Last week, Guan made his PGA Tour debut at the Procore Championship.
Jeffrey Guan, a promising 20-year-old from Australia who recently made his PGA Tour debut, may lose his sight in one eye after a freak accident at a pro-am.
He suffered the injury during a pro-am event Friday at Club Cataline in Batemans Bay, New South Wales. He was struck in the eye, though reports don’t specify which one, and transported to a hospital before being airlifted to an eye specialist in Cranberra, according to the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Last week, Guan made his PGA Tour debut at the Procore Championship, missing the cut.
Australian Golf Digest spoke to Guan’s longtime coach, Paul Davis, who said Guan suffered orbital fractures.
“Obviously there are fears he may lose some vision, but we won’t know the full extent until he goes to Sydney for further assessment,” Davis said. “It’s truly awful. This was actually the first pro-am Jeff has ever played in.
“It’s just the worst possible news after such an amazing week in California.”
Guan turned pro last fall, but one of his junior highlights was winning the 2022 AJGA Junior Players at TPC Sawgrass and representing Australia on the Junior Presidents Cup team the same year.
Pictures of Adam Sandler practicing his golf swing in the sand with a scenic view of the water have gone viral as filming begins for the sequel to “Happy Gilmore.” The set, located in the Highlands, marks the start of production for “Happy Gilmore …
Pictures of Adam Sandler practicing his golf swing in the sand with a scenic view of the water have gone viral as filming begins for the sequel to “Happy Gilmore.” The set, located in the Highlands, marks the start of production for “Happy Gilmore 2” in New Jersey.
Last month, thousands of aspiring actors flocked to the Hyatt Regency in Morristown for an open casting call for the Netflix movie. Videos posted on social media showed long lines wrapping around blocks and stretching through town, leading to massive traffic backups as attendees waited for a chance to be part of the film.
The casting call, organized by GWCI, was first announced via Instagram in August.
The company revealed that scenes would be shot in Morris, Bergen, Essex, Somerset, and Monmouth counties from September through November.
Steve Burgers makes it to ‘Happy Gilmore 2’
https://www.instagram.com/p/C7mt5PRxHzf/?hl=en
Among the local businesses selected for filming is Steve’s Burgers, a popular Route 46 eatery. The restaurant’s owner shared the news in an Instagram post, confirming its participation in the much-anticipated sequel.
“Honored, Privileged, and Excited to announce that Steve’s Burgers on Route 46 has been chosen by @adamsandler and @netflix to shoot a scene for the new and heavily anticipated Happy Gilmore 2 movie coming soon to Netflix!” Burgers wrote. “We will keep you all posted on shooting dates so you can possibly meet the man myth and legend himself! Thank you for all the support, and remember to always ‘play it where it lies.'”
Travis Kelce to cameo in ‘Happy Gilmore 2’
Adam Sandler announced the Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce would join the cast of his upcoming movie sequel in a cameo role during an appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” telling the late-night host “Travis mentioned it, so we have a nice something for Travis.”
“He’s gonna come by. He’s a very nice guy. You guys would love him in real life,” he told his fellow “SNL” alum. “What a big, handsome guy. Funny and cool as hell. He’s a stud, and he’s so funny.”
Green covered more than 80 golf major championships including 60 consecutive Masters tournaments.
Esteemed golf writer Ronald Green passed away on Sept. 18 in Charlotte after a brief illness, his son, Ron Jr., announced on Facebook. Green, who was 95, was a long-time sports columnist for the Charlotte News and the Charlotte Observer, writing about some of the most memorable events and people in the region for more than 50 years.
Longtime sports writer and columnist Mark Whicker called Green “quiet, thoughtful, charitable, dignified, optimistic and grateful. Despite all that, he was also a sports columnist. He was the kind of columnist who takes the edge off your mornings, the kind who realizes that there’s a historical precedent for almost everything, yet never fails to appreciate the modern athlete.”
Born in Greenville, S.C., Green began working full-time for the afternoon paper when he graduated high school in 1948. He covered more than 80 golf major championships including 60 consecutive Masters tournaments. He noted to colleague Scott Fowler that he had spent more than a year of his life at Augusta National. Green also covered 25 Super Bowls, four Olympic Games, 26 Final Fours, tennis’s U.S. Open, heavyweight title bouts and countless college and professional football and basketball games.
