What a difference a year makes is a phrase to which Jake Shuman might subscribe. This time last year the American golfer made his PGA Tour debut at the Wyndham Championship having come through a Monday qualifier. He shot 74-70 to miss the cut.
Roughly 12 months later and he was the focal point of a Golf Digest story chronicling how he lost the Blue Hill Club Championship final. Shuman, a member at the Boston club for over 20 years, previously played on the MacKenzie and PGA Latinoamerica Tours, but is waiting to have his amateur status reinstated.
Playing off a +4.4 handicap, he was given the permission by the club to compete in the championship - he was eligible under USGA rules - and following an 18-hole qualifier and four matches reached the final where he faced Ben Kelly (+1.9) a golf coach at the local Milton High School. They were playing for the trophy and $400 (€339) in golf shop credit.
One aspect of the story was that Shuman’s presence in the competition didn’t sit well with a number of members who voiced their displeasure, an assertion later disputed by others who contacted Golf Digest following the original article. Kelly emerged victorious, two up.
Shuman said that he had entered because he liked tournament golf, knew the course well, had played there for 20 years and checked with the USGA about eligibility.
He added: “There have been other club championships where pros have competed. No one says anything when Phil Mickelson plays in a club championship at one of his courses. I was approved to play by the golf committee. It’s not the outcome I wanted, but Ben played an incredible round of golf today to win.”
Herman has eyes on PIP bonus
Kevin Kisner succeeded Jim Herman, the 2020 champion, as winner of the Wyndham Championship at the weekend with the latter missing the cut in trying to defend his title. The 43-year-old Herman might have his mind on other matters, principally trying to earn a handsome divvy from the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program (PIP).
Earlier this year the PGA Tour announced the launch of a $40 million dollar (€33,947,000) fund that will spread across the top 10 players “who are judged to drive fan and sponsor engagement;” it’s shorthand for rewarding golfers who through their golf but also social media (Twitter etc) drive up the profile of the game and the Tour.
Herman’s alter ego on Twitter (@gohermie) - he is a quiet character on the course - is known and appreciated for his ‘big time Charlie’ posturing, his humorous observations on his fellow pros and a lighter look at life on tour.
The one time assistant pro at Trump National Bedminster, during which he played many rounds with Donald Trump and friends, uses presidential dollar gold coins as a ball marker. It even has its own Twitter handle, @PotusBallMarker.
On this day
August 17th, 1998: Slow play has been a perennial and as yet unresolved curse for golf but it’s doubtful whether there’s ever been a longer gap to complete a tournament than six and a half months. Weather forced the postponement of the final round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in the first week in February until a muggy mid-August morning.
Tom Watson was tied for the lead when play was suspended but it was Phil Mickelson that would claim the title on that Monday afternoon over half a year later. The final round had to be played under the identical rules to the preceding two - it was a 54-hole tournament - players could lift, clean and place on that August afternoon.
As American golf writer Alan Shipnuck recalled: “As a result of the unprecedented makeup date, the Pro-Am lost much of its star power but gained innumerable sub-plots. Mark O’Meara (the defending champ), David Duval, Jack Nicklaus, PGA winner Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods were among the 34 players from the original field of 168 who withdrew rather than make the pilgrimage to a tournament they had no chance of winning. (The ams in the Pro-Am were not invited back.)”
Spare a thought for Neal Lancaster’s hole in one on the 12th in February was expunged from the record books.
Word of mouth
“I still feel like I’m in shock and the tears are going to come later when things die down. I’m getting married in December and my clock’s ticking. I want to have kids. I thought maybe this year would be my last. But I don’t know if I could stop playing golf now.” - Scottish Women’s Open winner Ryann O’Toole.
By the numbers
0/5: Kevin Kisner’s record in playoffs prior to winning a six-man playoff with a birdie at the second tie hole to claim victory in the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour.
Twitter twaddle
@K_Kisner. Ending the season with my first playoff (win). This ain’t a hobby. - Kevin Kisner reacts to his Wyndham Championship win.
@OkeeffePeter Back to work!! - Peter O’Keeffe, the newly crowned Irish Amateur Close champion tweeted a picture of the trophy standing in the doorway of his place of work, O’Keeffe Golf Performance in Douglas.
In the bag
Ryann O’Toole, winner of the Women’s Scottish Open
Driver: PXG 0811 (9°) X GEN4.
3-wood: PXG 0341 (15°) X GEN4
5-wood: PXG 0341 (18°) X GEN4
Hybrid: PXG 0317 (22°) X GEN4
Irons: PXG 0211 ST (4-PW)
Wedges: PXG 0311 Forged (50°) and PXG 0311 Milled Sugar Daddy (54° & 58°)
Putter: PXG Battle Ready Closer.
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x.
Know the rules
Q. Player A’s drive comes to rest beside an out of bounds marker. The ball is inside the boundary confines but his intended swing path is compromised by a white out of bounds stake. Is Player A entitled to lift and remove the stake to play his shot and replace it thereafter?
A. No. There is no free relief from objects that define or mark the course boundary. A player may not move objects marking course boundaries or take free relief from them as in the case from other artificial objects, like a cart path, a building, or a stake marking a penalty area. The options are to play the ball as it lies, proceed under penalty of stroke and distance by playing again from the spot of your last stroke (see Rule 18.1), or decide the ball is unplayable (see Rule 19.1).
