Tag: Ally Challenge

Jack Nicklaus mocked Jalen Rose’s golf swing after so many whiffs at the Ally Challenge Celebrity Shootout

I feel that.

We’ve all had some bad days on the links. But generally, those bad days don’t play out in front of a crowd and television cameras.

Former NBA star and current analyst Jalen Rose was one of several big names to participate in the Ally Challenge Celebrity Shootout, which was held at the Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club in Rose’s home state of Michigan.

However, it wasn’t the homecoming Rose hoped for, and his performance was notable for all the wrong reasons. Wearing an Aidan Hutchinson Lions jersey, Rose failed to even make contact five times before Jack Nicklaus — one of the greatest golfers of all time who won a record 18 majors during his playing career — intervened.

“You see this thing here,” Nicklaus asked, pointing to the club head. “That’s what you hit the ball with.”

He then demonstrated a golf swing for Rose. Amazingly, the lesson seemed to work, as he hit the ball on his next attempt. Sort of.

Rose didn’t get any air on it, and it only went a few yards. But hey, it counts. That’ll play.

Don’t worry, Jalen. I’ve been there.

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Jim Furyk pulls away, wins Champions Tour debut at Ally Challenge

Furyk stood his ground on Sunday, posting a smooth-as-silk 68 to win in Champions debut at Warwick Hills, just outside of Flint, Michigan.

Jim Furyk sure made this Champions Tour stuff look easy.

While others made runs on Sunday during the final round of the Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, Michigan, Furyk simply stood his ground, posting a smooth-as-silk 68 to win in Champions debut.

He becomes the 19th player to win a Champions event on his first try, following in the footsteps of others like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Lanny Wadkins.

“I didn’t know 19 people won in their first time, it sounds so ordinary,” Furyk said through a smile after the victory. “It feels good, you know, I really missed a lot of good friends out here. I respect the talent out here and you look at how many Hall of Famers and how many good players there are, so it’s an honor to come out win the first one.”

Retief Goosen and Brett Quigley both were in the hunt with Furyk, but each made a critical mistake down the stretch — Goosen bogeyed No. 18, while Quigley lipped out a short putt on No. 17 and bogeyed each of the final two holes.

Ally Challenge scores

For Furyk, this meant another great finish at Warwick Hills, where he made all 15 cuts when the course hosted the PGA Tour’s Buick Open. He captured the Buick title in 2003, finished second twice and placed in the top 25 in all but three of his appearances at the course.

Chris DiMarco, Rod Pampling and Wes Short Jr. all finished tied for third at 10 under while Bernhard Langer, Tom Lehman and Jerry Kelly were fourth at 9 under.

In terms of others who have also won their debut, Palmer won in his first attempt, the 1980 Senior PGA Championship, while Nicklaus won in his debut at the 1990 Regions Tradition.

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Jim Furyk one off lead in Champions debut at Ally Challenge; Brett Quigley leads

Furyk, who sits at 10-under par and trails Brett Quigley by one, likened the experience to the first day of school — but with a twist.

Like many before him, Jim Furyk’s indoctrination into the world of the Champions Tour has been welcoming.

Old friends. Old course. And the advantage of going from being one of the oldest bodies on the PGA Tour back to young-pup status.

Playing Warwick Hills outside of Flint, Michigan — the course that housed the PGA Tour’s Buick Open for years, and where he made the cut in all 15 of his starts in that event — Furyk looked right at home, posting a bogey-free 66 that puts him one off the lead heading into Sunday’s final round.

Furyk, who sits at 10-under par after two rounds, likened the experience to the first day of school — but with a twist.

“It’s been fun. It’s been great to be back at a golf course that I always
enjoyed playing when we were here on the PGA Tour and great to see some old friends,” Furyk said. “I told my wife, I always feel like the first round — I probably said it earlier in the week, the first round of the PGA Tour every year is like the first day of school, you get excited, you get a little nervous.

