drive of 189 yards.

Separate clinics were scheduled, later in the month, to cover short game, putting and shot shaping (including shots from difficult lies) in an effort to help the ladies reduce their golf handicap.

Riverside Golf Course arranged a training camp for beginners, children and ladies between April 22-24. Extended coaching sessions for players from Nashik and nearby areas such as Aurangabad were also conducted. The initiative was a success, with 28 participants in all. In attendance and assisting the camp was Roger Andrews, a golf coach from England and a member of the PGA of UK, who is currently heading golf operations at Lighthouse Golf Resort in Bulgaria.

According to Pradeep Bagmar, a retired Air Force serviceman and Chief Promoter of the golf course, two women have taken to the game following the activity and now show up to play every week. Bagmar adds that there are 24 children who play at the course and 10 of them belong to less privileged families.

june 2018 | golf digest india

21

Business of Golf

Jansen Golf Design & Construction Making Mark on Sub-Continent

T

he storied Royal Colombo Golf Club has acquired the services of Jansen Golf Design & Construction (JGD&C) to improve its golf course, starting with the construction of two new holes and the rebuilding of all tee complexes.

Paul Jansen, Founder of JGD&C, said: “We are excited by the opportunity to work with such an historic golf club. I am a big fan of the uniqueness of the golf course and I hope our work over time highlights and even enhances the character of the property.

“As with most of our projects I will be using this opportunity to spend a considerable amount of time on site each month servicing the project in both a design and project management capacity.”

At the same time, just across the Bay of Bengal, near the coastal city of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, a new 18-hole championship golf course is being built under the guidance of Jansen.

When complete, the Cox’s Bazar Golf Club will be open to the general public. “It’s hoped this will play a small part in growing the game in that part of the world,” said Jansen, whose company is an Associate Business Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.

Key role players on the project include the Bangladesh Golf Federation (BGF) and The R&A, as well as local stakeholders. The golf course is getting built on land belonging to the army, who are supplying engineering, manpower and equipment support.

Right: Upgrading work is under way at Royal Colombo Golf Club Bottom: Paul Jansen (centre) on site at Cox’s Bazar Golf Club

GOLF TOURISM TO FLOURISH IN VIETNAM BY 2020

Speaking at a Club Management Mini Summit in Ho Chi Minh City, golf tourism expert Mark Siegel predicted a flourishing future for the country’s inbound golf tourism industry. There are currently 35 golf courses open for play in Vietnam while another 60 are under construction or in the planning stage. As such, Vietnam is one of the most active areas in the world for new golf course development. Siegel said that Vietnam golf tourism currently accounts for 0.5% of inbound tourism, compared to 2% in Thailand. In 2016, that equated to 50,000 golfing tourists to Vietnam compared to 650,000 to Thailand. By focusing efforts on promoting golfing at its beach destinations, Siegel believes Vietnam can quickly make inroads into the imbalance with its neighbouring country.With golfing tourists spending three times more than general tourists, Siegel said it’s a realistic proposition that Vietnam could break the US$1 billion barrier in golf tourism revenue by 2020.

Siegel said: “We could well see the number of golfing tourists to Vietnam increase threefold to 150,000 (1.5% of all tourists to the country) by 2020.

Golf Digest View Golf tourism in India is definitely on the rise and promises to grow further. If promoted correctly and if clubs really adopt tourist friendly policies, we will easily be able to attract more tourists – both domestic and international. Bringing in a real estate angle, the presence of and development of more courses in clusters will attract tourists because when golfers travel, they look for destinations with at least 3-4 world class golf courses located within an hour’s drive of one another and close to classy hotels.

GOLFTEC On Board with Asian Golf Industry Federation A rapidly expanding presence in the region, GOLFTEC – the top employer of PGA professionals – has joined the Asian Golf Industry Federation (AGIF).

Last year saw the Grand Opening of its Singapore I n s t r u c t i o n a l C e n t re , t h e company’s most recent expansion into the Asian market.

Each of the company’s new locations are tailored for total golf immersion and provide students with new amenities, game improvement products and services, an extensive digital experience and comfor table

furniture in common areas.

Australian Scott Barr, an Asian Tour player and longtime Singapore resident, has assumed the role of Director of Business Development, GOLFTEC Singapore.

Barr said: “Last April marked the company’s 22nd anniversary.

Over more than two decades GOLFTEC has posted unrivalled category growth, including a 98% increase in revenue since 2010.

Anurag Mathur, Executive Director of Pro Golf Asia, GOLFTEC’s master licensee in Southeast Asia, said: “Our vision

22 golf digest india | june 2018

is to expand across the major cities in Southeast Asia – Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Jakarta – and we see a successful business and organisation in Singapore acting as a gateway to these cities and markets.

“We are also in discussions with GOLFTEC corporate to leverage our presence in Hong Kong to enter the large golf markets of Shenzhen and Guangzhou in southern China.”

The global GOLFTEC coaching team is comprised of experienced professionals, most of whom are PGA professionals and have

taught thousands of lessons.

Each goes through a rigorous multi-week cer tification at GOLFTEC University including continued advanced training to master the analysis of golf swing mechanics, the technology utilised by GOLFTEC and the most productive teaching techniques.

Tête-à-tête with Ravi Garyali

‘India Is Still A Young Market For Golf...’

Ravi Garyali, Managing Director, Irrigation Products International Pvt Ltd.

MODERN TECHNOLOGIES IN WATER MANAGEMENT AND TURF MAINTENANCE HAVE HELPED INDIAN GOLF COURSES TO BE AT PAR WITH THE WORLD’S BEST

I

ncorporated in 1993 and professionaly managed by a team of highly competent engineers and agronomists, Irrigation Products International (IPI) Pvt Ltd. provides technical knowhow and state-of-the-art products to support golf, sport grounds, landscaping and beautification of outdoor environment.

Ravi Garyali, Managing Director of IPI, has been instrumental in developing the concept of using the latest technology for Turf Irrigation and Maintenance in India. His tech savviness and management skills have been the driving force and he stands by his resolve to continually enhance the quality and depth of customer service.

As a result, Garyali has

successfully built a portfolio of prestigious customers throughout India. Widely travelled, he has full exposure to the execution of international contracts and the high-quality standards to be achieved.

IPI’s diverse clientele comprises golf courses (such as The Royal Calcutta Golf Club, The Bombay Presidency Golf Club, and Delhi Golf Club to name a few), commericial establishments (Ashok Leyland, Infosys, MRF, et al), hotels and resorts (The Leela Palace, Radisson Blue Resorts, Taj Exotica, etc.), and even cricket associations (Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, Mumbai Cricket Association, Karnataka State Cricket Association and many more).

Excerpts from Golf Digest’s conversation with Ravi Garyali…

24 golf digest india | june 2018

GDI: Over the course of your near-three-decade tenure at IPI, how has business changed with golf courses?

Ravi: With the Indian economy opening up in mid-90’s and exposure to international golf primarily through television, the golf industry in India has completely transformed itself.

The modern technologies in water management and turf maintenance have helped Indian courses to be at par with the world’s best.

GDI: Do you think that real estate developers are still interested in using golf as part of new projects or does the market need a boost?

Ravi: Indeed, golf brings the most value addition to any premium real estate project. With

the rising pollution levels in cities, people are drawn to living near golf courses to enjoy the ambience besides the excellent health and leisure benefits! The industry does require support from policy makers to ease the regulations for project approval.

The real estate sector is going through a transition due to enforcement of new regulations.

However, we are going to see big growth coming up in Tier-2 cities soon.

GDI: Could you share your long-term vision for the golf industry in India?

Ravi: India is still a young market in terms of golf with good growth potential to catch up with our Asian neighbours.

IPI has been a successful and a reliable service provider for the

Tête-à-tête with Ravi Garyali past 25 years. We will continue to enhance the quality and scope of our services based on trust & integrity to become the partners of choice for our golf customers.

GDI: Ever since Toro and Yamaha were made available in the Indian market, how have you seen these products evolve and grow?

Ravi: Toro is the most successful brand world over as it works very closely with its distributor partners to deliver highest quality products and reliable after-market services to every customer. Yamaha golf cars were launched much later, and they are receiving excellent response from customers due to their elegant design, comfort, low cost of ownership and excellent after-sales support from IPI. GDI: How – according to you – have the focus areas, with regards to golf course development and maintenance, changed over the years?

Ravi: There is growing awareness and sensitivity about the long-term sustainability of golf.

Manufacturers like The Toro Company provide the most advanced solutions for saving precious water such as use of recycled waste water and using turf grass varieties that require less water to survive. These are some of initiatives that are being incorporated in golf development and maintenance.

GDI: What would you say is a “must-have” in terms of maintenance equipment for all golf courses?

Ravi: Golf course turf requires a number of regular cultural practices such as mowing, dethatching, aeration, top dressing and nutrient management to keep the turf healthy and to provide proper playing surface to the golfers. Every golf course must have the right equipment in the right quantity to carry out these essential practices within the stipulated time and at a low cost of ownership.

GDI: IPI has been instrumental in advising many new and existing courses. Can you please name a few projects that you enjoyed working on?

Ravi: Well, over the past 25 years,

EVERY GOLF COURSE MUST HAVE THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT TO CARRY OUT ESSENTIAL PRACTICES WITHIN THE STIPULATED TIME AND AT A LOW COST OF OWNERSHIP...

we have been fortunate to have successfully worked on many a great project such as Glade One, Jaypee Greens, Kalahaar Blues & Greens and Prestige Golfshire to name but a few.

Each project has been unique in its own way and has required proper planning, professional execution and commitment to complete the project within the agreed timelines. I can think of Oxford Golf and DLF as some of the most challenging projects.

The rocky terrain and a massive elevation of over 100 meters at Oxford required perfect coordination and execution. Likewise, the Gary Player course at DLF Golf & Country Club was a mega project with highest specifications and quality parameters. It is a great feeling that we played a part in these courses which, today, are rated as the best in Asia-Pacific.

Top and Centre: Toro and Yamaha stalls at the recent India Golf Expo in Bengaluru Bottom (L-R): GIA Board Member Rakesh Sharma presents a memento to Siva Kumar (Head of Sales) and Vita Zinna of IPI at India Golf Expo 2018

june 2018 | golf digest india

25

Achievers

OFF THE COURSE corporate golfers and aficionados of the sport who have been in the news lately...

Salil Murthy Makes Fortune India List

Head of General Mills’ India market Salil Murthy was named in Fortune India’s 40 Under 40 list. He had also featured in the Economic Times – Spencer Stuart ‘Top 40 business leaders under 40’ ranking in 2017. Murthy’s decisions ensured General Mills’ India business evolved from being just a flour maker to a snacks maker and, in so doing, tripled its growth rate. The 39-year-old is an avid golfer at Bombay Presidency Golf Club and has played in amateur golf tournaments. Besides, he is also a runner and participates in marathons around the world.

IPL commentary beckons Murali Kartik

Murali Kartik retired from all cricket in 2014 but has been an avid golfer for nearly a decade. The 41-year-old’s love for cricket keeps him attached with the game and he is now part of the television commentary team at this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL). Kartik boasts a 3-handicap and regularly plays at DLF Golf & Country Club, Gurgaon. The left-hander won the 2017 Madhavrao Scindia Golf Tournament in Delhi and, in so doing, qualified for the prestigious Duke of Edinburgh Cup World Finals which will take place at Windsor Castle, UK, this October.

26 golf digest india | june 2018

Times Education Icons 2018 Award For Veteran Golfer

Gangesh Khaitan, Chairman of The Khaitan School, has always had his roots in family business, particularly industry, and his foray into education dates to the 1970’s. Khaitan has been a national-level amateur golfer all his life and has won the All India Senior Golf Championship in 2014 and 2017. He has also been the captain of the Indian Team for several years and continues to play to a 3-handicap at the age of 64. The Khaitan School was felicitated at the recent Times Education Icons event in Delhi.

Corporate Digest

World Corporate Golf Challenge

Indian Duo Looking Forward To WCGC World Final Rahul Divan and Gautam Balakrishnan will represent corporate India at Oitavos Dunes in Portugal from June 20-24, 2018

The Clubhouse at Oitavos Dunes — host of the 2018 World Corporate Golf Challenge World Final to be held in Cascais, Portugal, from June 20-24

Sandeep Singh, MD, Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery Pvt Ltd.

Wishing Rahul and Gautam all the very best for the World Corporate Golf Challenge World Final in Portugal. I am confident that you will do the country and us proud. Look forward to hearing good news of your success. —Sandeep Singh

The preparation is going well; I am focussing on the basics and have —Gautam Balakrishnan increased my practice sessions.

Gautam Balakrishnan Vice President – Head Smart Cities, Tata Projects Ltd. Home Club: BPGC, Mumbai

Rahul Divan Partner, Rahul Gautam Divan & Associates Home Club: Willingdon, Mumbai

The challenge would be to get physically ready and adapt to the challenging conditions of a —Rahul Divan links golf course.

28 golf digest india | june 2018

KARNATAKA, INDIA

Hi-Life Lifestyle

To share news on your products or updates on new launches, please email karthik@rnsportsmarketing.com

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SHOWROOM

OFFICINE PANERAI OPENS NEW BOUTIQUE IN DELHI

Florentine luxury watchmaker Officine Panerai opened its boutique at DLF Chanakya, a luxury mall in New Delhi. Panerai has partnered Ethos, one of India’s leading luxury watch retailers, to deliver an exceptional retail experience for customers. The concept of the design and the materials used respect the philosophy and history of Officine Panerai.

Spread across an area of 36 square metres, the space displays the Florentine company’s collections to enthusiasts and collectors. The renewed boutique remains consistent to the concept of interior design developed by Patricia Urquiola, the celebrated Spanish architect and designer, across Panerai boutiques worldwide.

30 golf digest india | june 2018

Rolex is extending its GMT-Master II range with a new version in Oyster-steel, equipped with a bi- directional rotatable bezel and a 24-hour graduated two-colour Cerachrom insert in red and blue ceramic. The lugs and sides of its Oyster case have been redesigned, and the watch is fitted on a five-link Jubilee bracelet. These new materials are exceptionally resistant to scratches and corrosion and offer particularly intense colours that are unaffected by ultraviolet rays. The Oyster case, guaranteed waterproof to a depth of 100 metres (330 feet), provides optimum protection for the GMT-Master II’s high-precision movement.

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On the Asian Tour

India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar Back In The Spotlight

BHULLAR MISSED THE CUT AT 3 CONSECUTIVE TOURNAMENTS FOLLOWING THE MAYBANK CHAMPIONSHIP BUT HAS BOUNCED BACK MAGNIFICENTLY WITH THIS STEELY DISPLAY IN KOREA 34 golf digest india | june 2018

On the Asian Tour

G

aganj e et Bhullar ’s fine performance at the 37th GS Caltex Maekyung Open Golf Championship reminded everybody of his outstanding credentials.

