Tag: Adam Long

Instead of getting lost in the Bermuda Triangle, these 4 pros found their game in the first round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship

“I was just coming out to shake the rust off and have a good time today and I guess I did.”

The PGA Tour is visiting the eastern tip of the North Atlantic Ocean and the infamous Bermuda Triangle, which is best known as a place where planes, ships and people are alleged to have gone mysteriously missing. But this week at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, it is where a lot of veterans are finding their game.

None more so than Sweden’s Alex Noren, who made a tournament-record 11 birdies in calm conditions Thursday morning at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda. Noren tied the course record with a 10-under 61 and set his personal low 18-hole scoring mark in 510 official stroke-play rounds on the Tour en route to grabbing a two-stroke lead over four golfers when play was suspended during the first round due to darkness with nine players left to complete the round.

“It was a long time ago I had like a really low round, you know, lower than maybe 5, 6 under, so I feel good,” Noren said. “That was pretty much the closest I’ve got to the hole in a very, very long time.”

That included finishing the day in style by stuffing his approach inside a foot for his third birdie in his final four holes. Noren, for one, hopes that the trademark wind at Port Royal, which is the course’s main defense, will pick up as the tournament continues.

“I like the wind,” Noren said. “If it’s not windy, it’s like you’ve got to keep these unbelievable low rounds up and it’s not that easy.”

It’s been a bit of a struggle this season for the 41-year-old Noren. He has 10 career wins on the DP World Tour and once ranked as high as No. 8 in the world but remains winless in 162 career starts on the PGA Tour. He’s dipped to 62nd in the world and recorded just three top-10 finishes this season.

“It’s been a weird year,” he said, but he’s trending in the right direction after a T-3 at the Shriners Children’s Open last month.

Weird would be a kind description for the season to date for Robert Garrigus. He’s missed the cut in all eight of his PGA Tour starts this season and 15 in a row. But on Thursday, he signed for a bogey-free 8-under 63.

“My putting, it was just as good as I think I’ve putted in, I don’t know, 5 years,” he said.

Garrigus, 45, was a late addition into the tournament, flying to Bermuda figuring he’d enjoy a vacation if he failed to get a spot.

“Just knowing that I was playing in a tournament like gave me a little juice,” he said. “I was just coming out to shake the rust off and have a good time today and I guess I did. It was a lot of fun.”

He’s tied for second with D.J. Trahan, Vincent Whaley, and Dylan Wu. Whaley, 28, ranked No. 222 in the FedEx Cup standings during the regular season and is making just his 13th start this season as he battled back from a right wrist injury he suffered two years ago at the RBC Canadian Open. He said he’s finally healthy again. That and a coaching change to Cameron McCormick before the FedEx Cup Fall began has helped him make four straight cuts and shoot his career-low on Tour on Thursday.

“I grew up working with him in Dallas and kind of got back into it, and it’s been great,” Whaley said.

Trahan, 42, last won on Tour in 2008 and started the week at No. 214 in the FedEx Cup standings. He made four birdies in a row starting at the fourth hole, but it was a par at 16 that made his day.

“It was the best par on a par-3 I ever had in my life,” he declared. “I hit the worst tee shot and then I chipped it down in the bunker, it was about the best I could do, and then I holed it out of the bunker. But it was such a circus show.”

There was also a Tour record set on Thursday. Veteran pro Adam Long hit his 60th straight fairway when he found the short grass on his second hole, a par-5, after going 56-for-56 last week at the World Wide Technology Championship, shattering Brian Claar’s record of 59 straight fairways hit, set in 1992. Long’s streak dated to his final two holes at the Shriners Children’s Open and finally came to an end with 69 when he misfired at No. 15 at Port Royal.

“The one that missed, it was a 3-wood that I kind of hit up in the air a little too spinny and the wind caught it. Didn’t quite go far enough so it stayed in the rough,” Long said. “Made Thursday a little more exciting than usual.”

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Adam Long breaks 31-year-old PGA Tour record for consecutive fairways hit

The record keeps growing.

Adam Long can’t miss (the fairway).

Literally.

Long set a new PGA Tour record on Thursday morning in the opening round of the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Club. Long hit his 60th straight fairway when he found the short grass on his second hole, a par-5, after going 56-for-56 last week at the World Wide Technology Championship, breaking Brian Claar’s record of 59 straight fairways hit, set in 1992. His streak goes back to his final two holes at the Shriners Children’s Open.

In fact, Long hit every fairway on his front nine and his first four on the back nine before missing one, meaning the record now sits at 69 straight fairways hit. Ultimately, Long shot 5 under in the opening round and hit 12-of-14 fairways.

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Adam Long hits 56-of-56 fairways at PGA Tour’s World Wide Technology Championship

The last time a player hit every fairway across four days of PGA Tour play was in 1992 at the Memorial.

