Tag: Brendon Todd

Who is the best dressed on the PGA Tour? Players were asked, and their answers varied

Any guesses on which name popped up the most?

Who is the best-dressed player on the PGA Tour?

That was the question proposed to numerous Tour players ahead of the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida. The PGA Tour posted a video a little more than a minute long on its social media accounts Wednesday, and it led to some fun answers.

Up first was Rory McIlroy, who said he thought it was Sam Ryder. Also asked the question were Tom Kim, Max Homa, Ludvig Aberg and Xander Schauffele, among numerous others.

The name that popped up the most? Take a minute and watch the hilarious video below to find out:

New exclusive Georgia golf club to be founded by Bubba Watson, Chris Kirk, Brendon Todd and more

The plan is for Georgia’s golf teams — both the men and the women — to be able to use the course.

Bubba Watson slipped into a couple of green jackets in Augusta as Masters champion and returns to Athens on occasion for Georgia football and basketball games.

So what brought the former Bulldog golfer back to the area last week?

He teased a new golf course on the horizon “The Rose,” on his social media accounts.

You might have been thinking, ‘What’s that all about?’

It’s a planned 200 to 300 invitation-only 18-hole golf club that will be built on 588 acres in Hull, less than 15 minutes from downtown Athens. It will be ready to open by late 2026. Unconnected to the course on the tract will be 147 homes.

More: After Brian Harman’s British Open win, which former UGA golfer could be next major champ?

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It all sprung from an idea of Watson’s Georgia teammate, Nick Cassini, and his brother Dimitri who are developers on the project and have their own development company, Cassini Holdings.

It received approval from the Madison County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 8.

“It’s all centered around creating an amazing golf experience, an amazing golf course,” Nick Cassini told the Athens Banner-Herald. “It’s a collective group that has a ton of experience. Our founders are members of many, many clubs around the country so we’re sort of bringing some of the best aspects of all those clubs into this one.”

Watson, among those who left the PGA Tour for the lucrative Saudi-backed LIV Tour, joined UGA golf coach Chris Haack and Cassini last week along with Georgia golf alums Brendon Todd, David Denham and current assistant coach Mookie DeMoss to walk the site on what was a cold day.

Watson and Cassini were teammates in 2000-2001 who traveled together when they played on what’s now the Korn Ferry Tour.

“When I called Bubba up and told him about this, he immediately was excited about it,” said Nick Cassini who’s been friends with Watson since they were 12. “He saw it as a way to give back to the game, to the University of Georgia and with Athens and to really connect more with Athens and the school again. When we got approval, he wanted to come see the property.”

Watson, Todd and Athens resident and recent PGA Tour winner Chris Kirk are among those who will be founding members. They could have input into hole design, Haack said.

Haack said it could compare to high-end, private clubs Ohoopee in Cobbtown or Congaree near Ridgeland, S.C.

“Just something different for Athens,” he said.

A “well-renowned” golf architect will be hired as well as a clubhouse architect and announced in the coming weeks, Cassini said, “but we’ll have Tour guys eyeballs on the golf course as well which will be great and add something to it. Our goal is to create a world-class golf club.”

Matt Coutu, brother of former Georgia kicker Brandon Coutu, is a partner in the project and owns Woodland Assets which works with the Cassinis. He told the Madison County Board of Commissioners that the project on Howard Road underwent five revisions before approval.

It includes a private dining facility, swimming pool, locker room, spa and driving range. He told the board that cottages would start at about $550,000 and community lots from $800,000 to more than $1 million.

Haack said it took about 15 minutes to get from the UGA golf course to where the new course will be.

The plan is for Georgia’s golf teams — both the men and the women — to be able to use the course.

“They still have a huge interest in the program and think this will be a great place for our guys to play and practice,” Haack said. “Their anticipation on it is they’re going to keep it at really top notch, peak condition and make it a destination place that a lot of guys are going to want to come play. For us to have access to it, would be a huge feather in our cap.”

Even though the club will be for members and their guests, the plan is to host a Madison County Chamber of Commerce tournament, charity and amateur events. The Madison County High School golf team, which does not have a home course in the county, will be able to practice some there and host a match.

“We want to be inclusive and really integrated into the community,” Cassini said.

Cassini envisions fast greens and a track that would be around 7,400 yards from the back tees that will be ready for any level of golfer to enjoy.

“It will be a firm, fast golf course, a little bit more American links-style,” he said. “Natural topography. A lot of long views. It’s going to be something a little bit different than what’s in the area at this point. When I say area, not just the Athens area, but the Atlanta metro area.”

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Caddie carousel: Tom Kim hires new caddie, Cameron Young to have new bagman as Paul Tesori heads to a veteran pro

Plenty of players will have new caddies in 2024.

Tis the season to be jolly as well as for pro golfers to switch golf gear and change caddies.

The caddie carousel is the focus of this story. Ludvig Aberg, No. 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking, got the party started a few weeks ago by hiring Joe Skovron away from Tom Kim.

“For next year, all I’m looking for is more experience in these bigger tournaments,” he told Smylie Kaufman on his podcast “The Smylie Show.” “I wanted someone I could rely on 1,000 percent, and I think with the experience in the past that Joe has kind of speaks for itself and I think that’s mainly what I’m looking for. Playing a U.S. Open where you win with 6 under, it’s difficult to get away with mistakes and I think that’s what went into that decision.”