The 30-year-old was one of only four golfers in the field to break par at the challenging Nam Seoul Country Club. He compiled a four-day total of one-under-par 283 to get into a playoff with Yikeun Chang, Junggon Hwang, and Sanghyun Park but was edged out after the first extra hole.

Nevertheless, he was happy with his game that led to a tied-second place, his highest finish in 2018 so far.

“I gave my 100 percent and I played really well, especially the last 36 holes. I was steady and gave myself plenty of opportunities in the final round,” said Bhullar.

Bhullar made history last year by becoming the youngest-ever golfer to win eight titles on the Asian Tour. He achieved the feat with a stunning wire-to-wire victory in Macau. Earlier in 2018, Bhullar missed the cut at three consecutive tournaments following the Maybank Championship but has bounced back magnificently with this steely display in Korea.

Following the 37th GS Caltex Maekyung Open Golf Championship, Bhullar earned a prize cheque of US$75,473.35. As of May 21, he is 11th on the Asian Tour Habitat for Humanity Standings.

YOUNGEST PLAYER

Became the youngest player to claim eight victories on the Asian Tour when he won his second Macao Open title in 2017 at the age of 29 years and 5 months

Born: April 27, 1988 (Age 30) Residence: Kapurthala, Punjab Turned Pro: 2006

As of May 21, he is ranked 4th on the Panasonic Swing and 11th on the Habitat For Humanity Standings with earnings of $131,123 in 2018 (5 cuts from 8 appearances thus far, including a T-2 finish in Korea)

CAREER EARNINGS over $ 2.1mn across all Tours

2 1 6 nd

st

He became just the second Indian to win the US$ 1.1 million Shinhan Donghae Open 2016 in Korea (Jeev Milkha Singh triumphed in 1994)

He became the first Indian winner on the European Challenge Tour when he won the Gujarat Kensville Challenge on home soil in 2011

Bhullar has posted victories across 6 different countries – he two wins apiece in Indonesia and Macao, and one each in Thailand, India, Chinese Taipei and Korea

Official World Golf Ranking: 160 (No. 3-ranked Indian behind Shubhankar Sharma and Anirban Lahiri) Wins: Asian Tour: 8 Indonesia President Invitational 2009 Asian Tour International 2010 Yeangder Tournament Players Championship 2012 Venetian Macao Open 2012 Indonesia Open 2013 Shinhan Donghae Open 2016 Bank BRI-JCB Open 2016 Macao Open 2017 European Challenge Tour: 1 Gujarat Kensville Challenge 2011 PGTI: 9 titles Other achievements: 2013 – Arjuna Award june 2018 | golf digest india

35

On the Asian Tour

SETTING MILESTONES IN THE FAR EAST

Scott Vincent

BY JOSH BURACK Asian Tour CEO

I

t has been a momentous period for the Asian Tour through our return to key tournaments within East Asia. I’m writing to you now from Seoul at the 37th GS Caltex Maekyung Open, where we are sanctioning this prestigious event for the first time since 2009!

Meanwhile, the 2018 Volvo China Open that happened the previous week marked a huge milestone for the Asian Tour, as we sanctioned China’s National Open following a 10 year-gap dating back to 2008! Our strong cooperation with the Volvo China Open demonstrated our full restoration of ties with the China Golf Association (CGA). Title sponsor Volvo was also delighted with the Asian Tour’s return because

the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) increased from 24 points in 2017 to 32 points in 2018 due to the strength our players brought to the field. We look forward to many years of collaboration with the CGA, Volvo and the European Tour.

The tournament was also memorable for Alexander Björk.

The Swede held off the challenge of Spaniard Adrián Otaegui and reigning Hero Indian Open champion Matt Wallace to win his first European Tour title. The Asian Tour had nearly 50 members in the field. Impressively, 28 of our players made the cut. A group of young stars did very well including 22-year-old Jeunghun Wang, who finished tied-seventh, 25-year-old Scott Vincent, who ended tied-11th and 21-year-old Shubhankar Sharma, who fought

L-R: European Tour CEO Keith Pelley, CGA President Zhang Xiaoning, Volvo China Open Organising Committee Chairman Sven de Smet and Asian Tour CEO Josh Burack

THE RESULTS OF THESE YOUNG PLAYERS FURTHER JUSTIFY THE TAGLINE WE WILL USE FOR PHASE THREE OF OUR #WHEREITSAT CAMPAIGN TO BE LAUNCHED THIS SUMMER: “TOMORROW’S STARS TODAY.” 36 golf digest india | june 2018

On the Asian Tour Shubhankar Sharma

Habitat for Humanity Standings After Asia-Pacific Classic

through a stomach bug to finish in tied-14th. These performances continue the trend that started last year of strong results from members aged under 30 years old.

The results of these young players further justify the tagline we will use for phase three of our #whereitsAT campaign to be launched this summer: “Tomorrow’s Stars Today.”

The videos, which are currently in production, will showcase the skill and cool styles of our ultra-talented young stars, and I can’t wait to see them.

In addition to the next phase of the #whereitsAT campaign, our fans can look forward to the many tournaments that we’ve newly added to our growing 2018 schedule such as the AB Bank Bangladesh Open, the Asia Pacific Classic in China, the CNS Open Golf Championship in Pakistan and the Ho Tram Players Championship in Vietnam. In particular, our grand return to Pakistan after an 11-year hiatus will be another important milestone in this historic year for the Asian Tour. #whereitsAT

POS

PLAYER

EARNINGS (US$)

1.

SHUBHANKAR SHARMA (IND)

589,575

2.

MATT WALLACE (UK)

446,660

3.

RAHIL GANGJEE (IND)

283,018

4.

KIRADECH APHIBARNRAT (THA)

265,573

5.

SIHWAN KIM (USA)

226,710

6.

PAUL PETERSON (USA)

215,578

7.

SANGHYUN PARK (KOR)

187,124

8.

DANIEL NISBET (AUS)

150,863

9.

SCOTT VINCENT (ZIM)

145,208

10.

BERRY HENSON (USA)

140,613

11.

GAGANJEET BHULLAR (IND)

131,213

12.

HIDETO TANIHARA (JPN)

123,306

13.

SHAUN NORRIS (RSA)

118,284

14.

KHALIN JOSHI (IND)

111,140

15.

YIKEUN CHANG (KOR)

110,826

16.

JAZZ JANEWATTANANOND (THA)

108,596

17.

TERRY PILKADARIS (AUS)

105,907

18.

PROM MEESAWAT (THA)

104,946

19.

MASAHIRO KAWAMURA (JPN)

99,480

20.

JOHN CATLIN (USA)

95,718

DEVELOPMENT TOUR GRADUATE WINS BIG John Catlin won his maiden Asian Tour title at the US$300,000 Asia-Pacific Classic in Zhengzhou, China, on May 20. He beat Natipong Srithong of Thailand and Adam Blyth of Australia by two-shots.

Catlin, who hails from California, is a two-time Asian Development Tour (ADT) winner and earned his Asian Tour card by finishing third on the ADT merit list.

His triumph in China landed him a winner’s purse of US$54,000.

As a result, he rose from 44th to 20th place on the Habitat for Humanity Standings.

“This victory validates all the hard work that I’ve put in since

missing the cut in Manila in 2016.

I was fed up with not giving it my all. That weekend I spent eight hours a day working on my game and ended up winning two weeks later. Winning on the ADT is nice, but the main Tour is a step up and as we all know, this is the main Tour on the continent,” said the 27-year-old.

Catlin is the second American to win on the Asian Tour this year, following Paul Peterson at the 2018 Myanmar Open in January.

He trains with Noah Montgomery, who also coaches Gaganjeet Bhullar of India and an eight-time winner on the Asian Tour.

The Asia-Pacific Classic is

the Asian Tour’s second stop in China this season. The tournament is part of the Asian Tour’s strategic partnership with the

China Golf Association where the goal is to grow and develop professional golf in the region.

june 2018 | golf digest india

37

On the Asian Tour

THAILAND-BASED SWEDE WINS IN BANGLADESH

P

layers from the Asian Development Tour (ADT), led by Sweden’s Malcolm Kokocinski, showed they can step up onto the bigger stage when opportunity comes knocking.

Kokocinski’s battling spirit was there for all to see when he overcame a three-shot deficit to clinch his maiden Asian Tour victory at the AB Bank Bangladesh Open on May 12. It was a cherished victory that spoke volumes of his determination to excel on the biggest stage of his career so far.

“This win means a lot to me. I don’t have a status on the Asian Tour before this week, so I am really pleased with how I played here to win. I went back to the Qualifying School earlier this year but didn’t make the grade, so I went to play on the ADT,” said the Swede.

Although he hails from Sweden, Kokocinski, whose parents are from Poland, has decided to call Asia home with Thailand his preferred abode since 2013.

The Swede failed to make the grade at the Asian Tour Qualifying School then but decided to embark on the arduous route to success which finally paid off with his win

38 golf digest india | june 2018

in Dhaka.

Prior to his victory, Kokocinski was an ADT regular where he showed great form by posting three runner-up results, including a second-place finish and tied third-place result at two ADT events staged at the Kurmitola Golf Club in Bangladesh earlier this year.

“I have had some good results on the ADT, so I decided to stay in Asia and see what the year has to offer. My experiences from playing on the ADT has helped a lot.

I have been in these situations before, so I

KOKOCINSKI’S BATTLING SPIRIT WAS ON DISPLAY WHEN HE OVERCAME A 3-SHOT DEFICIT TO CLINCH HIS MAIDEN ASIAN TOUR WIN AT THE BANGLADESH OPEN. IT WAS A CHERISHED VICTORY THAT SPOKE VOLUMES OF HIS DETERMINATION TO EXCEL ON THE BIGGER STAGES...

KNOW MALCOLM KOKOCINSKI • Played college golf for College of the Desert in Palm Springs, California • Shifted his base to Thailand to play on the Asian Development Tour from 20132018 and racked up 17 top-10 finishes • His win at the Bangladesh Open on the Asian Tour boosted his ranking. As of May 21, Kokocinski is 269 on the Official World Golf Ranking (he was 909 in 2017) knew I had to focus on my shots to get the job done. I’m glad I pull in off this time,” said Kokocinski, who leads the ADT Order of Merit.

With his breakthrough on the Asian Tour, Kokocinski propelled to 37th place on the Habitat for Humanity Standings and also the seventh player after American Berry Henson, Chan Shih-chang of Chinese Taipei, Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert and Poom Saksansin, as well as Malaysian duo Gavin Green and Nicholas Fung, to win on the Asian Tour after enjoying successes on the ADT.

Poom Saksansin Micah Shin

Gavin Green

Daisuke Kataoka Gaganjeet Bhullar

Jeunghun Wang

2018 IN NUMBERS:

TOP PLAYERS FROM MORE THAN 35 NATIONS OVER 30 TOURNAMENTS PLAYED ACROSS 21 COUNTRIES Miguel Tabuena

Bowen Xiao

Hung Chien-yao

This is #whereitsAT Web Partners

Feeder Tour:

Tour Sponsor

Media Partners

asiantour.com Tour Partners

Affiliate of:

On the European Tour

Shubhankar Sharma Visits The Great Wall

L-R: Shubhankar Sharma, Li Haotong and Kiradech Aphibarnrat on the Great Wall of China ahead of the Volvo China Open

40 golf digest india | june 2018

Photograph: Richard Castka/Sportpixgolf.com

On the European Tour

T

hree of the European Tour’s most celebrated Asian stars were treated to a unique experience ahead of the Volvo China Open as home favourite Li Haotong, Indian star Shubhankar Sharma and Thailand’s Kirade ch Aphibarnrat visited the Great Wall of China. The famous Chinese landmark, which is regarded as one of the seven modern wonders of the world, is visible from the host venue course, Topwin Golf and Country Club.

Li, Sharma and Aphibarnrat – all multiple European Tour winners – made the short journey up the mountain two days before the Volvo China Open teed off (late-April) to take in the spectacular views, while also being treated to a traditional Chinese musical experience.

After a performance of music on an instrument known as a Zither, all three players got to try out the instrument in the most spectacular of settings. While Li and Aphibarnrat had both been lucky enough to have visited the Great Wall on previous occasions, for Sharma it was an unforgettable first experience.

“Being here is such a great experience,” he said. “I just flew in from Houston in the morning, had a quick shower and came straight to the Great Wall.

I've only ever seen it on TV and in movies so it is such a great experience to see it up close.

“I've also only ever seen the Volvo China Open on TV and know that Jeev (Milka Singh) won it in 2006. I've had a great season so a win this week would be really special. I haven't seen the course yet but I will go

practice, keep doing the things that have brought me success so far and see where it takes me. I'm confident in how I am playing and know I just need one good round to get going again.”

Li, who won the event to great fanfare in 2016, said: "It's always a joy to be up here where the view is so beautiful although I'm definitely more of a golfer than a musician!”

Aphibarnrat, meanwhile, was grateful to see a section of the Great Wall which he had never seen before and also just to get a new experience under his belt away from the golf course. “I definitely prefer to hit balls than play instruments but today has been a great experience for me," he said. “I usually only see the hotel and the golf course so to be up at the Great Wall and feel all that history is really exciting."

McIlroy Excited For Irish Open’s Ballyliffin Debut Rory McIlroy is relishing the opportunity to bring the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation to a spectacular new venue when the four-time Major winner heads a worldclass field at Ballyliffin Golf Club, from July 5-8.

The fourth Rolex Series event of the 2018 season will visit Ballyliffin’s Glashedy Links for the first time in its long history this summer and the County Donegal crowds are expected to turn out in force as Spain’s Jon Rahm defends his title.

McIlroy is sure to be the big draw once again, as the Northern Irishman hosts the event for the fourth time before the hosting of the tournament changes to a rotation of the island’s greatest modern golfing heroes – with Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell joining McIlroy on the rota.

The 2016 Champion and World Number Seven is extremely proud of his victory two years ago and he is excited to take on the stunning Ballyliffin links in three months’ time.

“I obviously love the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open,” said the 28-year-old.

“I’ve enjoyed my time up in Ballyliffin, I’ve played quite a lot there as an amateur and I think

it’s a great venue... It’s pure links, and I think people will really enjoy it.

One for the proudest achievements of McIlroy’s career has been his role in the revival of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

By changing the date on the European Tour’s International Schedule, securing the national open’s place in the Rolex Series—significantly increasing the prize fund—and, most importantly, introducing a charitable component to the week, the Northern Irishman has helped elevate the tournament to historical new heights.

“It’s been fantastic, and we’ve been able to raise a lot of money for charity with our involvement,” he said. “That was one of the biggest keys for me, and why I wanted to get involved - because I wanted it to be bigger than myself. I wanted it to impact more people. For it to help so many other people with my involvement, that’s what has meant a lot.”

Last year, World Number Four Rahm—who has already confirmed he will defend his title this year—dominated the field, finishing on 24 under par and winning by six shots at Portstewart Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

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On the European Tour

Campaign Starts To Help Amputee Golfer

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fundraising campaign has been launched to help cover the treatment costs of an Alps Tour golfer who faces a long road to recovery after contracting bacterial meningitis while competing in Egypt.

