Golf News Worth Knowing I

about the playoff in the Canadian Open this year. The tournament ended with a four-hole sudden-death between Canadian Nick Taylor and England’s Tommy Fleetwood. Taylor had birdied the 17th and 18th holes to become the leader in the clubhouse while Fleetwood was still on the golf course. Fleetwood birdied holes 16 and 17 before making par on the par-5 18th hole to tie Taylor. On the final of four-hole playoff holes, Fleetwood was forced to lay up his second shot after playing from the left fairway bunker. Taylor, who had driven his ball into the first cut of rough on the right, was able to reach the front of the green with his second shot, leaving him a putt of over 70 feet to sink an eagle. Fleetwood managed to wedge his ball inside of 10 feet, leaving him a familiar putt for birdie.

No Canadian has won this national event since 1954. Fleetwood, who turned pro in 2010, had not won a PGA Tour event, so these two factors made for very interesting coverage. Taylor did the miraculous, putting his ball uphill with a tremendous left-to-right break, he managed to drain the eagle putt right into the center of the cup to defeat Fleetwood.

The Canadian spectators erupted with cheers. This was the longest recorded putt made by Taylor over his PGA Tour career. Personally, I haven’t seen a putt of that distance made for any major consequence since Alexander City’s own Lee Williams made a 50-plusfoot putt on his final hole a few years back.

On the global golf scene, the PGA, LIV and DP tours are all coming under one umbrella. Saudi’s Al-Rumayan will be financier and chairman while present PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan will be the CEO. This is sure to get more interesting as it develops.

For the past three years, I have had the pleasure of starting the Alabama State Girls Championship. I did so again this year. It was played at the Goosepond Colony Lake Course in Scottsboro. As I have mentioned in a number of past articles, I am so very impressed in the ability of these young lady golfers from Alabama. A very talented 15-year-old from Birmingham, Scarlette Schremmer won this 54-hole event by six shots, shooting rounds of 66, 72, 66 for a total of 12 under par. She played beautiful golf and held off some very strong talent. Yvette Gordon of Pike Road shot an impressive six under par, and Mobile’s Frances Brown finished third, shooting five under par. This was so exciting to watch.

The following day, Goosepond hosted the U.S. Girls Amateur Qualifying. Schremmer showed up again and earned one of the two available spots. Molly Brown Davidson of Springville was medalist in this qualifier. Davidson, Schremmer and Grace Engle from Huntsville all shot four-under par, with Brown earning medalist honors with a birdie on the first playoff hole. Schremmer went three more holes before defeating Engle.

Before talking about the next big win, I must tell all of you dads with young daughters that each of the girls I met at the State Girls Championship who were 2023 or 2024 graduates had all accepted golf scholarships from colleges and universities. I must say, these girls played some impressive golf, but they work diligently on their game. See if your daughter might enjoy golf. This may save you or her thousands of dollars in student loans or savings when they are of age for college.

LOVE of the GAME

BY DAVE JENNINGS

The last bit of state-wide golf news was found at this year’s State Amateur Championship. This 72-hole championship tournament was played at Mobile Country Club. This year’s champion is Tyler Watts, who won wire-to-wire, meaning that he held the lead all four days. Watts is now the youngest Alabama State Champion in history. At 15 years old, he will not graduate high school until 2026. He won this event shooting 13 under par and by four strokes over college golfers Carter Goodwin of Hoover (UNA) and Ryley Heath of Decatur (JSU).

Keep it in the fairway.

Dave Jennings is the owner of Jennings Golfhelp LLC. Email him at djenn47495@gmail.com or visit Jenningsgolfhelp.com.