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Golfweek’s David Dusek discusses the equipment that Collin Morikawa used to win the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Golfweek’s David Dusek discusses the equipment that Collin Morikawa used to win the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Golfweek’s JuliaKate Culpepper recaps the final round of play at Muirfield Village Golf Club where Collin Morikawa won the Workday Charity Open.
Golfweek’s JuliaKate Culpepper recaps the final round of play at Muirfield Village Golf Club where Collin Morikawa won the Workday Charity Open.
Patrick Cantlay warmed up for his title defense next week with a final-round 65 at Muirfield Village, one of his favorite courses on the PGA Tour.
If there were any questions whether Patrick Cantlay was ready for his title defense at the Memorial next week, he answered them on Sunday, shooting a 7-under 65 at Muirfield Village Golf Club during the final round of the Workday Charity Open.
“It actually felt like I gave some back coming in,” Cantlay said. “But I played really well, so I’m happy about getting a good feel on the golf course. The greens were a little quicker, felt a little like a first round of the Memorial out there today, so it was a nice rehearsal for next week.”
A year ago, Cantlay fired a final-round 64 to erase a four-stroke deficit and win his second PGA Tour title. How much did it mean to Cantlay, a former Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year award winner, to win at the house that Jack built? In response to a congratulatory text from John Cook, one of his mentors growing up at Viriginia Country Club in Long Beach, California, wrote, “If I never win a major, I’ll always have this win.”
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“He loves the golf course,” said Cantlay’s instructor Jamie Mulligan recently. “Reminds him of Augusta. It’s a demanding golf course and the complete player is going to be rewarded. Usually when he wins, I get mist in my eyes. This time I just laughed like Mozart. He looked so in control.”
Through the first three rounds at Muirfield Village, Cantlay was stymied by the slower green speeds and found himself relegated to the first tee time off No. 1 at 7 a.m. But he channeled some of the Sunday magic of a year ago. Cantlay started 5 under through his first five holes, including a 13-foot eagle at the fifth. A bogey at the eighth only temporarily slowed his momentum.
Cantlay made birdie at 9 to go out in 31 and tacked on three more birdies coming home. A bogey at the last wrapped up a round of 65 and a 72-hole aggregate of 11-under 277. Not a bad week for Cantlay, who is making just his second start since the Tour resumption.“It was really good prep work,” he said.
Not your typical 7-footer. @Patrick_Cantlay is -8 thru 15.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/w8t1KvPDSu
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 12, 2020
But Cantlay isn’t one to get to worked up over a back-door top-10 finish.
“Wins,” he told Golfweek recently. “That’s how we’re measured.”
But it does give him confidence heading into his title defense at The Memorial. No less than Jack Nicklaus wouldn’t be surprised if he was shaking Cantlay’s hand at the back of the 18th green a week from Sunday.
“He’s wound up real tight,” Nicklaus said of Cantlay. “I’m trying to get him to relax a little bit. I had two or three talks with him during the tournament last year, got him to enjoy a little bit. Even got a couple smiles out of him during the round. He’s a good kid, though. Good player, too.”
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JuliaKate E. Culpepper takes a look the third round of the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
JuliaKate E. Culpepper takes a look the third round of the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Golfweek’s JuliaKate Culpepper discusses the first round of play at Muirfield Village Golf Club for the Workday Charity Open.
Golfweek’s JuliaKate Culpepper discusses the first round of play at Muirfield Village Golf Club for the Workday Charity Open.
Adam Hadwin grabbed the early lead with 66 while Nick Taylor, in his first start since the Tour resumed play, posted a bogey-free 67.
Canada Day was last week, but try telling that to British Columbia boys’ Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor.
The Canadian pair enjoyed a parade of birdies – and for Taylor even an eagle – on their way to the top of the leaderboard during the first round of the Workday Charity Open in Dublin, Ohio.
Hadwin, 32, who was born in Moose Jaw, posted the low round of the morning wave, a 6-under 66 at Muirfield Village Golf Club to grab a one-stroke lead among early finishers over Taylor, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and American Zach Johnson. Hadwin fired a final-round 67 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Sunday to finish T-4, his best result since the calendar flipped to 2020.
“It’s been building for a while,” he said.
Hadwin got off to an inauspicious start on Thursday with a bogey at No. 10, his first hole of the day, but it turned out to be the only blemish on his card. His reliable putting stroke took care of business, holing a 16-foot birdie at 14 and after stiffing his approach from 173 yards at 18 and from 126 yards at No. 2, Hadwin drilled a 22-footer at 7 and a 19-footer at 9 to finish in style.
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Muirfield Village is hosting the PGA Tour back-to-back weeks so the course setup has been adjusted to protect the course for doing double duty. Hadwin said it still isn’t a pushover and he didn’t play more aggressively on a warm, but otherwise picture-perfect day for golf.
“I’m a firm believer in sort of easing myself into weeks and getting more aggressive as that goes along, as you sort of build some comfort with the golf course and with how you’re swinging and stuff,” he said.
Hadwin and Taylor are old pals, who played together as teenagers at Ledgeview Golf and Country Club in their hometown of Abbotsford, B.C. Neither ranks among the longer hitters on Tour, relying instead on precision and a wonderful touch around the greens. They’re also adjusting to life as new parents. Hadwin’s wife, Jessica, gave birth to their daughter Maddox on Jan. 8, while Taylor became a father himself last year. His wife Andie and his son Charlie were waiting by the 18th green when Taylor capped off a four-stroke victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February.