Issa Nlareb Amang, 27, fell ill with the life-threatening disease during the Ein Bay Open in February and after withdrawing from the tournament he went into septic shock and was rushed to hospital.

Although Egyptian doctors were able to prevent the Cameroonian from dying, the severity of the infection led to Mr Amang losing the feeling in his hands and feet. The fatherof-one was repatriated after three weeks.

With the infection worsening, and a lack of improvement in his condition, a decision was taken to move Mr Amang to Brussels where, following a series of operations by leading Orthopedic surgeons, both of his feet were removed, while three fingers on his right hand were amputated – and just his thumb remains on his left hand.

Mr Amang, who began competing on the Alps Tour in 2017 after progressing through the Qualifying School in 2016,

has been told by doctors he may walk again but they can’t confirm whether he will be able to grip a golf club again.

With his medical costs mounting, and with just the support of his French godmother Mr Amang currently does not know how he will pay his medical bills.

“The situation is really hard,” said Estelle Richard, Chief Executive and Operations Director of the Alps Tour.

“In Egypt, he was covered by travel insurance, fortunately... In Cameroon, the national federation and the golf club of Yaoundé and some friends helped him financially but now, as he had been transferred to Hospital Saint-Luc in Brussels where they have the best orthopedic ser vices in B elgium, the situation is very difficult as he has no insurance.

“For the moment, his French godmother made advance payments from her personal account and savings.

“She has spent all her savings to help Issa but she won’t be able to pay for the full amount which could be as high as €100,000.

“We know that Issa will try everything to play again. He is very strong mentally and I can say that when I saw him in Egypt, where I was in charge of

Issa Nlareb Amang of Cameroon

the tournament, he fought with all his strength to survive the septic shock.”

To make a donation towards Mr Amang’s medical costs, one can visit a fundraising page set up by the Alps Tour.

ISSA NLAREB AMANG, 27, HAS BEEN TOLD BY DOCTORS HE MAY WALK AGAIN BUT THEY CAN’T CONFIRM WHETHER HE WILL BE ABLE TO GRIP A GOLF CLUB AGAIN

Björk named Hilton Golfer of the Month for April Alexander Björk has been named Hilton Golfer of the Month for April following his win at the Volvo China Open only a week after finishing tied for third at the Trophée Hassan II. The emerging Swede garnered 37 per cent of the fan vote to win the monthly honour, ahead of France’s Alex Levy who took a 30 per cent share of the vote.

April was a break out month for Björk, whose best previous finish on the European Tour was a tie for second at the UBS Hong Kong Open earlier this season.

In Morocco, the 27-year-old bounced back from an opening round of two over par 74, to climb 76 places on the leaderboard and finish in a tie for third— only two strokes behind the victorious Levy.

The following week in Beijing, Björk, who won on the European Challenge Tour in 2016, carded a bogey-free final round of seven under 65, to finish on 18 under par and claim a one stroke victory over Spaniard

42 golf digest india | june 2018

Adrian Otaegui at the Volvo China Open.

As the most recent recipient of the award, Björk will be automatically upgraded to Hilton Honors Diamond Status—Hilton’s award-winning loyalty program.

Hilton is the Official Sponsor of the Hilton Golfer of the Month award, which recognises and rewards the best performances of European Tour Members each month.

On the European Tour

Rahm Relishing HNA Open De France Title Tilt Star-Studded Line-Up Announced For 2019 Saudi Arabia Event

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orld Number Four Jon Rahm will join defending champion Tommy Fleetwood in teeing it up at the HNA Open de France, the third Rolex Series event of the year, from June 28-July 1.

The in-form Spaniard will be aiming to join a long list of esteemed compatriots to win the event, including Seve Ballesteros and José María Olazábal. The 23-year-old, who hails from the Basque region of Spain, then clinched an emotional victory on home soil by triumphing at Open de España (in Madrid) and in doing so became the sixth Spaniard to win the event.

Rahm also became the third fastest player of all time to reach three European Tour wins. Rahm will now return to Le Golf National after recording a tied tenth place finish at last year’s event as Race to

Dubai champion Fleetwood triumphed on 12 under par.

This year’s HNA Open de France will once again take place at Le Golf National, the venue for The Ryder Cup on September 28-30, 2018, and will be the final tournament played at the course before Thomas Bjørn’s European team take on Jim Furyk’s American side.

“I am really excited to once again play in the HNA Open de France. It’s such a brilliant event and one I thoroughly enjoyed last year,” Rahm said.

“The course was in superb condition and I’m sure it will be just as good this time around. It’s a great place to play golf and I absolutely love Paris as a city with its culture and diverse range of things to do. The French fans are so passionate – you can really feed off their energy around the course.”

The Saudi Arabia Golf Federation confirmed that the new European Tour event taking place in the Kingdom from January 31 to February 3, 2019 will feature Dustin Johnson, the world’s top ranked golfer, and Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters Champion, at the inaugural event. Joining the duo will be World Number 15, Paul Casey, and 2018 Ryder Cup Captain, Thomas Bjørn.

The Tournament will take place within King Abdullah Economic City at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, which is situated along the Red Sea coastline.

H.E . Yasir A l-Rumay yan, Chairman of the Saudi Golf Federation commented: “We have ambitious plans to accelerate golf development in the Kingdom, with a special focus on juniors and families, and this event will play a key role in

our plans. The Tournament will provide an important platform for us to showcase Saudi Arabia’s many assets to the world.”

A chuffed Johnson said: “I am excited to make my first trip to Saudi Arabia and support this historic new event. It sounds like some amazing things are happening there... It’s an honour to be part of Saudi Arabia’s golf journey from the onset.”

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “We are delighted to have Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Paul Casey and Thomas Bjørn in the field for our first professional golf tournament in Saudi Arabia.

“Royal Greens Golf and Country Club is a spectacular venue, with world-class facilities, and our players are going to absolutely love playing there.”

European Tour’s Access All Areas Wins Prestigious Award The European Tour’s innovative content during the Rolex Series was recognised at the 17th BT Sport Industry Awards at Battersea Evolution in London, with the Access All Areas series taking home the trophy in the Social Media Campaign of the Year category.

The European Tour triumphed in a category which included campaigns from adidas Football, ATP Media, Bauer Media and the International Netball Federation.

The Access All Areas series encompasses the European Tour’s most popular videos,

featuring some of golf’s biggest stars taking on ambitious challenges and pranks, including the Aaron’s Big Day, Fastest Hole of Golf, Awkward Reporter and Bad Coaching.

The series was developed as part of the European Tour’s commitment to the global transformation of the game, by creating innovative and engaging content to capture the imagination of fans everywhere and grow the appeal of the game.

Rufus Hack, Chief Content Officer at the European Tour, said: “This is a fantastic recognition of the commitment of the

content team at the European Tour to push the boundaries and showcase the character of our players to a wider audience.

“A huge amount of work goes into each and every one of these videos, from idea generation to executing the concepts at high profile events in different corners of the world, to delivering the finished product, and I would like to applaud the efforts of the entire team. Our thanks also go to the players, whose enthusiasm and belief in what we are aiming to do has made the Access All Areas series what it is today.”

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On the European Tour

Ireland Storm To GolfSixes Victory Over France

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reland — represented by the duo of Paul Dunne and Gavin Moynihan — won the 2018 GolfSixes with a 2-0 victory over France in the final, following a brilliant display on day two at Centurion Club.

25-year-old Dunne and 23-year-old Moynihan were the final wildcard entrants into the second edition of the innovative event and lost just one of their six matches in St Albans. The only match Ireland lost all week was, incidentally, to the French team of MikeLorenzo Vera and Romain Wattel in the group stages.

While the Vera and Wattel made two birdies of their own in the final, they simply could not keep pace with the Irish pair.

D unne and M oynihan played together on the victorious Walker Cup team in 2015 but have had differing fortunes since turning professional and making their way onto the

Gavin Moynihan (L) and Paul Dunne of Ireland with the GolfSixes winners trophy

WITH TEAMS OF TWO COMPETING OVER SIX HOLES IN A GREENSOMES MATCH PLAY FORMAT, GOLFSIXES SHOOK UP THE GOLFING WORLD IN ITS DEBUT SEASON IN 2017...

European Tour. While Dunne won the British Masters last season, Moynihan will be hoping this victory proves to be a springboard to success.

"When you have the tricolour

besides your name it becomes a little bit more serious," said Dunne. "We're happy to represent Ireland well, have a nice trophy under the belt and it kind of sets well to kick on for the rest

of the season.

Ladies European Tour professional Mel Reid declared the 2018 GolfSixes a huge success for the women's game after two female teams advanced to the quarter-finals at Centurion Club. "I think it's a huge success for women's golf," she said. "We've hopefully opened a few more eyes to women's golf and that we can compete and that we are pretty good at what we do and we work very hard at what we do. Hopefully it's inspired not just a few more young girls but young guys and men, women, all over to take up the game.

That's ultimately what we want to do.”

With teams of two competing over six holes in a greensomes match play format, GolfSixes shook up the golfing world in its debut season in 2017 (when Denmark defeated Australia) and it continued to break new ground in its second edition.

Mel Reid of Europe Women tees off on the 1st hole during day two of the GolfSixes at The Centurion Club

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European Tour Store Visit the Official Online Store today for a large range of merchandise including clothing and accessories.

Get 10% OFF

your next online order, simply enter code

EUROTOUR10 at the checkout. shop.europeantour.com

On the PGA Tour

s celebrates with Webb Simpson of the United State green his caddie Paul Tesori on the 18th

Simpson Dominates

PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP 32-year-old romps through field for first TOUR victory since 2013

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On the PGA Tour

A

steady hand on the golf course ended with a steady hand holding THE PLAYERS Championship’s crystal trophy for 32-year-old Webb Simpson.

Backed by the lofty cushion he initially established from Friday’s second-round 63, Simpson navigated the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course with ease. He fought off a slew of contenders over the final 18 holes, but his 1-over 73 was still more than enough to win by four strokes over a trio of players. The American finished at 18-under for the tournament.

“It was tough. Being in that position was a lot harder than I thought,” Simpson said. “You always want to be leading going into the final round, and you would think leading by seven is great, but it’s hard to stay motivated and to continue doing what you’ve been doing. I had a good morning this morning and was able to get it done.”

With the win, Simpson becomes the ninth player to win both the U.S. Open and PL AYERS Championship, joining such players as Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Tiger Woods. His first victory in 107 starts—the last coming in 2013—delivered him U.S. $1.98 million in purse winnings and 600 FedEx Cup points, which helped him jump 28 spots, to No. 8 in the standings.

But perhaps more importantly, it delivered an emotional Mother’s Day win to Simpson’s mom, Debbie, whose husband, Sam, died last November from Lewy Body Dementia. Debbie watched her son win from her home in Raleigh, N.C. “I thought about him all day,” Simpson said of his father.

“I think it’s been an emotional week for my mom, sisters and brother, and we miss him like crazy. I really wanted to do this for my mom. She’s been praying for me, so this was for her.”

Woods was one of a handful of brief contenders at the outset of Sunday play to ultimately s u c c u m b t o S i m p s o n’s insurmountable lead. He stirred some early drama when a frontnine 32 pushed him into a tie for fourth. He then moved to four shots off the lead with a birdie

Webb Simpson of the United States celebrates with the winner’s trophy

on No. 12. But a bogey on No. 14 and a double bogey on No. 17 dropped him into a tie for 11th.

“If I would have got off to a better start this week, if I would have had the game I had this weekend the beginning of the week, I would have given Webb a little bit of a run,” Woods said.

“But this week, the scoring was so low, I just didn’t do it the first two days. I didn’t take advantage of the conditions, it was warm, it wasn’t that hard and most of the guys were going low, and I just wasn’t.”

Charl Schwartzel, Jimmy Walker and Xander Schauffele all shot solid, 5-under rounds to tie for second. Australian Jason Day tied for fifth, largely due to his hole-out for eagle from the bunker on No. 9.

WITH THE WIN, SIMPSON BECOMES THE NINTH PLAYER TO WIN BOTH THE U.S. OPEN AND PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP, JOINING SUCH PLAYERS AS JACK NICKLAUS, LEE TREVINO AND TIGER WOODS. HIS FIRST VICTORY IN 107 START S—THE LAST COMING IN 2013— DELIVERED HIM U.S. $1.98 MILLION IN PURSE WINNINGS AND 600 FEDEX CUP POINTS...

“I was talking to someone earlier with the PGA [TOUR] staff saying that Webb’s playing such incredible golf he almost takes pressure off of everybody else, the most pressure was on himself,” said Schauffele, who was comp eting in his fir s t PLAYERS Championship.

“It looks like he’s going to be able to brush this one in and the rest of the field, we’re just chasing. I feel like all of us were just trying to make as many birdies as possible while he was trying to run away from everyone else.

S o, it was kind of an interesting week.”

Schauffele said it best.

This weekend belonged to Simpson, and Simpson alone.

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On the PGA Tour Xander Schauffele celebrates his one stroke victory on the 18th hole green during the final round of the 2017 TOUR Championship

The X-Man Cometh

After a breakout 2017 season, Xander Schauffele is continuing his pursuit of golf greatness

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t’s a sun-drenched April afternoon on South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island, and Xander Schauffele is signing autographs for a gaggle of fans huddled by the ninth green at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Here, removed from all of the pomp and circumstance that accompanies a meteoric rise to golf stardom, is where Schauffele feels most at ease.

“We all work hard and play for those moments,” says Schauffele, recounting the threemonth period last summer when he went from virtual no-name to household name, albeit a tough one to pronounce. “... It still hits me on the head sometimes and makes me remember and be grateful for how lucky I am to be out here.”

“He’s one of those silent killers, I guess,” jokes Austin Kaiser, who has looped for Schauffele (pronounced SHAWfa-lay) since he joined the Web. com Tour. “… When you look at his stats as a junior, he was always in the Top 25 in the nation. So I’m not really surprised, just because I know he’s one of the hardest workers out here.”

A c c o rd i n g to C h a r l e y Hoffman, an 18-year veteran and four-time TOUR winner,

Schauffele has an insatiable desire to improve. The duo has played numerous practice rounds together over the past year. Recently, Hoffman accompanied him around the Masters — where Schauffele was making his debut.

“I just tried to give him a little heads-up on the ins and outs of the golf course,” notes Hoffman.

“Some guys are timid and scared to ask questions, but he was asking me about shots, how to play the golf course and what I was thinking. Not that I have all the answers, but I have been out here a while, so I tried to give him a little ‘inside information.’”

Schauffele made the cut and eventually tied for 50th. He didn’t score as well as he’d hoped, but the experience proved beyond gratifying.

“Playing in the Masters is one of the ‘ultimate’ goals when you’re a little kid and have a club in your hand,” Schauffele said.

“So being there with my family and friends was really special.”