Wide fairways were a talking point all week as the PGA Tour hosted its first event at a Tiger Woods-designed golf course.

But just how wide are the fairways at El Cardonal at Diamante in Los Cabos, Mexico? Adam Long hit 56-of-56 fairways over the four rounds of the 2023 World Wide Technology Championship to become the first player with 100 percent driving accuracy in a Tour event since Brian Claar at the 1992 Memorial Tournament. Long finished T-23 at 17 under, 10 shots behind the winner Erik van Rooyen.

The performance was impressive, but shouldn’t come as a surprise seeing as Long is 17th in driving accuracy on Tour at 65.48 percent. According to Data Golf, 18 players hit every fairway during Thursday’s morning wave. The field hit nearly 90 percent of fairways after the first round. The Tour average on the season? 58.07 percent.

Long has made 36 starts this season and has missed the cut in half of his appearances. He’s earned just three top-25 finishes, with the last coming in July at the Barbasol Championship (T-16).

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Zach Johnson, who won at St. Andrews, and two more players withdraw from 2021 British Open

Three more players have withdrawn from this week’s 149th British Open at Royal St. George’s Golf Club.

The R&A announced on Monday morning that three more players have withdrawn from this week’s 149th British Open at Royal St. George’s Golf Club, including 2015 champion Zach Johnson.

Johnson, who won at St. Andrews six years ago, tested positive for COVID-19, according to the R&A, and will be replaced in the field by England’s Sam Horsfield.

The other two players who will not be playing this week are America’s Ryan Moore and South Africa’s Louis de Jager.

Moore, who has had a back injury throughout much of 2021, played the last three PGA Tour events. He said at last week’s John Deere Classic, where he finished T-2 to earn a spot in the field at the British Open, that in addition to having a sore back, he had a family vacation planned for this week. Moore informed the R&A on Monday that he would not take the special exemption. He is being replaced in the field by Adam Long, who is also from the United States.

Louis de Jager tested positive for COVID-19 and is being replaced by Dylan Frittelli from the United States.

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On Sunday, Bubba Watson withdrew from the 2021 British Open after revealing that while he is fully vaccinated, he had been in close contact with someone who tested positive. Hours before, 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama also withdrew because he continues to test positive for COVID-19 even though he has no symptoms. Matsuyama first tested positive two weeks ago at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.

Sebastián Muñoz leads; 21 players within five shots at John Deere Classic

More birdies have been made at TPC Deere Run since 2000 than on any course on the PGA Tour. The birdie-fest continues this week.

Gentlemen, start your engines.

Yes, one of the top calling cards of the John Deere Classic is the assortment of farm equipment on display at the tournament, the impressive machinery certainly not to be mistaken for the speed seen at the Indy 500. But this is the John Deere Classic we’re talking about, and the tournament’s other lures are par-busting rounds of golf, tight leaderboards and high-octane, spirited sprints to the 72nd-hole finish line and many times beyond.

And folks, there’s a stampede coming on Sunday at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois, where more birdies have been made since 2000 than on any course on the PGA Tour. After the rain – heavy at times – finally stopped falling on Saturday and all the birdies had been circled on the scorecards, 21 players were within five shots of the lead.

“You’re going to have to be in attack mode here,” said Scott Brown, who made nine birdies and vaulted up the leaderboard into a tie for third with an 8-under-par 63 that left him at 14 under through 54 holes.

JOHN DEERE CLASSIC: Leaderboard | Photos | Sunday tee times

Ahead of the huge pack was Sebastián Muñoz, who held a share of the lead after a first-round 63 and added a 67 in the third round to stand at 16 under.
He’s one clear of Brandon Hagy, who shot 67.

Joining Brown at 14 under were Adam Long (64), Cameron Champ (65), Kevin Na (66) and 2016 John Deere champion Ryan Moore (68).
Overnight leader Luke List made just three birdies and shot 71 to go from one up to three back with 18 to play.

Others at 13 under were Chez Reavie (69), Jhonattan Vegas (67) and Maverick McNealy (65). At 12 under were Lucas Glover (70), Adam Schenk (70) and Jason Dufner (68). At 11 under were seven players including Sean O’Hair (65), Rafa Cabrera Bello (66) and Camillo Villegas (67).

Scores were so low that 10 under had you in a tie for 22nd.

“Just going to have to keep making a lot of birdies,” Long said. “These guys are really good, and they’re going to be making a lot of birdies, too, so going to have to make a lot just to keep up with them.”

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Muñoz got a huge break on the par-5 10th hole after his errant drive settled a few inches right behind large tree. But because he could hit the ball sideways either right-handed or left-handed, and because there was so much damage around the trunk of the tree, he was allowed penalty-free relief. From there he made par.

And then in his last eight holes Muñoz added three birdies to grab the lead.