“I loved newspapers,” Green once said. “I still remember the first day I walked into a newspaper office — how it smelled. The ink and the paper. Still remember it. Never got over it. I loved being a newspaperman. I loved the rush, and the crush, of a deadline. And I just never got over feeling good when I saw my byline in the paper.”
He is a member of the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame, the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, the United States Basketball Writers Hall of Fame and the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame.
In 2006, Green received the PGA of America Lifetime Achievement in Journalism award and in 2010 he was honored by Jack Nicklaus with the Memorial Tournament journalism award. The Charlotte City Amateur golf championship trophy is named for him as well.
Green is the author of four books: From Tobacco Road to Amen Corner: On Sports and Life (1990); Shouting at Amen Corner (1999); Slow Dancing with Bobby Jones (2004) and a History of Charlotte Country Club (2005).
“I was born with a talent that can’t be taught and that’s just a blessing that fell to me. Plus, I loved my job,” Green said. “From the day I walked into the News and asked for a job until the day I retired, I was in my personal heaven. I got the best seats, got to talk to the players and coaches, got to write about, saw it published in the paper and I got paid for it.
“If that isn’t heaven for a guy from an old mill hill, what is?”
A private funeral service will be held.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The First Tee of Greater Charlotte.
Basketball might be Curry’s job and his greatest gift, but golf is undoubtedly his passion.
NEW YORK – There was a moment after Steph Curry rang the opening bell at Nasdaq when he stepped back from the mic and crowd and brought both hands to his face in a look of gratitude and disbelief. Curry, standing on a floor of confetti with an Olympic gold medal draped around his neck, soaked in the scene.
A few seconds later, a junior from his Underrated Golf Tour walked over to give him a hug.
Curry has lived a life of defying expectations, which is why the NBA superstar’s golf tour and documentary are titled “Underrated.” The three-star recruit put three stars in the tour’s logo, serving as a visual reminder of what’s possible.
After the bell-ringing ceremony, Curry Cup participants walked outside onto Times Square to watch themselves on the seven-story MarketSite Tower. There was even a congratulatory text for Curry Cup winners Jaden Soong and Izzie Kelly.
“This tour is obviously amazing and brings me a lot of joy and happiness,” said Soong the day prior in his victory speech, “and you don’t get this type of experience on any other tour.”
There is no tour in the world like Underrated, an all-expense-paid junior circuit that gives those who are underrepresented in this game an opportunity to be exposed to courses and conditions and college coaches they’d likely otherwise not see. Every aspect of the season-ending Curry Cup is first-class, from the event’s signage to the high-quality golf course to the sushi bar.
There’s a goal, of course, of increasing the number of black and brown athletes in the upper echelon of competitive golf. But that’s not the only measure of success. For Curry, golf is the vehicle that opened the door to Nasdaq. It’s what led that same group of kids to a Q&A later that morning with KPMG CEO Paul Knopp, where they learned his story of growing up in a family of seven kids and becoming the first to go to college. Knopp now oversees a firm that does $12 billion in revenue annually in the U.S.
Ken Stackhouse sat in the back of the room as Knopp talked to the junior golfers and marveled at the opportunity. It was Stackhouse’s daughter Mariah, the only black woman with any kind of LPGA status, who connected Curry’s tour with her personal sponsor, KPMG. She immediately felt their missions aligned, and KPMG reached out to Curry’s team to get involved as presenting sponsor.
Following the golf competition, juniors took part in a KPMG Leadership Development Day in New York City which, after the bell-ringing festivities, included a packed day of panels that began with a session on leadership with Curry and Mariah. Even the parents of those who qualified for the Curry Cup were invited to attend their own sessions, including one led by Ken Stackhouse and Curry’s father Dell, a former NBA player.
“To see what it’s become is beyond my wildest imagination,” said Curry, who told parents and players at the Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey, that he was committed to Underrated Golf for life.
Basketball might be his job and his greatest gift, but golf is undoubtedly his passion.