Schauffele’s journey to the TOUR was not easy.

For starters, he missed automatic entry and had to earn his way forward. Then, after a surprising tie for fifth in just his second start as a card-carrying

48 golf digest india | june 2018

TOUR member, he missed the cut in 7 of his next 16 events and entered the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills ranked 352 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

That’s when it all started to click as he surprised everyone to finish T5 in what was his first breakout performance.

“The turning point was definitely the U.S. Open,” Schauffele says.

“I think what it was, honestly, is that I had messed up so many times earlier in the year that it didn’t matter what week it was, it was now or never,” he continued.

“I knew if I was going to keep my TOUR card, I had to do something.”

And he did — notching his first professional victory i n J u l y 2 0 1 7, courtesy a threefoot birdie putt

ACCORDING TO CHARLEY HOFFMAN, AN 18-YEAR VETERAN AND FOUR-TIME TOUR WINNER, SCHAUFFELE HAS AN INSATIABLE DESIRE TO IMPROVE.

to clinch The Greenbrier Classic by a single stroke.

Three months later, he edged Justin Thomas — the 2017 Player of the Year Awardee — at the season-ending TOUR Championship in the FedExCup Playoffs by one stroke.

Schauffele’s rapid ascent has, obviously, fattened his wallet and increased his notoriety. Even so, he contends that life off the course hasn’t changed dramatically despite his success on it.

“I still don’t spend that much more [money] than I used to,” he professes. “Golf-wise, people might recognize me a little more often, which is cool. [But] I’ve kept a small circle, and haven’t added anyone to my team and sort of kept the same regimen.”

Schauffele’s success is very much a family affair.

“I feel like everyone in my family, at one point or another, put everything aside just to push me over the edge, to give me that extra support, love and care to help me succeed. I couldn’t be more thankful for that.”

One of Schauffele’s primary goals for the remainder of this season is to once again contend in a major. He also hopes to win another tournament to further cement his position in golf’s hierarchy.

“Obviously, when you win one, people can say it’s a fluke; when you win two, it’s not,” Schauffele says. “But I need to prove it to myself that I can do it again. Plus, it was a lot of fun.”

With that, Schauffele smiles, turns and resumes pounding balls down the practice range, envisioning where he’ll place shots around the course for the next four days. And imagining, if only for a moment, the rush of winning again on the PGA TOUR.

On the PGA Tour

TOUR SNIPPETS

Firestone Country Club will now host the SENIOR PLAYERS Championship

FINANCE GIANT ANNOUNCES 4-YEAR SPONSORSHIP

PGA TOUR ANNOUNCES BRIDGESTONE AS TITLE SPONSOR FOR SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP Bridgestone will become the title sponsor for the SENIOR PLAYERS Championship, one of five major championships contested annually on PGA TOUR Champions. The event will be played at Firestone Country Club’s South Course, ensuring professional golf’s 65-year tradition in Northeast Ohio will continue.

The 2019 tournament will be held the week of July 8-14, with a four-year agreement in place through 2022. Bridgestone also extended its Official Marketing Partner relationship with the PGA TOUR through 2022 and will remain as the “Official Tire of the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions”.

“Bridgestone has been a tremendous partner and valued member of the PGA TOUR family since 2005, and we are excited to be-

gin this new journey with them…,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan.

Along with its stature as a major championship and significance in determining the season-long Charles Schwab Cup champion, the Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS will also continue to offer its champion a return trip to the PGA TOUR with an exemption into THE PLAYERS Championship.

The Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS will replace the World Golf ChampionshipsBridgestone Invitational, which has been staged at Firestone’s South Course since 2006. The World Golf Championships event will relocate in 2019 to Memphis, Tenn., as the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

WGC-FEDEX ST. JUDE INVITATIONAL WELCOMES FEDEX AS SPONSOR FedEx will become the title sponsor for the newly-named World Golf ChampionshipsFedEx St. Jude Invitational, which will move to Memphis, Tennessee, and TPC Southwind beginning with the 2018-19 PGA TOUR season. FedEx will assume title sponsorship of the event currently known as the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, which has been staged in Akron, Ohio, since 1999.

The World Golf Championships (WGC) consistently attract the most elite and global fields of the year, with 45-50 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking teeing it up in the four annual events.

With Memphis’ hometown event taking on a new identity as a World Golf Championships event, fans will be treated to the brightest stars in the game on an annual basis.

“We look forward to working with FedEx and

continuing to grow a tournament that it has supported for 30 years and carries one of the most impactful charitable stories on the PGA TOUR,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “The PGA TOUR has had a front row seat to witnessing the impact the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has made on countless lives. We are proud to align one of our truly elite tournaments with two brands that are both globally recognized and an integral part of the Memphis community.”

Both the 2018 FedEx St. Jude Classic and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational will be contested as scheduled before the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational replaces the FedEx St. Jude Classic as Memphis’ P GA TOUR event. The dates for the 2019 tournament have yet to be determined.

Justin Thomas speaks at an announcement for the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

Charles Schwab & Co., a major sponsor on the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions, will expand its golf presence next year by assuming title sponsorship of the PGA TOUR’s Fort Worth Invitational at Colonial Country Club.

The four-year agreement will run from 2019-2022. The new tournament name and logo will be announced at a later date, as will the 2019 dates.

“We are honored to support one of the country’s premier and longest-running PGA TOUR events that is a showcase for the game’s best players and is a TOUR leader in charitable giving,” said Jonathan Craig, Senior Executive Vice President of the Charles Schwab Corporation.

The 2018 Fort Worth Invitational, through the support of various local supporters, including American Airlines, AT&T, XTO Energy Inc. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, will be held May 21-27.

“We are thrilled that Charles Schwab will become the new title sponsor of this historic tournament, which has such great tradition and strong ties to the late golf legend Ben Hogan dating to 1946,” said Andy Pazder, Chief Tournament and Competitions Officer for the PGA TOUR. “Considering Charles Schwab’s longstanding marketing relationship with the PGA TOUR and its impact as a sponsor on PGA TOUR Champions, we know it will be an equally fruitful relationship here at Colonial Country Club.”

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On the PGA Tour

ZURICH INSURANCE EXTENDS SPONSORSHIP OF ZURICH CLASSIC Zurich Insurance is renewing its sponsorship of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the partnership will now run through 2026.

Zurich became title sponsor of the tournament in 2005 and last signed an extension through 2019. Last year, the Zurich Classic became the PGA TOUR’s only official team event. The innovative format continued for this year’s tournament as the city of New Orleans celebrates its 300-year anniversary.

“New Orleans has a resilient past with a bright future, and we’re proud to extend our sponsorship of the Zurich Classic, continuing our teamwork with charitable organizations,” said Zurich North America CEO Kathleen Savio. “The Zurich Classic is a wonderful opportunity to work side by side on and off the course to create opportunities, overcome challenges and win.”

Zurich assumed sponsorship of the tournament just months before Hurricane Katrina devastated the region and its employees became deeply rooted in New Orleans’ recovery.

“I can’t say enough about the dedicated support Zurich has provided to the Fore!Kids Foundation and the New Orleans area from the outset of sponsoring the Zurich Classic of New Orleans,” PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan said. “It really has been an ideal association from the outset, when Zurich became so entrenched in the recovery process following Hurricane Katrina.”

Pat Perez tees off during the final round of the Zurich Classic

JIM NANTZ NAMED 2018 AMBASSADOR OF GOLF Legendary golf broadcaster Jim Nantz has been named the 2018 recipient of the Ambassador of Golf Award, presented annually by Northern Ohio Golf Charities to a person who fosters the ideals of the game and whose concern for others extends beyond the golf course.

“I truly consider this to be one of the greatest honors of my career,” Nantz said. “...

The game of golf has been a blessing in my life and to be able to live out the childhood dream of covering the PGA TOUR, well, I’m a lucky man.”

Nantz, who joined the PGA TOUR on CBS in 1986, will be honored at Firestone Country Club on August 1. “… Jim Nantz as the legendary voice of Golf on CBS has played an enormously important role in bringing the PGA TOUR into millions of homes each week from his familiar perch in 18 tower,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “It is truly fitting he receives the 2018 Ambassador of Golf Award, as there is no better ambassador we have in this game than Jim Nantz.

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Jim Nantz of PGA TOUR on CBS interviews Jack Nicklaus (R) during the 2016 Memorial Tournament

“JIM NANTZ HAS PLAYED AN ENORMOUSLY IMPORTANT ROLE IN BRINGING THE PGA TOUR INTO MILLIONS OF HOMES” — JAY MONAHAN, PGA TOUR COMMISSIONER

Beyond golf, he has done tremendous work in the funding, research and awareness of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease through the Nantz National Alzheimer Center in Houston. We are proud to call him a friend and we salute him on this distinguished and much-deserved honor.”

FOLLOW THE RACE FOR THE FEDEXCUP ALL SEASON LONG

COVERAGE AVAILABLE ON

© 2017 PGA TOUR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Player appearance subject to change.

MAKE THE ONES THAT MATTER Draining the big putt is one part attitude, one part routine by pau l a cr e a m e r

A

w i t h k e e ly l e v i n s

lot of amateurs, and even some pros, treat mustmake putts like they’re standing over a six-footer to win the U.S. Open. You can see the anxiety building in their pre-putt routine. The feeling can be so overwhelming that by the time they address the ball, it turns into an out-of-body experience. Not me. I won a U.S. Open, and it wasn’t because I let the gravity of the week override what I normally do. When I walk up to a putt I have to make, I’m taking even breaths and staying calm. I stick with the routine I have for every other putt, because focusing on that actually reduces stress. That’s why you have a routine—so that no matter the situation, every putt feels the same. That’s the basis of my first piece of advice to help you make the ones that matter: Do your best to treat them no differently than any other putts. Here are some other tips to help you on the green. ▶

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‘ i f yo u l e t t h e p r e ss u r e o f t h e s i t u at i o n a lt e r y o u r r o u t i n e , y o u ’ r e p r o b a b ly t o a s t. ’

Photographs by Dom Furore at The Golden Bear Club at Keene’s Pointe

make your routine anything but there’s no prototype for a pre-putt routine. Just make sure you get the most out of whatever you’re doing. For me, it starts with being confident with my read.

I quickly walk around my ball and the hole looking at the line from every angle.

Notice I said quickly. A lot of amateurs spend too much time looking at the line.

If you overanalyze how the putt will break, you might second-guess yourself and lose confidence. Remember, your first look is usually the right one.

The next thing I do is get behind the ball and visualize the speed I need to get it to

the hole. I’ve seen golfers get so wrapped up in reading the break, they forget that the read doesn’t matter if the ball is moving too fast or too slow. When we play in pro-ams, I always tell my partners to switch to speed after they get the line. One drill I do every day to improve my feel is picking spots on the fringe and hitting putts that die right at the edge of the green.

Back to my pre-putt routine: Once I’ve got the speed, I set the ball down with my Pink Panther logo pointing down the line I’ve chosen. Having something familiar to look at can calm your nerves and remind you that it’s just another putt. I then take two practice strokes behind the ball and look at the line I’ve chosen one

last time. You might notice that my grip is conventional (below). I’ve tried others, and you should, too. Find the grip where you feel like you’re not going to hold on too tight and make a handsy stroke (more on that in a minute).

The last thing I do before I take the club back is make sure I’m not pushing down on the putterhead. It’s a bad tendency that can make the clubhead twist open or closed when I take it back. To avoid that, I think about having soft hands and keeping the pressure of the putterhead light against the ground. This also is a great feeling to have, because it relieves tension that might be building as a result of the magnitude of the putt you’re facing.

c h o o s e w h at e v e r g r i p a l l o w s y o u t o h o l d t h e c l u b l i g h t ly, s o i t c a n r e l e a s e t h r o u g h t h e b a l l .

‘DON’T BE TOO ANXIOUS TO SEE THE OUTCOME OR YOU’LL MISS. HIT THE PUTT, WAIT A BEAT, THEN IT’S OK TO LOOK AT THE BALL.’ to have when hitting these putts is one I use myself: Keep the putterhead low throughout the stroke (below). This helps keep your mind on the process of making a good, controlled stroke and prevents you from trying to steer the putt or looking up too soon to see if it’s going in. No matter how important the putt is, this swing thought makes you feel like you’re just rolling the ball on the practice green. And when the ball rattles around the bottom of the cup, it makes one of the sweetest sounds a golfer can ever hear.

about paula creamer has 10 wins on the LPGA Tour, including the 2010 U.S. Open. t h e m o s t i m p o r ta n t t h i n g t o m a k i n g a p u t t i s h av i n g t h e fac e s q ua r e to t h e l i n e at i m p a c t. m y g at e d r i l l h e l p s t r a i n t h at ( a b o v e ) . a g r e at s w i n g t h o u g h t t o s tay c o m m i t t e d i s k e e p the putterhead low (right).

control the stroke i mentioned avoiding a handsy stroke.

Trust me, it isn’t reliable. You should be using the bigger muscles in the shoulders to move the putter back and forth. Those muscles are going to hold you steady on those must-make putts. My putting style is straight back and straight through. It’s the easiest way for me to keep the face square at impact, which will get the ball rolling on the line I chose. I like to do a drill where I put one tee on either side of the putterhead at address—like a gate—and hit putts trying to get the club to pass through the gate. If I strike a tee, I know the clubface wasn’t square at impact.

I began this article by telling you how important it is to treat these crucial putts like they were no different than any other. This last piece of advice brings us full circle. The final thought I want you june 2018 | golf digest india

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STRAIGHT SHOOTER How to drive it in the fairway again and again by jor da n spi et h

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ou’re driving it great, scoring well, then somewhere in the middle of the back nine you spray a couple tee shots. That’s all it takes to ruin a round. Were they mental errors from getting tight or nervous?

Only you know the answer. More likely your body just got a little tired. That’s when every golfer’s undesirable tendencies come out, mine included.

Knowing this, I perform nearly all of my physical-training exercises from a golf stance. Having the strength in your legs and core to maintain posture throughout the swing is important with every club, but absolutely critical with the driver. It has the longest shaft, and you swing it the fastest, so even small misses can travel 30 yards off line. ▶ In this article, I’ll explain my bad tendencies and the swing thoughts I use to avoid them. Additionally, to be a great driver, it’s important to swing within yourself. It’s easy for players on tour to know when they’re getting jumpy, because there are more and more launch monitors on tournament tee boxes nowadays—and you can’t help but look. My driver swing speed is 115 miles per hour, which gets me 293 yards of carry. I can swing harder, but then I can lose control.

Carrying the ball 300, but into trouble, isn’t worth much. I don’t offer this to brag—there are plenty of guys on tour who bomb it way past me—but I think all golfers, especially amateurs, suffer now and then from chasing those extra couple miles per hour of swing speed. ▶ And, as any success I’ve had has demonstrated, consistently driving the ball in play is a weapon all it’s own. Here’s how to do it. ▶ 56 golf digest india | june 2018

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with ma x adler

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Photographs by Walter Iooss Jr.