“We could see on the leaderboard that people were going low, and you didn’t want to kind of fade into the leaderboard, so it was really important to birdie 11, 13 and 16 coming in, so it was nice to be in the position I am right now,” he said. “As soon as you see that you’re not in those first couple names (on the leaderboard), then you try to make a couple birdies to make it happen again. Every shot counts and having every extra one for tomorrow might help me out a lot. Momentum is a huge thing. I feel like I rode it pretty good.”

One thing could mar the final round – Mother Nature. While the players dodged the worst of some nasty storms in the surrounding areas, another front of bad weather could be in store for the final round.

Cameron Champ
Cameron Champ hits his second shot in front of fans on the 17th hole during the third round of the John Deere Classic golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

Champ, who missed four cuts and withdrew from a tournament in his last five starts, is playing on the weekend for the first time since May.

“Based off the weather forecast, it’s not looking too good and it’s going to be windy, which I love, so again it might be an all-day type deal, depending upon the thunder storms and how things go,” he said. “But who knows how the weather’s going to play. If it’s like today the course is definitely scorable; it got super soft, it played longer, the greens were super receptive and spinning, you had to really control shots. So, if it’s like today, you could definitely be a little more aggressive, but again I think it’s just whoever doesn’t make the big mistakes out here.”

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How much money the top PGA Tour golfers won at the Mayakoba Golf Classic

Check out how much money the top players won this week in Mexico.

Check out how much money the top players won this week in Mexico.

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson to play in same group for 38th time at Zozo Championship

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are mostly having a ho-hum week at the Zozo Championship but they’re giving golf fans a nice little treat on Sunday. As Justin Ray of the 15th Club points out, Tiger and Phil will be grouped in a PGA Tour round for the …

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are mostly having a ho-hum week at the Zozo Championship but they’re giving golf fans a nice little treat on Sunday.

As Justin Ray of the 15th Club points out, Tiger and Phil will be grouped in a PGA Tour round for the 38th time in the final round at Sherwood Country Club.

That ties Mickelson with Ernie Els for most rounds played with the Big Cat all-time.

  • Ernie Els (38)
  • Phil Mickelson (38)
  • Vijay Singh (32)
  • Mark O’Meara (27)
  • Jim Furyk (26)

They’re going off in threesomes this week at the Zozo, and playing split tees, so the Tiger/Phil group heads out off the 10th tee at 2:28 p.m. ET, 11:28 local time.

As for the third member of the group?

That would be Adam Long, giving this group a combined 127 career PGA Tour victories: 82 for Tiger, 44 for Phil and Long’s 2019 Desert Classic title.

Tiger and Phil are also 1-2 on the Tour’s all-time money list, with Long checking in at No. 349.

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Adam Long is the man to catch at Corales, where a 2021 Masters invite is on the line

Adam Long will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic.

The top of a PGA Tour leaderboard isn’t totally new territory to Adam Long. The former Duke player is perhaps most famous for edging Phil Mickelson at last year’s Desert Classic in La Quinta, California.

Now Long has an opportunity to log a win in a second consecutive season.

The 33-year-old Long will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship at Corales Golf Club in the Dominican Republic.

Long’s third-round 64 was as good a score as any player posted on Saturday. Only Anirban Lahiri, who remains three shots back in a tie for seventh, could match it.

Long, who is fresh off a T-13 at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, got to that 8-under number with four birdies on the front nine and four more on the back. He didn’t make a single bogey and is now 17 under for 54 holes.

Corales Puntacana: Scores | Photo gallery | Tee times

As Long looks to bag his second PGA Tour win, the man behind him is doing the same. Hudson Swafford had a third-round 69 that pushed him to 15 under and guaranteed him a spot in Sunday’s final pairing alongside Long.

Swafford sole Tour win came at the 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge.

Canadian Mackenzie Hughes is solo third at 14 under followed by China’s Xinjun Zhang at 13 under.

Nate Lashley, in a tie for fifth at 12 under, deserves a second look thanks to a bit of familiarity. The 37-year-old fired a third-round 65, his lowest score on the PGA Tour in more than a year. Lashley was a winner at Corales in 2017 at the Korn Ferry Tour event hosted there.

A Masters invitation will be up for grabs on Sunday for the Corales winner.

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Adam Long went from barely making cut to nearly winning at 3M Open

Adam Long had a weekend to remember at this week’s 3M Open in Minnesota.

Certainly, there had to be a piece of Adam Long that was envious when Michael Thompson buried a birdie putt to capture a two-stroke victory at the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities.

But considering where he was on Friday afternoon, the former Duke star will be happy to take home a huge check and a second-place finish.

In the last nine years, only one player has made the cut on the number and gone on to victory — Brandt Snedeker at the 2016 Farmers. Long nearly turned the same trick, barely qualifying for the weekend after posting scores of 68 and 72 in the opening two rounds.