Stephen Curry poses with junior golfers at Stephen Curry and UNDERRATED Golf Present The 2024 Curry Cup at Ridgewood Country Club on September 04, 2024, in Paramus, New Jersey. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for UNDERRATED Golf)
Will Lowery, a former professional player who first gained notoriety on Golf Channel’s reality show “Big Break,” first pitched the idea of an all-expense-paid junior tour to Curry several years ago.
“I built this triangle to show where the overall golf ecosystem is when it comes to participation numbers,” said Lowery. “It was saying that 17 percent – and this is according to the National Golf Foundation – 17 percent of black and brown kids are involved in the game of golf, but when we get to competitive golf … it dropped down to less than 2 percent.”
This, Lowery told Curry, is the sweet spot. This is where Curry could create systemic change in real time.
“We’re trying to break the mold here,” said Lowery.
A panel takes place during Stephen Curry and UNDERRATED Golf Present The 2024 Curry Cup at Ridgewood Country Club on September 04, 2024, in Paramus, New Jersey. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for UNDERRATED Golf)
For Stackhouse, the idea of a tour that had its own points system and season finale was an ideal learning ground for juniors trying to make it to the next level. Soong’s parents said learning how to navigate different types of championship courses, grasses and even time zones has been eye-opening for their son.
The tour’s third season featured four U.S. regional stops in South Carolina, Indiana, Oregon and Texas. There was also an international event held this year in England. A total of 26 junior boys and girls then advanced to Ridgewood, former host of the PGA Tour’s Northern Trust, The Barclays and the 2022 U.S. Amateur.
Winners of the Curry Cup receive exemptions into prestigious events such as the Annika Invitational, the Under Armour / Jordan Spieth AJGA Championship, the Junior PGA Championship, the Western Junior, and the Porter Cup. They’re also fully exempt on the AJGA for the 2025 season.
“That’s what junior golf is,” said Stackhouse, “it’s navigating different tours and systems and climbing those points rankings to get even bigger opportunities.”
One of the happy byproducts of Curry’s tour is the family-like atmosphere. At regional events, players and their chaperones ride buses together, eat meals together and stay at the same hotel.
When Ashley Shaw of Arizona played in a junior tournament in Florida, a couple friends from Underrated came out to watch.
“Underrated is more than just golf,” said 15-year-old Shaw. “When they say we’re a family, we’re a legit family. They teach us everything.”
Stephen Curry and junior golfers attend Stephen Curry and UNDERRATED Golf Present The 2024 Curry Cup at Ridgewood Country Club on September 04, 2024, in Paramus, New Jersey. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for UNDERRATED Golf)
Jenny Bethune, who retired from the LA Sheriffs Department, has poured into the junior program of the Tee Divas and Tee Dudes Golf Club in Los Angeles. This year, seven of their nine high school graduates went on to receive college golf scholarships. Four who played on the Underrated Tour are now at Southern University.
“That was the main thing that we were hearing from college coaches,” said Bethune. “We need kids that are tournament tough.”
Bethune tells juniors in their program that golf is a billion-dollar industry that hires more employees than McDonald’s and Starbucks. There’s a job in the golf industry can fits nearly any kind of passion.
For Lowery, it’s less about playing tour golf and more about how the game can help these teens professionally.
“The higher you go in the game of golf,” he noted, “the more opportunities you have to meet the CEOs.”
On the first tee at Ridgewood, a DJ kept the scene light as Curry showed off his dance moves. Juniors chatted with the four-time NBA champion before they teed off, and he videoed their swings. Everyone looked unusually relaxed, the silence and tension that typically envelops most golf tournaments was noticeably absent.
The camaraderie at the trophy presentation between parents and juniors was aspirational.
“It’s dynamic, isn’t it?” said Ken Stackhouse of what Curry has created with the help of partners like KPMG, who share his vision.
“It has its own personage. It’s alive. The whole thing is magical, I think.”
That tone starts at the top, with the gracious and grounded man who pays attention to every detail of Underrated Golf and treats each selfie request as his personal mission.
“Joy is where all of my gifts come from,” said Curry, when asked by a junior about how to push through when things get tough.
“That’s why you see me smile and do all those stupid dances, because I’m trying to force the joy to show itself. If I tap into that energy, then I get lost in the game again, and it becomes more pure that way.”
What Curry teaches these young players and the path he provides is nothing short of priceless.