‘HOW DO YOU KNOW I MADE A FULL TURN? YOU CAN’T SEE MY RIGHT ARM IN THIS PHOTO.’ lead with the hip

tilt the shoulders

if i get a little tired, my right hip slides away from the target on the takeaway, then buckles. The ideal position is above. My right hip is pivoting—not swaying—so my backswing feels like my upper body turns over my lower body. You can tell I’ve made a deep shoulder turn, because you can’t see my right arm. That’s the directive from my coach, Cameron McCormick: “Hide the right arm, Jordan.”

But I don’t think about that arm or my upper body during the backswing. Instead, if I can feel my right hip and glutes activated (you’ve probably heard Tiger talk about this; it’s truly a useful concept), I know my upper body will follow and find the right position at the top of the swing.

from this perspective (left), you can see how my right hip really turns behind and away. As I emphasized, this move with the lower body is the trigger to my backswing. But another point worth mentioning is that you can see my left shoulder is lower than my right. An image that sometimes pops into my head for the top of the swing is, if my shoulders were the wings of an airplane, the left wing would be angled down and the right wing up. And with my chest turned completely away from the target, I’ve created a lot of space to swing down and attack the ball from inside the target line and hit up on it.

This path will produce the high, drawing ball flight I prefer.

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wing down

follow the flight

if you’re watching a tournament and see me miss a tee shot way right, it’s likely my right shoulder lifted in the downswing. When that happens, the club comes down steep and to the left, which is the classic over-the-top move that makes the ball peel off to the right. Returning to the airplane-wing metaphor I used for the top of the backswing, a great thought for the transition is an early change in wing positions. To start the downswing, let that right airplane wing (your back shoulder) angle down toward the ball as the left shoulder moves up. As you see (right), my right shoulder is way lower than my left, which promotes the clubhead to travel on a shallow, inside path. Again, that’s the recipe for a draw.

remember when i said it’s all about keeping your posture? The finish position is the big reveal. If I don’t hold my finish— poised and still like a figurine atop a trophy—I know it was a sloppy swing.

The slightest wobble means I got lazy or swung too hard. I love the image below.

My right shoulder and belt buckle are pointing at the target, which indicates a full and committed follow-through.

And you can tell from my eyes that I’m following the shot. A great habit is to hold your finish until the ball lands. If it’s difficult to stay in balance for these few seconds, you’ve got work to do on your core strength. But if your ball is tracking center cut, admire it for a moment. OK, that’s long enough. Now pick up your tee.

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‘HOLD YOUR FINISH UNTIL THE BALL LANDS. IF IT’S DIFFICULT TO KEEP YOUR BALANCE FOR THESE FEW SECONDS, YOU SWUNG TOO HARD OR GOT LAZY.’

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★★ ★

don’t mess this up IT’S CRUCIAL THAT THE USGA GETS IT RIGHT AT SHINNECOCK

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b y g u y yo c o m

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raymond floyd, who won the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in 1986 and is a longtime member there, placed a phone call to Mike Davis, the USGA’s executive director, shortly after last year’s Open at Erin Hills. Facing Erin’s 7,800-plus yards but massively wide fairways—60 yards in some cases—players whaled away with impunity when typical winds failed to blow. In the final round, winner Brooks Koepka hit his tee shot on the 18th hole 379 yards—with a 3-wood. Floyd, a close observer of a Shinnecock Hills that in recent years had become considerably wider than in Opens played in ’86, ’95 and 2004—and planned that way for 2018—was aghast. ▶ “I said, ‘Mike, we need to have a chat,’ ” recalls Floyd, at age 75 retired but still an influential voice.“I asked him, ‘Were you happy with the [fairway widths] at Erin Hills?

I don’t think you were.’ Mike told me he absolutely was not. I said, ‘Well, it’s going to be on steroids at Shinnecock, because it doesn’t move and flow as much. You’ve got it dead wide, and we’ve had three really good U.S. Opens here with it tight and narrow.’ ” ▶ ▶ ▶ Photographs by Dom Furore

★★ ★ t h e p a r - 4 1 0 t h , n o w s l i g h t ly l o n g e r at 4 1 5 ya r d s , w a s t h e h a r d e s t h o l e i n the final round of the 2004 open, w h e n t h e f i e l d av e r a g e d 5 . 0 3 s t r o k e s .

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The alert from Floyd, combined with conversations Davis had with smart people in golf, must have set off internal alarms.

His reaction, expressed in action more than words, was almost immediate. Within weeks, the USGA undertook dramatic alterations to Shinnecock Hills. It was highly unusual, because the changes were performed so close to the championship and not long after a three-year Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw restoration had concluded with the USGA and Shinnecock feeling more than satisfied.

The tale of what happened, and why, is illustrative of the USGA’s willingness to act in response to the changing character of the modern game. It also points up the need for the USGA to get this U.S. Open right. Stung by a long roll call of controversies and missteps in U.S. Opens, its leadership on the equipment front constantly under fire, and with critical eyes riveted on a modernized Rules of Golf rolling out in 2019, it’s imperative that USGA officials deliver a national championship we’ll remember for the right reasons. To put it bluntly, it’s important that they not mess this up.

The return to Shinnecock Hills intensifies the urgency. This U.S. Open is no bold, happy experiment, as was the case when the U.S. Open went to Bethpage, a public course, in 2002. It’s not an effort to prove that a historic but short course could hold a U.S. Open, a key subtext when it was played at Merion in 2013. Nor is it a populist effort to take a U.S. Open to newish courses and locales, as was the case with Chambers Bay in 2015 and Erin Hills last year. Shinnecock Hills is the real deal, hallowed ground not only to the USGA but students of the game and entities the USGA needs to have in its corner. Not unimportant are the commercial interests, including Fox Sports, now in its fourth year of televising the U.S. Open. The events of a mini-disaster at Shinnecock during its last hosting in 2004 notwithstanding, this is the last place where a serious misstep should elicit from the USGA the light-sounding phrase, “We deserve a bogey on that one.”

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a gloried past, but a stumble in 2004

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nsurpassed as a U.S. Open test, Shinnecock is one of five founding-member clubs of the USGA. It opened in 1891, and in 1896, the second U.S. Open ever was played there. Its early design iterations were completely redone by William Flynn in 1931. After many carefree decades as a hidden but respected gem—the club is seasonal, teeming with wealth and not particularly ambitious about being in the spotlight—Shinnecock burst to prominence in the 1986 U.S. Open, when Floyd triumphed before a thrilled local and national audience. The championPhotograph by First Lastname

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★★ ★ t h e g r e e n at t h e 1 5 9 -ya r d 1 1 t h h o l e , w i t h t h e t e e s t o t h e 4 6 9 -ya r d 1 2 t h h o l e t o t h e l e f t.

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‘DID ERIN HILLS INFLUENCE US? ABSOLUTELY. . . .

THERE WASN’T ENOUGH OF A PREMIUM ON ACCURACY.’

★★ ★ t h e pa r - 5 1 6 t h wa s t h e e a s i e st h o l e i n t h e f i n a l r o u n d o f t h e 2 0 0 4 u . s . o p e n ( 4 . 8 0 3 s t r o k e av e r a g e ) , b u t i t ’ s 6 1 6 ya r d s t o d ay v e r s u s 5 4 0 ya r d s t h e n .

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ship returned in 1995 with Corey Pavin the winner, then again in 2004 when Retief Goosen prevailed over Phil Mickelson. The 2004 tournament was tainted because of dreadful, rock-hard conditions in the final round, a USGA-perpetrated error that Pavin calls “a mini-disaster, maybe a major one.”

But Shinnecock emerged intact. The 2017-’18 edition of Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest Courses in America ranking has it behind only Pine Valley, Augusta National and Cypress Point.

Shinnecock is unique. Playing to a par of 70, the course at its best is stark, mostly exposed and a bit wild, in mid-summer a gold and pale-green throwback to seaside golf at its most original. Its fairways, no two of which run parallel, are a mix of flattish, bending runs and subtle roller coasters. Its many bunkers, some there for beauty but most strategically positioned, are a little evil. The course is sand-based and bouncy, naturally fast and firm, and almost always wind-swept. Its four par 3s are staggeringly diverse. As a U.S. Open test it is insanely hard but fair. Looking down from the incredible Stanford White clubhouse, which summons images from a P.G. Wodehouse golf story, you see a course that is rough around the edges but pure within. Everything about it conveys a sort of frugal opulence, much like the old-world legacy individuals you might encounter on New York’s eastern Long Island.

The design, timeless and fiendishly creative, defies attempts by the player to overwhelm it. Get out of line, and Shinnecock, like an 1890s parochial-school headmaster, will take a ruler to your knuckles.

Pavin, his language as inventive as his shot-making, calls the look, “Shinnecockian. . . . It’s distinctive in the way it looks and plays. In 1995, there was just enough moisture to hold a slightly green color. I’d played a lot of courses by that point and had seen courses that were somewhat Shinnecockian, but there was nothing like Shinnecock.” ▶ june 2018 | golf digest india

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‘THE NEW TEES ARE SO FAR BACK, I DIDN’T KNOW IMMEDIATELY WHICH HOLES THEY WERE INTENDED FOR.’

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ike all courses its age, Shinnecock has required upkeep and some updating. The most dramatic work occurred beginning in 2012, when Coore and Crenshaw were called in to perform a restoration the club felt was necessary to keep the course faithful to Flynn’s design.

With the USGA and board members at Shinnecock monitoring closely, Coore restored lines and angles to the fairways from 10 new tees, chosen by Mike Davis. Bunkers and other Flynn features that had become obsolete in the face of driving-distance increases were back in play. The tees, on holes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 16 and 18, stretched the championship yardage to 7,445 yards, well up from 6,996 yards in 2004. Trees and underbrush were removed, making the open terrain even airier. Every green was expanded, the original contours left intact, but the shapes more closely duplicating Flynn’s greens as seen in aerial photos from 1938.

“I wouldn’t call it a restoration,” Coore says. “We made very minor alterations, not nearly on the order as what we did at Pinehurst, Maidstone and Old Town. We mainly polished, tried to ensure that alignments worked well from the tees. We did do significant work on the right side of the [par-4] sixth hole. It’s at a low point, and the vegetation there had become prohibitively thick. We restored it to a more sandy character. But to be honest, I don’t think we’re even a footnote to the story there.”

Coore’s low-key summation is understandable, in view of what came next. After Davis spoke with Floyd and other golf-savvy individuals he chooses not to name, a substantial narrowing of the fairways occurred, in golf terms, almost overnight. Under the supervision of Shinnecock’s superintendent, Jon Jennings, a crew of 75 workers, toiling 15 hours per day from Sept. 17-25, removed an estimated 200,000 square feet of turf— almost five acres—from the sides of fairways and replaced it with strips of fescue sod sheared from Shinnecock’s nine-hole par-3 course and unused areas on the main course.

It also was seeded with a fescue strain as

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changes add 449 yards

★★ ★ in this view looking north, yo u c a n s e e t h e f r o n t n i n e o n t h e l e f t a n d t h e b a c k n i n e o n t h e r i g h t.

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close to Shinnecock’s as they could find. The target areas for narrowing primarily were the anticipated landing areas for pros, 275 to 325 yards from the tees on the longer holes. For the U.S. Open June 14-17, the fairways transition to a band of fine fescue, followed by the wild stuff—the knee-high fescue and bluestem grass.

It was quite an adjustment, and Davis acknowledges that what he’d seen in Wisconsin last June played no small role in the decision. “Did Erin Hills influence us? Absolutely,” he says. “We went into Erin Hills anticipating wind, and with the firmness there, felt we had to present more width so players could keep balls in the fairway. Looking back, there wasn’t enough of a premium on accuracy.”

Davis points out that the narrowing is not especially draconian. “The average fairway width [at Shinnecock] in 2004 was 26.6 yards, the narrowest 25 yards, the widest 30 yards,” he says. “The average now is 41.6 yards. That’s 15 yards wider, a full 50 percent.

On the other hand, it’s substantially narrower than what Bill Coore and the club had. We

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felt if we didn’t narrow it some, the one element the course wouldn’t have was accuracy.

I’d just point out that it will be the widest of the Shinnecock U.S. Opens.”

Coore says Davis’ narrowing wasn’t a rebuke of his previous work. “I don’t view it in a negative light at all,” he says. “I don’t think there’s any question that the last couple of U.S. Opens showed Mike some things that made them feel further alterations were necessary. The game is a learning curve that never stops.”

The par-4 18th hole, where Pavin clinched his title in 1995 with a 4-wood shot to the final green, might be the best example of how Shinnecock’s width has evolved. In a walking tour of the course last fall, Jeff Hall, the USGA’s managing director of rules and championships, said that the fairway

★★ ★ s h i n n e c o c k i s 7 , 4 4 5 ya r d s , up from 6,996 in 2004, but after l ast year’s u.s. open, t h e f a i r w ay s w e r e p i n c h e d even tighter.

in 2004 was 30 yards wide. After the CooreCrenshaw restoration, it ballooned to 52.

Today, it’s 42. Says Davis: “A learned person could make the argument that there’s still too much width at Shinnecock. Time will tell on that, but given what we know about the weather and our experiences there over the years, it should be an incredible test of golf.”

The narrowing is only one of several steps the USGA and the club have taken that seem to have made Shinnecock immune from setup errors. The additional 449 yards, combined with its narrowness, are potent weapons that will prevent longer hitters from hammering the course into submission—Floyd’s fear.

“I played Shinnecock with a member two years ago, and the new tees are so far back, I didn’t know immediately which holes they were intended for,” says David Eger, who was the USGA’s senior director of rules and competitions for the 1995 U.S. Open. “Trust me, the course is plenty long.” The rough, according to Davis, will be four inches long, “I have no concern about that,” he says.

Then there are the green complexes, the

source of the nightmare in 2004. Despite the course already being on the edge that year, the greens were rolled on Saturday night, deprived of water and, with a dry wind erupting Sunday from the northwest—the prevailing winds are off the Atlantic Ocean from the southeast—several greens went over the edge. “I remember hitting a short pitch to the first hole that year,” Pavin says. “I struck it cleanly, yet the ball took one huge bounce, then went off the back of the green. It was shocking.”

The 189-yard seventh green was the most notorious. Less than one tee shot in five held the green. The first two players to come through, J.J. Henry and Kevin Stadler, both made triple bogeys. Billy Mayfair, in the second pairing, putted into a bunker. The USGA hand-watered greens between groups, the first time it had ever done so to allow play to continue. This was viewed as unfair to the early groups that had suffered the worst of it.

Syringing during play has been done for the health of the greens (former USGA executive director David Fay points to Southern Hills in 2001). But to simply allow the competition to continue, no.

“That was at the height of the USGA’s infatuation with firm and fast,” says Fay, who in 2004 had the job Davis holds now. “We learned that there were limits to firm and fast. We learned the hard way, and it wasn’t pretty. There was a lot of finger-pointing, our version of the Grassy Knoll.”