3M Open: Leaderboard | Best photos | Winner’s bag

And after the relief of making the cut set in, Long sure got comfortable. Moving Day included a scorching 31 on the back nine for a 63. He followed on Sunday with another impressive showing, this time posting a 31 on the front before easing home with a 64.

He finished two strokes behind Thompson, all alone in second place.

While Long insisted that he’d been hitting the ball well through the first two rounds, he admitted on Sunday he didn’t expect to be in the runner-up circle.

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“I didn’t think I was going to have a chance to win certainly, but I knew my game’s been pretty good lately. I’ve been playing some good golf, better than I’ve been able to show for it, but I was pretty thankful to have the opportunity, proud that I was able to finish it off on Friday to at least survive and I wanted to just kind of show up and give it everything I’ve got,” he said. “You can make a lot of birdies out here if you’re swinging it nice, you’re going to give yourself a lot of chances.”

Long, who won the 2019 Desert Classic by edging out Phil Mickelson, said he worked with coach Josh Gregory like he always does, and didn’t do much to alter his routine.

The difference, he said, was a boost of confidence by making it to Saturday.

“I think most of it’s probably mental, where Friday you’re on the cut line all of a sudden after making those few bogeys and I’m thinking it’s a lot harder — you’re grinding it out,” he said. “Obviously, Friday was really tough with the wind and everything, too, it was a really tough day, versus this weekend I had nothing to lose, I’m in 50th place starting on Saturday morning. So tried to cruise up and here we are.”

With another high finish — he had opened the 2019-20 season with top-25 finishes in five of his first eight starts — Long likes his position as he heads towards the FedEx Cup playoffs.

“I mean, I’ve been playing nice,” he said. “To see some results kind of gives you the confidence that you’re doing the right things and you’re on the right track and I look forward to finishing off the rest of the season.”

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Michael Thompson ends seven-year victory drought at 3M Open

Michael Thompson ended a 7-year victory drought on the PGA Tour by shooting 4-under 67 for a two-stroke win.

The long victory drought for Michael Thompson is over in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Thompson, 35, won the 3M Open, his first title since 2013, by shooting a final-round 4-under 67 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota on Sunday, two strokes better than Adam Long.

Thompson may have enjoyed the best coronavirus break of all players on the PGA Tour, adopting a baby girl, Laurel Marie. On March 18, one week after the Tour suspended play, Thompson and his wife, Rachel and 3-year-old son Jace were in Topeka, Kansas, to witness the induced birth of their second child.

“It was really a joy for me to be able to stay home those first three months of her life and really get to care for her and learn her little nuances and see her smile,” he said. “It definitely puts perspective in your mind when you have kids because golf is very important and it’s what I love to do, but our kids are what we live for.”

Thompson, who entered the week ranked No. 151 in the FedEx Cup standings, showed signs that his game was turning in the right direction with a T-8 finish at the RBC Heritage in June, his best result of the season. He overcame a sluggish start with a three-putt bogey at No. 3 to drop out of the lead, but righted the ship with back-to-back birdies at 5 and 6, rolling in a 21-foot putt at the latter.

Long, 32, who needed a birdie on his 17th hole on Friday to make the 36-hole cut on the number at 2-under 140, made a charge on the weekend that course designer Arnold Palmer would have appreciated. He shot 63 on Saturday and birdied six of his first 12 holes Sunday to grab a share of the lead with Thompson.

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“I kept putting the pedal down and making as many birdies as I could,” Long said.

But Long, who notched his best result among nine top-25 finishes this season, took 3 putts at the 17th hole and despite a closing birdie shot 7-under 64. He came up one stroke short in his bid to become just the fourth player since 2010 to make the cut on the number and win. Among the consolation prizes for Long: the top-two finishers in the top 10 at the 3M Open not already qualified earned an exemption into the U.S. Open in September.

Thompson, who finished tied for second at the 2012 U.S. Open, earned the other spot into the national championship at Winged Foot, where he played in his first U.S. Amateur. He clinched the 3M title with a nifty birdie from a bunker at the short, par-4 16th hole. From 37 yards, Thompson exploded to 2 feet and tapped in en route to a 72-hole total of 19-under 265. It had been 2,702 days since his lone Tour title at the 2013 Honda Classic.

Tony Finau, who fired his caddie this week and had swing instructor Boyd Summerhays on the bag, shot 68 and was part of a nine-way tie for third. Finau has just one victory to his credit at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open and has the most top-eight finishes with 25 of any player without a win on Tour in the last four seasons.

Last year’s champion Matthew Wolff made a valiant effort to defend his title with five birdies in his first 14 holes to close within one of the lead, but made bogey at the last to shoot 67 and finished T-12 at 14 under. It marked his third top 25 since the Tour’s return in June.

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