“Coming out here on the Champions Tour, I told her it was like the first
day of high school but I had been homeschooled the last five years. Lots of folks I hadn’t seen in a lot of years and a lot of good friends, and so just good to say hello to everyone.”

Furyk won the Buick Open at Warwick Hills in 2003, finished second twice and placed in the top 25 in all but three of his appearances in Grand Blanc.

Meanwhile, Brett Quigley raced in front of the pack during the second round, posting eight birdies in his first 14 holes during Saturday play, then cruised home to 11 under with a series of pars to take the one-stroke lead into the clubhouse over Furyk, Carlos Franco and Tommy Armour III. Quigley has picked up right where he left off before the break, but he admitted during Saturday’s round that he was too keen to get going on Friday and needed a day to settle in.

“I was trying to shoot 20 under the front nine yesterday. I was just trying to force everything after being off for so long. I was like, oh my gosh, now I’ve got to go bogey the first hole. And I was like, what am I doing out here?” Quigley said. “And really struggled the front nine and brought it together the back nine, and then came out today and played a little bit more like I’m capable of playing.”

The resident of Jupiter, Florida, said he wasn’t sure the Champions Tour would resurface this summer, so any opportunity to play is something of a bonus.

Quigley won his second start, in Morocco on Feb. 1, then added another top-10 finish and was second on the senior circuit’s money list (to Bernhard Langer) with $481,687.

“It’s almost like winning the lottery, because we just weren’t sure we were going to play. Other sports, PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champions, have done such a great job getting us back and getting us back playing and keeping us safe, keeping us tested, and keeping everybody with the appearance of being healthy,” Quigley said. “So it’s great. It was a tough one to sit down, but certainly great to be back and back playing and thankful that we are.”

Other prominent names looming include Colin Montgomerie, Bernhard Langer, Kirk Triplett, Tom Lehman, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els, all at 6 under.

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Ernie Els makes hole-in-one; Billy Andrade, Tommy Armour III in Ally lead

Els recorded his 17th hole-in-one and finished the day at 3-under, just three shots behind leaders Billy Andrade and Tommy Armour III.

It didn’t long after the restart of the Champions Tour season for Ernie Els’ bar tab to grow.

Els, who has a win and a place in his previous three Champions Tour starts, wasn’t particularly pleased with his opening round at Warwick Hills G&CC as part of the Ally Challenge, the senior tour’s first event back after the pandemic stop.

But on his next-to-last hole of the day, Els turned his fortunes around, dropping a hole in one — his first in two years and the 17th of his career — at the course near Flint.

“Ricci (Roberts), my caddy, said, ‘you know, that was a nice golf swing,’ ” Els said. “The ball was in the air and the next thing, it was in the hole.”

Els finished the day at 3-under, just three shots behind leaders Billy Andrade and Tommy Armour III.

Andrade got hot on the back nine en route to the top of the leaderboard. He shot a 32 after the turn, burying birdies on Nos. 10, 13, 14 and 15. Although he insisted that he had been practicing in advance of the trip to Michigan, Andrade said it took the realization that the Champions Tour was returning to get his competitive juices flowing.

“Well, I think the biggest thing was the first two or three months,
there was no starting point really. And once we knew, OK, hey, we’re going to start at the Ally Challenge, we hope, OK, so now you have a starting point and then you can start vamping up your practice. But we’re over 50. It’s not like we are practicing a ton. But it’s nice to have a goal to work towards versus when this pandemic started,” Andrade said.  “It’s like we are definitely not playing, so it’s very, I think very difficult for professionals to get jazzed up to go out and play if you have nothing to work for. You know what I’m saying?

“So I think once we knew we were coming here, we were so excited, let’s get this thing started, let’s get the ball rolling. And I think all of us are really, really excited about being here and getting back into playing again.”

Bernhard Langer,  Wes Short, Jr. and Tom Gillis are tied at 5 under while Jim Furyk is 4 under in his first Champions Tour event.

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