Not that there wasn’t room for some dark humor. On the seventh tee, Fred Funk and his caddie, Mark Long, watched Mickelson deliberately hit into a greenside bunker, which, incredibly, seemed to provide the best chance at making par. “I said to Fred, ‘That’s definitely the play,’ ” Long recalls.

Funk nodded, but as he got ready to play, he walked back to the bag. “Fred whispered, ‘I just can’t make myself aim at sand on a par 3,’ ” Long says. Funk wound up playing the hole conventionally and made a double bogey. Mickelson, after playing the simplest of bunker shots, made par.

It wasn’t only the greens. Shots that came up short on the par-4 10th hole rolled absurdly back down the fairway, a bad caricature of the ninth at Augusta. A caddie for one of the contenders that year recalls the player trying to tee a ball on the practice range, only to have the tee snap in half. “He said, ‘You know you’re in trouble when they lose control of the range,’ ” the caddie laughs.

It’s all but impossible for a course-setup disaster like that one to occur today. The seventh green, like all at Shinnecock, is larger now, allowing for challenging hole locations but few apocalypse-inducing ones, such as occurred there 2004, as well as at the 18th greens at Olympic in 1998 and the poor choice at No. 18 at Southern Hills in

2001 (also won by Goosen). “Trouble historically almost always can be traced to hole locations,” Fay says. “Given a choice, it’s probably best to go with the location that is more benign. Nobody will ever go down in infamy for setting a ho-hum spot. . . . It’s a strange threshold, but you want to avoid cutting a hole that can wind up on a video.

Social media is not always kind that way.”

It’s not lost on Eger that some people actually root for a setup feature to go over the edge. “Three factions expect mistakes,” he says. “The players, who aren’t familiar with the rules officials, volunteers and staff, have a sensitive eye for things not done just right.

They’ll always be mad about something; it’s just a matter of the noise level. There’s the media, which actually roots for something to go wrong so they have something to write

‘WE LEARNED THE HARD WAY [2004 AT SHINNECOCK], AND IT WASN’T PRETTY. . . .

OUR VERSION OF THE GRASSY KNOLL.’ about. Then there’s the public. They in general like to see players struggle, to be kicked around like they are at their home course.”

But other safeguards already are in place.

Although most of Shinnecock’s greens will have roll-off areas suggestive of Pinehurst, the seventh green and three others (3, 8 and 12) will feature collars of moderate length to prevent balls from rolling into bunkers and other crazy instances where punishments outweigh the crime.

Perhaps most important, agronomy and maintenance practices have advanced exponentially since 2004. The advent of the TruFirm device that measures firmness, another instrument that measures soil moisture and yet another that monitors evaporation, are remarkable tools. These, in combination with improved weather forecasting, will allow superintendent Jennings, already regarded as a wizard, and Darin Bevard, the USGA’s director of championship agronomy, to control conditions with precision.

But Shinnecock is not Augusta National, which has far more intimate knowledge and control of its course than the USGA does as a visitor. Davis at one point in our conversation noted, “We don’t own the golf course, and certainly we’re not architects.” But science, in concert with experience and a solid working relationship with Shinnecock in place since the 2018 U.S. Open was announced in 2011, should ensure a safe passage.

Could anything else go wrong? Of course.

Rules administration must be swift and accurate, in the event of a quirky episode such as Dustin Johnson’s ball moving on the green as he stood near it preparing to putt at Oakmont in 2016. Johnson was deemed to have caused the ball to move and received a one-stroke penalty that, under rules now in effect, wouldn’t result in a penalty at all. It wasn’t just the apparent subjectivity of the rule that was at issue, but the USGA officials’ uncertainty and delay in enforcing it. Would they administer more efficiently now? The USGA and Shinnecock also need to be wary of areas that could loom as hot spots, such as an ancient, waste-like bunker short and to the left of the green at the par-5 fifth hole.

A photo of it indicates it being neither fish nor fowl, bunker-wise. Dustin Johnson again comes to mind, with that awful instance on the final hole at Whistling Straits in the 2010 PGA Championship. How to handle weather warnings if a nasty summer thunderstorm rumbles in? Still there as a reminder is the 1991 U.S. Open at Hazeltine, when a spectator was killed by a lightning strike.

All of these issues don’t seem to have gotten the better of Davis, who has been with the USGA in different hands-on capacities since 1990. He seems exhilarated by the return to Shinnecock. “I feel no tenseness about everything coming off perfectly,” he says. “I’m completely honest on that. These great golf courses are like children. I love them all, but I confess to being especially fond of this one. I love Shinnecock’s history and architecture, and I’m praying that whatever is left over from 2004 can be put to rest.”

When presented with the idea that a lapse of some kind at Shinnecock could cost the USGA on the other areas it oversees—rules and equipment being the most high-profile— Davis said, “If we perform really well here, it can have a positive effect on how well we do in other areas. Conversely, if we err in an area of governance, it detracts from what we do at our championships. Our mission—our North Star—is to make the game better.”

In a perfect world, we see an unforgettable conclusion to the U.S. Open at grand old Shinnecock Hills, capped perhaps by Davis putting in a call to Raymond Floyd on Sunday evening with the greeting, “So how’d we do?” Knowing in advance that the reply will be a hearty, “Well done.” june 2018 | golf digest india

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★★ ★ bobby jones won the 1929 u.s. open p l ayo f f b y 2 3 s t r o k e s , b u t u n d e r t h e n e w f o r m at, h e c o u l d h av e l o s t.

rewriting history NOW THAT THE USGA HAS GONE FROM 18 HOLES TO TWO FOR U.S. OPEN PLAYOFFS, WE LOOK BACK ON WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. BY DAN JENKINS ▶ When the USGA announced this year that it was going to switch to a twohole playoff and sudden death thereafter to determine future winners of the U.S. Open in case of a tie after 72 holes, those who usually follow the championship on TV had a perfect excuse to go happily singing and dancing into the night. No longer would they be forced to call in sick at work to watch the 18-hole playoff on Monday. Unless of course it involved Al Watrous versus Aubrey Boomer. Who would care? ▶ I, however, slumped over in regret when the news hit that after 123 years of 18-hole playoffs, five playoffs of 36 holes, and one of 72 holes, the winner of the grand old Open title has suddenly been reduced to what might as well be a coin flip no matter who’s involved. And obviously for television. ▶ It sent me staggering back into the past to see how the two-hole playoff and sudden death might have changed history. Immediate finding: In a shocking 15 of the U.S. Open’s 33 playoffs—hold still—a different winner emerges. ▶ Pardon me for suggesting that these results would have had a profound effect on the game’s illustrious history. But consider:

▶ On the sixth hole of sudden death, Harry Vardon beats Francis Ouimet at Brookline in 1913, killing one of the great golf stories of all time. Ouimet lives the rest of his life as a bartender. ▶ Instead of Bobby Jones beating Al Espinosa by 23 strokes in their 36-hole playoff at Winged Foot in 1929, Espinosa wins the first two holes to hoist the Open trophy.

A year later, Espinosa wins the Grand Slam. Jones retires to practice law. The Masters is never created. ▶ The golf world is saved the agony of enduring its only 72hole playoff when George Von

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1994

Elm defeats Billy Burke on the first two holes in 1931 at Inverness. Celebrations break out all over Toledo. ▶ After so many heartbreaks, Sam Snead finally wins the Open in the two-hole playoff over Lew Worsham at St. Louis Country Club in 1947. The world rejoices. The Slammer is no longer a four-time Open runner-up. ▶ Lloyd Mangrum becomes No. 1 on the FBI’s Public Enemy list when he ruins Ben Hogan’s comeback at Merion in 1950 by winning after two holes of the playoff. Hy Peskin’s famous photo of Hogan’s shot to the 72nd hole never makes print.

Mangrum escapes capture.

Last heard of living somewhere near Auckland, New Zealand. ▶ After blowing a seven-stroke lead in the final nine holes of regulation, Arnold Palmer outlasts Billy Casper on the fourth hole of the playoff at Olympic in 1966 to claim his second Open. The world rejoices again. National holiday declared. ▶ The USGA calls an urgent meeting to discuss the shocking new winners of the Open, a list that now includes Bobby Cruickshank, Jacky Cupit, Loren Roberts and Mark Brooks. Name change of tournament suggested.

Under further review, Jack Fleck still beats Hogan at Olympic in ’55, so that nightmare continues, largely at my expense.

74 golf digest india | june 2018

▶ A list of the results of all 33 U.S. Open playoffs, and how the new two-hole aggregate-score format could have affected the outcomes (asterisks show years where the new format would have produced a different winner):

2008 Tiger Woods over Rocco Mediate on the 19th hole after both shot 71 in the playoff. New format: Woods wins in two holes.

2001* Retief Goosen over Mark Brooks, 7072. New format: Brooks wins in three holes.

1994* Ernie Els (above) over Loren Roberts in 20 holes after both shot 74 (Colin Montgomerie eliminated after 78).

New format: Roberts wins in two holes.

1991 Payne Stewart over Scott Simpson, 7577. New format: Stewart wins in two holes.

1990 Hale Irwin over Mike Donald in 19 holes after both shot 74.

New format: Irwin wins in four holes.

1988 Curtis Strange over Nick Faldo, 71-75.

New format: Strange wins in three holes.

1984 Fuzzy Zoeller over Greg Norman, 67-75.

New format: Zoeller wins in two holes.

1975 Lou Graham over John Mahaffey, 7173. New format: Graham wins in two holes.

1971 Lee Trevino over Jack Nicklaus, 68-71.

New format: Trevino wins in three holes.

1966* Billy Casper over Arnold Palmer, 69-73. New format: Palmer wins in four holes.

1965 Gary Player over Kel Nagle, 71-74.

New format: Player wins in two holes.

1963* Julius Boros (70) over Jacky Cupit (73) and Arnold Palmer (76).

New format: Cupit wins in two holes.

1962 Jack Nicklaus over Arnold Palmer, 71-74. New format: Nicklaus wins in two holes.

1957 Dick Mayer over Cary Middlecoff, 72-79. New format: Mayer wins in five holes.

1955 Jack Fleck over Ben Hogan, 69-72.

New format: Fleck wins in five holes.

1950* Ben Hogan (69) over Lloyd Mangrum (73) and George Fazio (75).

New format: Mangrum wins in two holes.

1947* Lew Worsham over Sam Snead, 69-70.

New format: Snead wins in two holes.

1946* Lloyd Mangrum (72-72) over Vic Ghezzi (72-73) and Byron Nelson (72-73) in a 36-hole playoff.

New format: Ghezzi wins in two holes.

1940 Lawson Little over Gene Sarazen, 70-73. New format: Little wins in two holes.

1939* Byron Nelson (68-70) over Craig Wood (68-73) and Denny Shute (eliminated after a 76 in the first 18-hole playoff).

New format: Wood wins in five holes.

1931* Billy Burke (77-71) over George Von Elm (76-73) in a second 36-hole playoff after the two had tied in the first 36-hole playoff (Burke 73-76 to Von Elm’s 75-74).

New format: Von Elm wins in two holes.

1929* Bobby Jones (72-69) over Al Espinosa (84-80) in a scheduled 36-hole playoff.

New format: Espinosa wins in two holes.

1928* Johnny Farrell (70-73) over Bobby Jones (73-71) in a scheduled 36-hole playoff.

New format: Jones wins in two holes.

1927 Tommy Armour over Harry Cooper, 7679. New format: Armour wins in two holes.

1925* Willie Macfarlane over Bobby Jones in a second 18-hole playoff, 72-73, after they shot 75 in the first 18-hole playoff.

New format: Jones wins in two holes.

1923* Bobby Jones over Bobby Cruickshank, 76-78. New format: Cruickshank wins in three holes.

1919 Walter Hagen over Mike Brady, 77-78. New format: Hagen wins in two holes.

1913* Francis Ouimet (72) over Harry Vardon (77) and Ted Ray (78). New format: Vardon beats Ouimet on the sixth hole.

1911 John McDermott (80) over Mike Brady (82) and George Simpson (86).

New format: McDermott beats Brady on the fifth hole.

1910 Alex Smith (71) over John McDermott (75) and Macdonald Smith (77).

New format: Alex Smith beats Macdonald Smith on the third hole.

1908 Fred McLeod over Willie Smith, 77-83.

New format: McLeod wins in three holes.

1903 Willie Anderson over David Brown, 82-84. New format: Anderson wins in three holes.

1901* Willie Anderson over Alex Smith, 85-86. New format: Smith wins in four holes.

Jones (previous pages) george rinhart/Corbis via getty images • els: DaviD Cannon/getty images

UNDER THIS NEW PLAYOFF FORMAT, SAM SNEAD WOULD'VE WON A U.S. OPEN AND A CAREER SLAM.

Play

Tricks of the Trade Wesley Bryan shows you three trouble shots that aren’t as risky as they look

Photograph by Dom Furore

“A tight-lie flop requires commitment, swing speed—and stones.”

I

’m guessing you’ve hit a miracle shot once or twice. Maybe you threaded it through the trees, or nipped a wedge off a cartpath. Before I joined the PGA Tour, I had a lot of fun making trick-shot videos with my brother, George. I’d hit golf balls in midair with a driver, skip them across ponds to a target on the other

side, bank them off trampolines—you get the idea. Miracle shots are really hard to pull off, but when you’re playing for a score, you need to improve your odds. I’ll show you three stroke-saving trick shots that will look miraculous to your playing partners and opponents, but if you follow my advice, you’ll feel comfortable hitting anytime.

—w e s l e y b r ya n , w i n n e r o f t h e 2 0 1 7 r b c h e r i ta g e at h a r b o u r t o w n

76 golf digest india | june 2018

Stroke Savers

Play Your Best

THE TIGHT FLOP

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When there’s no choice but to hit one high from a very tight lie, even a tour player like me sweats a little. This shot can lead to thoughts of blading it over the green and into the subdivision behind it. But by keeping in mind a couple of simple factors, you can dramatically increase your chance of success.

When you blade a pitch, most of the time it’s because you changed the distance between your body and the ball during the downswing. To prevent that from happening, keep your lower body very quiet and use an upright, arm-dominated swing. Open the face slightly at address, and then let the clubhead release through impact with some speed (left).

You want to feel the sole of the club, not the leading edge, sliding along the turf.

THE EMERGENCY HYBRID

THE RESCUE PITCH

Hybrids are awesome for making longer shots easier to hit than if you used a 3-iron or 4-iron. But you can run into problems using a hybrid when the ball is sitting down in the rough. Unlike irons, the bigger head and wider sole can get caught up in the grass, and the ball goes nowhere.

The way I use a hybrid from deep grass is to set up and play for a fade. To copy me, open your stance and the hybrid’s clubface (left). Also, adjust your aim for the fade and play the ball slightly back of center in your stance to encourage a steeper downswing.

You’re trying to make contact with as little grass as possible before your club strikes the ball.