Taylor’s bogey-free round of 67 began with a string of six pars before a 2-putt birdie at the par-5 seventh. The 32-year-old canned a 33-foot birdie at 10 and then drilled a fairway wood from 270 yards to 3 feet and made eagle at the par-5 11th. Taylor, who ranked first in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, stuck his approach from 150 to 3 feet to close with another birdie.
Taylor’s second career victory ended a six-year drought, and the two-year exemption that comes with it allowed him to pick and choose his schedule and the luxury of skipping the first four events since the Tour resumption in June.
“I just really enjoyed being home, so just waiting an extra few weeks, was great to be home,” he said.
Happy Canada Day! So proud to represent such a beautiful place and grateful to call it home 🇨🇦
— Nick Taylor (@ntaylorgolf59) July 1, 2020
While he surely changed his fair share of diapers for his eight-month-old during his extended break from the Tour, Taylor said he also played a good deal the last month and has his coach with him this week, but nonetheless was pleased with his start.
“I know competitive rust is definitely a thing I’ve had to struggle with in the past,” he said.
Nick Taylor plays his shot from the tenth tee during the first round of the Workday Charity Open golf tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Photo by Joseph Maiorana/USA TODAY Sports)
And how did he describe the kinder, gentler Muirfield Village?
“It’s gettable,” Taylor said. “The greens are very soft. The rough is probably not as high as I’ve seen in previous years, but you still have to hit good shots.”
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Golfweek’s Adam Schupak dives into how Muirfield Village Golf Club will host two PGA Tour events over the course of the next two weeks.
Golfweek’s Adam Schupak dives into how Muirfield Village Golf Club will host two PGA Tour events over the course of the next two weeks.
The 25-year-old Englishman will have one of the most successful caddies on his bag for two weeks as Jim “Bones” Mackay returns to duty.
When Matthew Fitzpatrick received a text message from Jim “Bones” Mackay asking if he needed a fill-in caddie at the Workday Charity Open and the Memorial, Fitzpatrick nearly lost his mind and wondered if someone was playing a practical joke on him.
“I was absolutely shocked,” Fitzpatrick said. “He mentioned that he’d spoke to Aneel (Bhusri, Workday’s CEO) and I was looking for a caddie. When he mentioned that, I thought no one could be making it up. So yeah, we sort of exchanged a few texts and figured some things out, and then yeah, here we are.”
Mackay, 53, who spent 25 years on Phil Mickelson’s bag, including 41 victories and all five of his major titles, has been a TV commentator for NBC Sports and Golf Channel since parting ways with Mickelson in 2017, and last worked at the Players Championship in March.
“When the PGA Tour got restarted I was envious of the guys being back out here, whether it’s TV, caddying, what have you,” Mackay said. “To have this opportunity to be out here with the fellas in the sun getting a bit of exercise is a fantastic feeling.”
Fitzpatrick is without his regular caddie Billy Foster, who has worked for the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood in the past, but elected to stay home in England rather than risk contracting coronavirus traveling to the U.S., and having to quarantine for 14 days upon entry (and again when returning home). Fitzpatrick used another experienced hand, Cayce Kerr, in his previous three starts since the Tour’s resumption last month.
Mackay first got an up-close view of the 25-year-old Englishman’s enormous potential when Mickelson was paired with Fitzpatrick, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, at the 2014 U.S. Open.
“I knew two things,” Mackay said. “That he was a really good player and a really good guy. When I heard kind of through the grapevine that some of the European caddies weren’t coming over because of the quarantine issues and I heard Billy in particular wasn’t coming with Matt, I thought, my goodness I’m going to reach out to this guy because I love to caddie, I still consider myself a caddie to this day who’s just doing TV, and I said, ‘Hey, if I can help out at all I’d love to do it.’ And he said, ‘I’m all set the first three but the two in Ohio would be great,’ and I said, ‘I’ll see you there.’ It worked out wonderfully.”
Mackay also likened Fitzpatrick’s ball flight to that of four-time major champion Brooks Koepka.
“I love working for guys where if you’re hitting the ball into an 8-mile-an-hour wind all of a sudden, you can say, ‘Can you take that down a level or two?’ And the club will get there, so to speak. I think a big part of playing well at this level is being able to flight the ball nicely, and he’s got that in spades,” Mackay said.
Fitzpatrick has won five times on the European Tour and ranks No. 26 in the Official World Golf Ranking, 15th in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. The Englishman is still seeking his maiden title on the PGA Tour and believes the knowledge that Mackay brings to the table could make a difference.
“Everyone knows sort of his place in the game and how well he’s done,” Fitzpatrick said. “It kind of makes you feel better about your own game that someone of that stature has belief in your game. … I have a little bit of extra confidence, I guess. And it might be false confidence, but either way it’s certainly a big help in my opinion.”
Fitzpatrick said he expects Foster to re-join him at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational later this month and be on his bag for the PGA Championship the following week, Aug. 6-9. In the meantime, he should be in good hands with Mackay, who first came to Muirfield Village Golf Club in 1990, and came out of retirement in 2018 at the Sony Open to caddie for Justin Thomas when his caddie, Jimmy Johnson, was sidelined with a foot injury.
“The one thing I am lucky to have is a good memory,” Mackay said. “I’ve seen (Muirfield Village) in an array of different conditions, different winds. It’s a question of me learning Matt’s game as quickly as I can and if he’s got a question for me I’d better be able to answer it. That’s my job as his caddie.”
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