Kizzire captured his first win on the PGA Tour since 2018 at the SONY Open in Hawaii.
Auburn’s recent run of golf greatness extended beyond the collegiate game last weekend, as former Tiger Patton Kizzire took home the win at the Procore Championship in Napa Valley, California. Kizzire shot a tournament-best 20-under par in the victory, outlasting California native David Lipsey’s 15-under par for his third PGA Tour win.
The first-place finish was a long time coming for Kizzire, who last won a PGA Tour event in 2018 at the SONY Open in Hawaii. The win was his third top-10 finish of the season, and first since finishing in a tie for eight at the Barracuda Championship in July. Kizzire’s win vaulted him into the top 100 of the world golf rankings, as the Auburn alumni now sits at No. 99 heading into the final few tournaments of the season.
While the 38-year-old is unlikely to develop an end-of-career win streak, the momentum could help him climb towards his highest-ever ranking of No. 51 in the world, which he accomplished in 2018. Kizzire is likely going to take a week to enjoy the victory before a possible return to action when the PGA Tour makes its way down south for the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, MS on October 3.
If the longtime professional can manage back-to-back top-10 finishes, it could give him the momentum to compete for more championships when the Tour field expands next spring.
Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Brian on Twitter @TheRealBHauch
The Notre Dame men’s golf team had to make up 11 shots on the last day of the Canadian Collegiate Invitational to win it. With skill and a bit of luck (no pun intended), the Irish were able to make the shots necessary to do just that. They shot 17-under-par over the three rounds for a final score of 847, five shots better than Missouri and Michigan.
The Irish, who were tied with the Wolverines in second to start the final round, shot 6-under during the final round at Oviinbyrd Golf Club in MacTier, Ontario, benefiting from the Tigers shooting a 10-over. The Irish tied with fifth-place Michigan State for the best score of the round.
All four Irish golfers included in the scoring shot under par in the last round. [autotag]Nate Stevens[/autotag] and [autotag]Rocco Salvitti[/autotag] shot 2-under, and [autotag]Jacob Modleski[/autotag] and [autotag]Mike Qiu[/autotag] were 1-under. Stevens had the best overall score for the Irish, tying for eighth with a 6-under 210.
The Irish’s next tournament will be the Windon Memorial Classic, hosted by Northwestern on Sept. 29 and 30.
Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.
The Club at Eaglebrooke will resurface its greens with Tifeagle Bermuda.
The Club at Eaglebrooke in Lakeland, Florida – a Ron Garl design that opened in 1996 – will close for a six-month renovation in 2025 focused on rebuilding all 18 greens.
The semi-private facility has never had a large-scale renovation. Mondragon Golf, a Florida-based course construction company, will do the work that is scheduled to begin in April and wrap up in October.
The greens will be resurfaced with Tifeagle Bermuda grass. Other work will include rebuilding bridges and a large bulkhead. The agronomy team also plans to work on select drainage, irrigation, tee boxes and bunker improvements.
“The upcoming renovation will boost our goal of becoming the best semi-private facility in the Lakeland area,” Ryan Roberts, Eaglebrooke’s general manager, said in a media release announcing the renovation. “When the course reopens next fall, non-member/public play will be more restricted. Therefore, if you are interested in joining the Club at Eaglebrooke, now is the best time – before initiation fees increase.”
Eaglebrooke is managed by Indigo Sports, a Troon Company. The Arizona-based Troon is the largest golf and golf-related hospitality management company with more than 900 locations around the world, including responsibility for 575-plus 18-hole-equivalent courses.
The incident took place at Trump International Golf Course where he was golfing, according to the White House.
The former president and current Republican candidate for the presidency was rushed to safety by the Secret Service around 2 p.m. ET, after agents spotted a man with an AK-47 near his golf course and agents opened fire, law enforcement sources said. The suspect was later taken into custody, and a rifle was recovered, officials said.
“President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity. No further details at this time,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said Sunday afternoon.
In a fundraising email sent out roughly an hour after the incident, Trump said there were gunshots in his vicinity, “but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I am safe and well!”
The FBI said Sunday in a statement it is investigating, “what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump,” at his Florida golf club, according to various reports.
The U.S. Secret Service earlier had confirmed it was investigating “a protective incident” involving Trump early this afternoon, and said the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office would “have more details soon.”