Keep in mind that it’s natural to think you’ll need more help than these adjustments to get the ball to the green. But resist the urge to overswing or try to help the ball in the air with a wristy, back-foot swipe.

Depending on the depth of the rough, you can hit it close to normal fairway distance. You’ll launch a flier that rolls and rolls.

You have a pitch shot that doesn’t need to travel very far, but the ball is way down in the grass. This shot can really lock up a weekend player. How do you swing with enough speed to get the ball out of the rough, but send it only 20 to 30 yards?

Here’s how: Set up like you would for a normal pitch shot, but open the face of your wedge as if you were about to play a bunker shot from the same distance. And just like a sand shot, you’re going to want to blast the club through the grass, keeping the clubface pointing skyward throughout. Feel like your hands are swinging around your body and moving toward your left pocket through impact (above).

The speed created by making a bunker-type swing will help the club easily cut through the high grass, and you’ll hit a shot where the ball pops up and comes down soft without much spin. When it lands and stops by the flag, your friends will say you couldn’t do that again if you hit a bucket of balls. You’ll just smirk and say, “Yup, it’s a miracle.”

Play Your Best Tee to Green by Butch Harmon

n

Can’t Chip?

Look Here Forget the swing. It’s all about the setup y

join me in all access

hen I get students who complain about poor chipping, here’s where I go first: How far are they standing from the ball? If you’re more than a foot away, you’re adding variables that just aren’t necessary. The biggest issue is, the club will tend to swing around your body, with the face fanning open (top photo). It’s hard to hit a good chip from that position.

Here’s a simpler way to go.

Start with your back foot across

W

from the ball, and get very close to it. That sets the ball position back in your stance. Then, sole the clubhead behind the ball, and aim the face on the line you want the shot to start. Raise the grip, so the shaft is more upright.

Finally, put your front foot in position—keeping the stance narrow—and lean your weight and

78 golf digest india | june 2018

the grip a touch toward the target. Now you’re ready to make a simple back-and-through stroke, hitting slightly down on the ball.

The key is getting the shaft more vertical at address. That keeps the clubface looking at the target as you swing back and through (above) and prevents the club from veering to the inside.

From this setup, it’s tough to hit the ball off line, or chunk or skull it. Why not keep it simple?

▶ In my 20-plus years working with Golf Digest, I’ve written enough articles to fill a bookcase.

But that’s old school.

Today, everybody wants golf instruction on their computers or their phones.

Golf Digest is making that happen. With the launch of a new digital-instruction platform, Golf Digest All Access, you can get the best coaching in the game, all in video form. My first two video series—one on the full swing, one on the short game—are available now. Check them out, and see all the benefits of this great new program at golfdigest.com/allaccess. butch harmon is a Golf Digest Teaching Professional.

—with peter morrice

Photographs by Dom Furore

Golf Made Easy by David Leadbetter Play Your Best

“Constantly borrowing tees?

You need a new downswing.”

Stand and Deliver Thrust with your hips to launch the ball f you’re regularly popping up tee shots or the ball isn’t rolling very far once it lands in the fairway, you’re hitting down on the ball too much. That’s OK for an iron shot off the turf, but not if you’re swinging a driver. A telltale sign your downswing is too steep is if you’re constantly breaking tees in half like you’re splitting firewood.

If you want to maximize distance with your driver, you’ve got to hit up on the ball, and a simple fix is to literally stand up during the downswing. Let’s practice this move.

As your start the club down, I want you to thrust your hips forward like I’m doing here. I recommend doing this without a ball at first to get comfortable with this move, because it will feel quite different than your usually steep downswing.

But once you get the hang of it, you can start hitting tee shots this way. And I’m sure you’ll be pleased with the results.

What this stand-up/hipthrust move does is shallow the club’s path into the ball and gets it moving upward just before impact. That, in turn, launches the ball high—but not pop-up high—and with far less backspin than if you hit down on it.

That’s really important to increase your carry distance and get the ball to roll more.

How do you know you’ve changed your angle of attack?

Well, you might dislodge the tee swinging this way, but it should live to see another swing.

—with ron kaspriske

you’re one click away from great golf instruction ▶ I’m excited to be a part of Golf Digest All Access, a terrific new video-instruction hub where you’ll find many of the game’s best teachers offering indepth advice on how to play better golf. My series, “The David Leadbetter Essentials,” walks you through the most important aspects of swinging a golf club effectively. Like the other series found

on All Access, it’s the type of comprehensive instruction you used to get only if you saw the teachers in person. Not anymore. If you’re ready to play better, go to golfdigest.com/allaccess. david leadbetter, a Golf Digest Teaching Professional, runs 32 academies worldwide.

Photographs by J.D. Cuban at the Concession Golf Club

Ted Baker shirT, panTs • royal alBarTross shoes

I

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â–ś Tiger Woods chips onto the 16th green during the Valspar Championship in March. He finished tied for second that week with Patrick Reed, one stroke behind Paul Casey.

Tour Technique

Play Your Best

Did a mechanical tweak help resuscitate the tour’s best short game?

Tiger: Cured!

Top teachers weigh in on how he overcame the chipping yips

Sam Greenwood/Getty ImaGeS

interviewed by matthew rudy stan utley

hank haney

▶ “When Tiger got in trouble with his chipping, he tended to let the handle move too wide in the backswing. When that happens, the head isn’t really swinging; you’re moving the whole stick together. Then if you accelerate the grip to start the downswing, you bring the grip through impact first, which ruins the engineering of the club. In the swings I see now, the club is setting earlier and releasing earlier, and he’s using the bounce. When you use the bounce, the lies don’t become scary. You’re hitting the turf with the back of the wedge and skidding. You want to land the plane shallow and on the back wheels.”

▶ “Everybody wanted to see what kind of swing speed Tiger was going to have when he came back from the spinal-fusion surgery, but I really believed the obvious short-game issues he had would prevent him from coming back in any real way if he couldn’t figure them out. He’s obviously found something in a technique change that’s been working—to a degree—and that’s great. You still see some of those strange shots every once in a while. That’s his reality now. You can have some good stretches, but when you have the yips, they’re in there. It’s just a matter of how you try to manage them.”

randy smith

david leadbetter

▶ “It’s absolutely amazing to me what he’s done to recover—a total transformation. You can call it release point, rust or whatever, but there was something yippy going on. He was literally playing away from his wedges. But as the greatest player in the world might do, he figured out something different—a different feel, a different way to approach it, a slight grip change. Anything to feel less action in his hands. That’s fine in practice, but he’s now doing great on the real stage. His short game is back. He still has the yips. In the back of his head, they’re still there. But for now, the change is a warm blanket.”

▶ “Tiger didn’t have the chipping yips because of a mental issue.

It was physical. He had the shaft leaning too far forward, and the leading edge was digging. You can get away with that on certain types of grass, but many times the grass would grab the clubhead and cause it to stub. If you don’t correct that, you could end up with a full-blown case of the mental chipping yips, but he corrected the issue. His right hand is much more involved in the shot.

The club releases and glides along the grass. It’s a much more effective way to chip. And with his hand-eye coordination, he can be as great as ever that way.” mike adams

▶ “Tiger had bad chipping fundamentals that exposed the leading edge instead of the bounce—not the yips. He took it back too wide, which shut the face, and he

dragged the handle through the shot. That created too much shaft lean—something he had been trying to do in his full swing—and it leaked into his short game. I can’t think of another player who had that happen like that, but who else has been as willing to change swings? Now he’s setting the club sooner, letting his right arm fold, releasing it better and using the bounce. Right-hand-only drills helped him a lot. He once again is an awesome wedge player.” dave stockton

▶ “Tiger has always used his right hand a lot more on those shots than I do, as opposed to letting the left hand control the action.

He uses his hands as a unit, but when that right hand takes over, that’s when the club starts digging. I was surprised to see that become his problem because he was always so great at those shots. When you struggle, it can get difficult fast because you start trying too hard to fix the problem and then you lose your feel. But now, he seems to be swinging much more free. He’s got it back in the groove. Maybe what he needed was some time to work on his game.” james sieckmann

▶ “Imagine if you’ve been amazing at something your whole life, and you never had to think about how to do it. Then all of a sudden, when you tried to do it, it didn’t work. Tiger was thinking the same things he always had, but he didn’t get the same result.

He was confused. His setup had gotten so different, with his head behind the ball and his shoulders closed. He was in a position where he couldn’t hit the ball first. A lot of people think he had the yips. He didn’t. Tiger had a bad motor pattern. And when he found the right pattern again, it came back quickly—and so did his confidence.”

june 2018 | golf digest india

81

Play Your Best Swing Sequence xamine the swings of the game’s biggest hitters and you’ll see the vast majority have two similarities: (1) a big backswing with the left arm bending at the top; (2) the club travelling a long way back to the ball to gather more clubhead speed.

E

But that’s not how Jon Rahm cranks drives more than 320 yards. And he does that a lot.

“He’s a big, strong man with incredible athletic power,” says Golf Digest 50 Best Teacher Randy Smith. “He keeps that left arm straight and smashes the ball with swing width, not

Jon Rahm A driver swing so good, these photos look posed (they’re not)

82 golf digest india | june 2018

length. Not many can do that.”

Rahm’s clubhead speed (119 miles per hour) is a big reason he’s ranked in the top five of the tour’s Strokes Gained/Off-theTee statistic. It’s also probably no coincidence that he’s No. 3 in the World Golf Ranking.

“The positions you see here

are so good, they look posed,” Smith says. “He uses his physique and strength to make a simple swing. It’s like a bigger, harder version of Henrik Stenson’s swing. Jon hits it so simple and so square, it’s easy to see why his career is on the rise.”

— matthew rudy

POISED AT THE START

SUPER SEQUENCING

MAKING WAY

Jon’s swing is generic starting out, says Golf Digest 50 Best Teacher Randy Smith.

“At address, the left shoulder and hip are higher than the right side, so he can hit it high and hard,” Smith says. “And for a big guy, he looks balanced and comfortable, not feeling any stress.”

Jon’s chest and arms are moving together—a must for a stronger player. “If his arms went quicker around him, his chest would have to sync up later. That’s a recipe for a huge miss,” Smith says. Instead, his chest supports the arms. Also, his lower body is quiet.

He’s winding against it, Smith says.

Look at the distance between his hands and sternum when his left arm is parallel to the ground in the backswing.

“Jon’s hands have moved a little, but the shaft has moved a lot,” Smith says. The club will feel super light like this. If the arms are too close to the body, it feels much heavier.”

“For a guy swinging that fast, there’s no tension in his body whatsoever.” —Randy Smith

DOUBLE WIDE

TOTAL TRANSFER

KEEPING IT REAL

AMAZING GRACE

PRO-FILE

“The left hip and knee are moving at the target as his upper body is finishing the backswing,” Smith says. “And his head has moved off the ball minimally—which is unbelievable, and great for control. He’s so strong, he doesn’t need a long backswing. It’s wide, and I’ll take wide over long any day.”

As he swings into the ball, his left shoulder moves almost straight up, his left leg is pushing hard, and his hips are returning in sync with the arms. “It’s a total power release,” Smith says. “His head is actually moving backward. It isn’t locked or swaying forward. Both can drain power.”

Most players fake extension. They’re trying so hard to extend the club toward the target in the through-swing, they forget to put a hit on the ball, Smith says. Jon extended the club as a result of momentum from his fast swing.

“This is a totally relaxed effort,” Smith says. “He’s not gripping tight at all.”

“I love the soft, folded arms and supportive feet as he finishes,” Smith says. “But what stands out is that Jon’s chest has turned at least 90 degrees relative to the target line. There doesn’t appear to be any tension. And he finishes in balance despite swinging extremely fast.

That’s hard to do.”

jon rahm 23 / 6-2 / 220 pounds Scottsdale driver TaylorMade M4 (9.5 degrees) ball TaylorMade TP5X

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

Play Your Best Equipment

A Quick Way to Cure Your Slice Draw drivers really work, our testing shows by mike stachura

ust about everybody hates a slice. This isn’t an opinion. It’s fact.

Golftec, the instruction company that has given more than seven million lessons at its nearly 200 locations, revealed two details about its customers: 96 percent want to hit anything but a slice, and only 8 percent come to Golftec hitting a draw. The slice, friends, is still golf’s most confounding swing fault, or as Nick Clearwater, Golftec’s vice president of instruction calls it, “an epidemic.” The good news is that it’s a very fixable problem. Yes, by all means, see a quality instructor. A slice is caused by the most common of swing flaws: swinging the club down steeply on an out-to-in path with an open face to that path at impact.

This creates sidespin that sends the ball curving weakly to the right.

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“It’s really just a misunderstanding of how to make the ball curve,” Clearwater says. “People keep swinging farther to the left hoping the ball will go the way they want it to. It doesn’t work.”

The latest draw-bias drivers cannot correct your out-to-in swing path, but they can help negate the slice spin imparted at impact. How can we say this with such certainty? Well, we put the new draw-bias drivers to the test and found they really do what they’re designed to do. For our test, we had average golfers hit the latest draw drivers without telling them what they were testing, and we measured the results against their own drivers using a Foresight Sports GCQuad launch monitor.

Seventy percent of the golfers hit the draw drivers more to the left (13.3 yards farther on average compared to their regular drivers). Interestingly, they also hit the draw drivers farther—5.7 yards on average. It’s worth noting that these results were immediate—less than five swings for each player.

Drivers that are designed to fight a slice have been around for decades. Traditionally, they had severely closed faces, but the new models we tested look very much like a typical driver.

The technology might be nicely hidden, but the results are very apparent. The key to these new drivers is internal weighting that shifts the center of gravity (CG) toward the heel. There are adjustable drivers on the market that allow golfers to load the club’s movable weights toward the heel, but those tend to be less effective than the fixed internal weighting on the newest draw drivers. In some models, the amount of weight is more than double what you would typically find for an adjustable driver in its most extreme draw setting.

The benefit of concentrating so much weight in the heel is that it creates a larger area of the face that launches shots with draw spin. “This player has the face open at impact, and everything we do with this club in terms of CG bias is helping to solve that problem,” says Todd Beach, chief technical officer of R&D for TaylorMade. “When you move the CG to the heel, no

84 golf digest india | june 2018

matter where you hit it, it produces more draw.”

Draw-bias designs also encourage a straighter ball flight by featuring higher lofts, lighter shafts and more upright lie angles. There’s even evidence that with the CG closer to the heel, draw drivers help average golfers return the face to square at impact because the CG is closer to the shaft.

The driver slice might be the most discouraging shot in golf.

Among other things, it leaves you with a longer second shot, and it deals a blow to your confidence.

In the absence of fundamentally changing your golf swing, draw drivers can be a way to improve your scores and attitude.