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office said based on information from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, deputies had stopped a vehicle at Interstate 95 and State Road 714 and taken a suspect into custody “believed to be connected to a shooting incident at Trump International in Palm Beach County.”
The gunman was spotted by an advance team several holes ahead of Trump, according to reports.
Asked by reporters how this incident could occur, especially given the previous attempt on Trump’s life, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw described the golf course as being “surrounded by shrubbery” with a limited perimeter.
“When somebody gets into the shrubbery, they’re pretty much out of sight,” he said.
Because Trump is not a sitting president, Bradshaw said, “security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible,” but that will likely change in the future.
“I would imagine the next time he comes at a golf course, there’ll probably be a little bit more people around the perimeter, but the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done. They provided exactly what the protection should have been, and their agent did a fantastic job.”
Trump was the target of a shooter earlier in his campaign in Pennsylvania.
A little luck can go a long way and Allisen Corpuz was a prime example of this adage during Saturday’s Solheim Cup.
A little luck can go a long way and Allisen Corpuz was a prime example of this adage during Saturday’s Solheim Cup when she topped a fairway wood but wound up with an eagle putt that gave her side the lead in a pivotal foursomes match with Emily Pedersen and Carlota Ciganda at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
Corpuz, who was paired with star Nelly Korda, looked to avoid a lake on the par-5 14th hole, but still wanted to take a crack at the green. She took a full swing, then nearly lost her club in the follow-through, assuming the worst after she topped a shot that barely climbed 20 feet off the ground.
But instead of catastrophe, the ball stayed dry and then rolled through the green, curled up onto the fringe and rolled nicely to give Korda an eagle putt.
The world’s No. 1 player calmly drained the 25-footer to give the American team its first lead of the day, a critical sequence that led to their 1-up win in the match.
Forget about an ace on a par 3. Blasi did one better.
Most golfers dream of scoring a hole-in-one on any par 3. Golf course designer Jay Blasi did one better.
Blasi, who serves on Golfweek’s Best architectural advisory panel and often hosts course-rating events, used driver to ace the short, downhill par-4 14th of Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley Resort in Wisconsin.
The hole tips out at 325 yards. Blasi was playing the orange tees as he led a group of Golfweek’s Best raters around the David McLay Kidd-designed layout. He said it was playing 272 on a direct line at the flag. As seen in the video below, it took a few seconds to register. (Warning: Some language is as might be expected for such a surprise, and might be NSFW.)
“On a par 3, anytime you hit one towards the hole you have a sliver of hope it will go in,” Blasi told Golfweek. “On a drivable par 4, the hole becomes the green itself and you feel like you accomplished your goal if you knock it on. In this case it landed on the green in line with the flag, rolled at the hole and disappeared. The feeling was more shock and awe than pure joy for me. But for the group it was just bliss.”
Blasi didn’t immediately share details via text about what his bar tab might have been after buying a round for the house to celebrate, but the Golfweek’s Best raters can be a thirsty bunch with high standards.
The hole curves sharply downhill with a feeder slope coming in from the right on a typically firm fairway, allowing players to send the ball out wide of multiple centerline bunkers and still feed it onto the green. It’s not exactly a monster so long as players miss the sand, but still, a hole-in-one? Pretty cool and totally unforgettable for Blasi on a course that ranks No. 3 among all public-access layouts in the state and is No. 36 on Golfweek’s Best ranking of all modern courses in the U.S.
No. 14 of Mammoth Dunes at Sand Valley in Wisconsin (Brandon Carter/Sand Valley)
The Wisconsin-raised, California-based Blasi sports a 2.9 handicap index and previously had made four holes-in-one on par 3s at a strong lineup of courses: The Patriot in Oklahoma (after having helped design the course, he made the first ace on opening day), Stanford Golf Course in California, Pasatiempo in California and Omni PGA Frisco’s short course named the Swing (of course we count them on par-3 courses!) in Texas.
The latest ace comes on the heels of Blasi complaining to this writer about the state of his game. Might that have anything to do with the fact we’re opposing captains in the Ryder Cup-style, Golfweek’s Best rater-based Scratch Cup in October? After the hole-in-one, this writer and his team are accepting thoughts and prayers.