“It’s the simplest fix for so many people,” says Paul Wood, vice president of engineering at Ping, who estimates that at least half the players could benefit from a draw driver. “It’s joyous to watch when you put a drawbias driver in someone’s hands, and the ball is going farther and straighter. Honestly, I think it’s the best-kept secret in golf.”

clockwise from top:

1 p i ng g4 0 0 s f t ▶ Heel-side weight gives your shots more draw spin. A lighter swingweight makes the club easier to square. $400 2 ca l l away ro gu e d r aw ▶ Internal and external heel weighting, combined with a slightly upright lie angle, yield more draw to your flight. $500 3 taylor m a d e m 4 d - t yp e ▶ With 41 grams of weight in the heel, this driver puts almost twice as much mass toward the draw side than the company’s movable weight M3. $430 4 to u r e d ge hl 3 os ▶ The large cupface provides more hitting area, and the offset shape and upright lie angle help fight those right misses. $190 5 cob r a fm a x ▶ A deep, heelbias center of gravity, plus offset and a lighter swingweight, fight a slice and launch shots high. Larger grips provide more swing control. $300 Photograph by Ivory Serra

Play Your Best

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Slug by Firstname Lastname

Photograph by First Lastname

month 2018 | golfdigest.com

85

The Golf Life The Digest

“

YOU DON’T HAVE THE GAME YOU PLAYED LAST YEAR OR LAST WEEK. YOU ONLY HAVE TODAY’S GAME. . . . HARDEN YOUR HEART AND MAKE THE BEST OF IT.

the grass is always greener

—walter hagen

”

▶ FIVE BLENDS of weed that certain staff members would like to sample.

kikuyu kush

this thick-rooted crossstrain keeps you motivated during mundane tasks, like practicing bump-and-run chips.

15 excuses for not having a good round

acing the family greenside celebration ▶You’re about to win the men’s club championship. But can you pull off a tour-pro-quality hugfest? Follow this checklist. ▶ kids: In matching clothes (or at least clothes); hopefully not staring at their phones or causing a scene. ▶ wife: Wearing expression that says

she’ll still love you if you three-putt and lose; candy for bribing kids not to make a scene. ▶ you: Remembering hug order—caddie, then wife and kids,

86 golf digest india | june 2018

then head pro, guys in the shop, bartender from night before, Uber driver from the night before, locker-room guy who gave you Tylenol to take the edge off the night before.

not playing well. playing too well; it’s bound to end. hungry. had too much fiber for breakfast. course doesn’t fit your eye. shoes don’t fit your feet. new set of irons. need new set of irons. didn’t sleep well. had a vivid dream about developing the yips. don’t play well when there’s no money on the line. don’t play well when there’s money on the line. problems at home. problems at work. playing partner is having problems at home and/or work, and he’s dominating the conversation.

a member of the sativa family, it opens a balloon of creativity inside your head. rescue shots once regarded as impossible will feel destined.

royal stinger

the genomes of this purple-haired prince can be traced to merry england. great relief for seizures, muscle spasms and swing changes.

stimpanzee

brimming with thc, this hybrid offers blissful and uplifting effects. it’s known to compromise coordination, so don’t be shocked when you putt like a monkey.

cypress joint

this highly palatable indica is famous for buds that resemble the namesake tree. reduces anxiety in unfamiliar foursomes.

haGen: auGusta national/Getty imaGes • miCkelson: miChael Cohen/Getty imaGes • marijuana: roxana Gonzalez/eyeem/Getty imaGes

myrtle haze

by sam weinman + alex myers

how to get

a golf dad bod the 7 types of golf dad the enabler dad ▶ Guy who lets his kid run wild without any discipline.

swimmer: westend61/Getty imaGe • sleeper: allsport ConCepts/Getty imaGes • dad: paul windle • woods and father: robert beCk/iCon sportswire/Getty imaGes

the ‘don’t do that’ dad ▶ He barks out every breach of etiquette, ends up yelling the whole time.

▶ ride, don’t walk: Hoof it only if golf is your only form of exercise. ▶ shorts only: Lugging extra weight has made your calves into rock-hard grapefruits. Flaunt ’em even in cold temps. ▶ go hawaiian: An untucked shirt leaves just the right amount to the imagination. ▶ no h20: Sugary sports drinks are good, beer is better. ▶ geronimo! Show off your golf tan with a post-round swim.

when you’re going to play all day ▶Take it from someone who has played 108 holes of golf in a single day: Golf and marathon golf might as well be two different sports. Keep these guidelines in mind if you’re thinking about trying any more than 36 holes in one day this summer.

1

after every 18 holes, rotate pairs of shoes, and pull on a fresh pair of socks. You want to trick

your feet into thinking it’s the first round of the day.

Also, based on what my guy friends say, Gold Bond powder is essential for surviving a long day of golf.

wasting time on those pesky “tweener” shots. If you play more than two rounds and carry your bag, try just five clubs—driver, hybrid, 7 iron, sand wedge, putter.

4

think about nutrition.

many holes as possible before sunset means there’s no time to fuss over shots. Walk quickly, play ready golf and eliminate practice swings.

3

5

2

use an abbreviated set.

Taking out every other iron in your bag will make it lighter, and it’ll also help you avoid

great moments in fatherly advice

the tiger dad ▶ The guy who yells at his kid when he misses a green or makes bogey. the philosopher dad ▶ He tries to turn every golf moment into an opportunity for dispensing spiritual advice.

You want water nearby, along with snacks that offer quick energy (bananas and all-natural bars) and foods that offer long-lasting endurance (PB&Js and trail mix). Eat and drink every three holes so you never feel hungry or thirsty.

play fast. Getting in as

the delusional dad ▶ He thinks his son is destined for the PGA Tour because he can occasionally make contact.

the old dad ▶ He plays with his grown-up kid, and now he’s the one being watched over. the miserable dad ▶ He desperately needs a break from his kids, but no. He’s stuck with them for the day.

cancel your plans if it rains. Seriously.

A rainy golf marathon sounds miserable. —a s h l e y m ayo

“why don’t you try it left-handed?”

—phil mickelson sr.

“i’d go with the red shirt.”

—earl woods

“i wouldn’t change a thing.”

—mike furyk

“turn off the tv and go hit some rocks on the beach.”

—baldomero ballesteros

“what you need is a nickname.”

—frank zoeller

june 2018 | golf digest india

87

The Golf Life Gift Guide

The stuff he’ll be excited to unwrap on June 17.

14 Presents Dad Actually Wants Light up Father’s Day with these better gift ideas by brittany romano j.lindeb e rg ji m m y jack e t ▶ Highlight Dad’s game in any weather with this ultra-lightweight jacket. $209

Photographs by Victor Prado

Gift Guide

halo sport ▶ These headphones are designed to improve your range time by setting your brain into a state of hyperlearning.

This supposedly creates a stronger connection with your muscles to enhance strength, explosiveness and muscle memory. $749

The Golf Life

lacoste “the first all over print polo” ▶ This cotton jersey golf shirt is a nod to the colorful, offbeat 1990s style—part of the company’s 85th anniversary throwback collection in which an iconic shirt has been reissued for each decade. $145

stance kauri crew socks and puma suede g golf shoes ▶ Keep Dad’s feet comfortable and on-trend with ventilated socks and classic suede shoes made for the course. Socks, $16. Shoes, $120

eir pitted deodorant ▶ This hip brand’s natural products actually work, like this arrowroot- and coconut-oil-based deodorant. $22

crab & cleek shoe bag ▶ Made from actual golf flags, this unique shoe bag is lightweight and durable. $50 june 2018 | golf digest india

89

Because he doesn’t need another “World’s Best Dad” mug.

baffin goods cologne bomb ▶ Easy to apply, all-natural cologne that has a great smell in a dynamite package.

Available at kinnucans.com. $32

persol special edition steve mcqueen sunglasses ▶ Inspired by the King of Cool, these glasses will up Dad’s style while keeping his vision clear and protected. $400

bushnell phantom gps range finder ▶ Simple and portable yardages. $100 jones utility weekender ▶ It opens like a suitcase, but nifty hideaway straps allow it to be carried as a backpack, too. $130

vineyard vines jim nantz forget-meknot-tie ▶ Silk smoother than Nantz’s voice, and a portion of proceeds go to charity. $85

90 golf digest india | june 2018

david norma n design go lf b e d ▶ Rest easy on this mahogany bed made with real persimmon woods and hickory shafts. $15,000-$30,000

malbon golf ribbon dopp kit ▶ Lift Dad’s cool-factor with this hip catchall. $55

Closeout

Undercover Tour Pro The battle of dumb versus smart n agent—not mine—once told me his secret for success was to recruit golfers who were “really smart or really stupid.” Average intelligence, he believed, had a strong correlation with average careers. Implicit in his confiding this was that he held me in the former category.

Sometimes I wish I were in the latter.

I don’t believe there’s a sport where more information is thrown at the athlete than golf. To have an unthinking nature can be a huge blessing. You can just disregard all the TrackMan and ShotLink data and go play.

Of the top-125 players in the world, maybe 30 operate in this state of blissful ignorance, and there are at least four or five in the current top 20. The following is a teebox interaction I overheard between one such player and his caddie, who’s no Mensa candidate, either.

PhotograPh by MirrorPix/getty iMages • illustration by tiM l ahan

A

player “How far to carry that bunker?” caddie “310.” player “But we’re up a tee box from

yesterday.”

caddie “Oh, yeah . . . 340. No way to

carry it.”

Now, my caddie and I make small arithmetic errors almost every week. It’s a matter of the sheer volume of calculations we do. But come on. This duo eventually figured it out, but for pretty close to a minute they were 60 yards off.

Some guys don’t understand their nicknames. One golfer, a really good player, had a last name that translated simply to another word in a major world language.

Years transpired before he pulled someone aside and asked why people on tour called him that. I knew another player who carried two phones. He used one for his American email address and the other for his European email because he believed it was impossible to access both accounts from one device. Sometimes you wonder

how these people make it through the day.

Of course, we all commit the little blunders that come with being road-bleary. I’ve flown home to the wrong airport and had to get an Uber to pick up my car. Almost every week someone forgets their golf shoes. I know players who’ve shown up at tournaments only to find they forgot to enter.

I think most of the “dumb” players are smart enough to have linked up with a caddie who really knows the game. In a way, they’re brilliant for having turned their golf into a reactive, instinctual process.

But if they didn’t have someone telling them where to hit it and how hard, they wouldn’t survive out here.

Overall, the tour is filled with more golfers who aced their SATs or came close.

Lots of guys are just as clever as Bryson DeChambeau, or more so. They know everything there is to know about golf and will pore through stats to break down any course and devise a game plan. As everyone knows, Phil Mickelson is extremely bright. He just tends to express his ideas in unnecessarily complicated ways, so sometimes, it can feel forced. But if you’re not wired like Mickelson or DeChambeau, and you try to imitate their cerebral approach to golf without truly possessing the bandwidth, it can be disastrous. You start overthinking every shot, and pretty soon you’ve lost what got you to the tour.

It’s sad how many guys have calculated their card away.

The tour isn’t exactly overflowing with them, but there are players who are more than happy to get into a deep conversation—about the stock market, politics, philosophy—right in the middle of a tournament. Though when in doubt, I don’t stray from the classics: football, beer and how many good-looking women happen to be in the gallery that day.

I think the diverse cross-section of minds on tour speaks to what a beautiful game it is.

The agent I mentioned earlier, who targets only the ends of the intelligence spectrum, has a sound theory.

Most players are wary of not being in the middle. But if I were an agent, I’d scout talent differently. I’d go to college or mini-tour events and watch how players held up on the last nine holes of a tournament. That’s what really matters, and I’ve seen no link between brains and guts.

— with max adler

june 2018 | golf digest india

91

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18 Holes with Prateek Pant

‘I Love The Natural Camaraderie That Binds Golfers...’

In a career that has spanned more than two decades, Prateek Pant brings with him a wealth of experience in Banking and Financial Services in India and the Middle East.

An alumnus of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, he is one of the Co-Founders of Sanctum Wealth Management and also doubles up as Head of Product and Solutions.

Pant enjoys his weekend hikes around Mumbai and has regularly participated in half-marathons for the last 8 years. He is keen about sports — especially ones that do not have a wide following here in India such as golf and sailing. Interestingly, some (if not most!) of his golfing exploits have happened whilst following his daughter Sanchita – a national-level sailor – in her expeditions.

Here he is, in conversation with Karthik Swaminathan.

GDI: What is your home club?

Bombay Presidency Golf Club (BPGC).

1

GDI: When did you start playing golf?

I picked up the game about 15 years ago at Karnataka Golf Association (KGA), Bengaluru, but there have been significant breaks since as work took me to different cities.

2

GDI: What do you love about the game?

There are many aspects that got me hooked. When I travel for leisure or work, I always take time for a round of golf and this helped me discover unique architectures and intricate courses crafted by world-renowned designers. I have interacted with great people and I love the natural camaraderie that binds golfers. Another thing I like about golf is the fact that you are competing with only yourself and are constantly trying to improve.

One disappointing game spurs me to do better the next time around!

3

Prateek Pant at The Els Club Teluk Datai, Langkawi, Malaysia

GDI: Who have you played golf with the most?

I have golfer buddies and groups I can join across cities – in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Singapore.

4

GDI: How about your dream fourball?

My dream fourball would be to get Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Ernie Els in the same pairing.

5

GDI: Favourite golf course, both in India and abroad There are a few favourites – KGA & Golfshire (Bangalore), Ooty & Kodai (Tamil Nadu), Oxford (Pune), Kalhaar & Kensville (Ahmedabad). Abroad, I enjoyed playing at Thai Country Club and Laem Chabang (Thailand).

6

GDI: Your thoughts on doing business on the golf course…

I have experienced goodwill and lasting friendship on the golf course. Due to the trust, or even mistrust (laughs), some of them have transcended into great

7

100 golf digest india | june 2018

business relationships off the course. But it is always in that order and not the other way around!

GDI: How often do you get to play?

2-3 times a month – a lot lesser than what I would like!

8

GDI: Favourite male and female golfers Jordan Spieth and Aditi Ashok

9

GDI: Please describe your most memorable golfing experience Representing corporate India at the 2016 World Amateur Golf Championship in Durban was a significant high point in my golfing journey. On a different note, there are 16 of us — close friends — who travel from different parts of the world to meet at one of the top golfing destinations for 3 rounds of golf.

We have been at it for the last 9 years and look forward to those 4 days every year!

10

GDI: Do you use any golf apps on your phone?

The Grint (to track handicap)

11

GDI: Your current handicap 18 (but my friends don’t buy it!)

12

13

GDI: Your lowest handicap 13.4

GDI: On an average, how long do you drive the ball?

230-240 yards

14

GDI: Your favourite holiday destination.

Scotland (perfect mix of golf, single malt and scenic drives)

15

GDI: Favourite dish on course Akuri with melba toast, at The Willingdon Sports Club

16

GDI: Mid-round power snack

17 Nature Valley protein bars

GDI: Favourite 19th hole drink

18 Tap beer

Total Number of pages (including cover pages) is 104 Monthly Magazine, RNI N0. HARENG/2016/66983

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