Golfweek has learned that Kim has hired a replacement, choosing Daniel Parratt, who formerly caddied for Kim’s International Team Presidents Cup teammate K.H. Lee.

Kim, who is ranked No. 11 in the world, won the Shriners Children’s Open twice with Skovron on the bag and was the darling of the 2022 Presidents Cup. Kim’s agent declined to confirm the caddie change.

Kim isn’t the only top-25 ranked player who will have a new caddie next season. Golfweek has learned that Cameron Young will have a new sidekick, too, when he starts the season at The Sentry in Maui.

Longtime caddie Paul Tesori confirmed to Golfweek that he has jumped ship to the bag of veteran pro Brendon Todd, a three-time Tour winner who is coming off a season in which he finished in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup and is booked for eight signature events in 2024. Tesori, who spent more than 12 years working for Webb Simpson, joined Young one of the top young players on Tour and ranked No. 21 in the world, in March at the WGC-Dell Match Play.

But with Todd’s caddie David Clark moving to LIV to work for Ian Poulter, Tesori, who has been dealing with a back injury, has opted to go with the veteran over a rising star who has seemed on the verge of reaching the winner’s circle for some time. It’s unclear who will work for Young next season. An email requesting comment was unanswered at this time. But with the new season scheduled to start on Jan. 4, it won’t be long until we find out.

PGA Tour fraternity house wins again as Sepp Straka claims 2023 John Deere Classic

The win is the second of Straka’s PGA Tour career following his maiden victory at last year’s Honda Classic.

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The hottest piece of real estate in the Quad Cities has to be the house that’s been rented by a handful of PGA Tour players the last two seasons for the John Deere Classic.

Why? It’s produced the winner each year.

At the PGA Tour’s annual stop at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois, J.T. Poston passed on the usual hotel and stayed in an unusually large house with Patton Kizzire, Greyson Sigg, Denny McCarthy, Brendon Todd and Ben Kohles. The majority of the gang ran it back in the same place this year, with Poston, Kizzire, Sigg and McCarthy all returning alongside the new additions Chris Kirk and Sepp Straka.

Poston picked up the tab after last year’s victory, and this year it’s Straka’s turn after the 30-year-old Austrian blew a chance at history and still walked away with the trophy at the 2023 John Deere Classic.

“I didn’t think I would be sitting here on Thursday after the round,” said Straka, who opened the week with a 2-over 73. “Just found some magic and then started hitting the ball really good, which I did on Thursday too, but really started making some putts. I think that’s the key out here. You’ve got to get the putter hot. Thankfully it stayed hot.”

On 59 watch following an 11-under start through 14 holes, Straka made double bogey on the 18th hole to sign for a 9-under 63 and took the clubhouse lead at 21 under. He was two shots clear of Brendon Todd and Alex Smalley, the final group of the day that was just midway through its back nine, and in the end the 21-under mark was good enough for the Georgia grad to earn his second career PGA Tour win following his maiden victory at last year’s Honda Classic.

“It popped in my mind, for sure, yeah, but I wasn’t going to change my game plan or strategy for the 59,” said Straka. “The goal was still to keep the same game plan and try to finish and win a golf tournament. As fun as the 59 would be, I think winning the golf tournament is always more fun.”

MORE: What’s in Sepp Straka’s bag?

Todd (68) and Smalley (67) finished T-2 at 19 under with Ludvig Aberg (63) and Adam Schenk (68) T-4 at 18 under.

“My family came Tuesday to Thursday, so it was fun to spend some time with them. Didn’t want to put them through the debauchery of the house, so we got a hotel in Moline,” explained Todd when jokingly asked if he was kicked out of the house on Saturday. “It’s been a great week so far, and it’s pretty cool how well that house is playing.”

Five of the six players within five shots of the lead entering the final round – Kizzire missed the cut – and three finished inside the top 10 with J.T. Poston (68) and Denny McCarthy (70) finishing in a seven-way tie for sixth at 16 under. All five who made the cut were in the top 25, with Greyson Sigg (68) T-13 and Chris Kirk (71) T-21.

“I hope J.T. went ahead and renewed before this,” Straka said with a laugh about the house.

Of the 69 players to make the cut, 53 were under par in the final round, but nobody went lower than Straka, who shot a career low 9-under 62 and tied the low round of the week with Jonas Blixt (T-17), who did so on Thursday.

Straka was 3 under through his first two holes after a birdie-eagle start and proceeded to add circles to his scorecard on Nos. 4, 6, 7 and 9 to make the turn at a blistering 7-under 28. The only thing warmer than the temperature in the Quad Cities on Sunday was Straka’s putter, which got back to work on the back nine with four consecutive birdies on Nos. 11-14 to put him on sub-60 watch with four holes to play.

A birdie putt from 43 feet on No. 15 just missed the edge, which led to three consecutive pars and brought the 59 watch to the 18th hole. Straka hit the fairway on the par 4 but hooked his approach into the water guarding the left side of the green, which led to a double-bogey 6 after his bogey putt from 15 feet failed to find the bottom of the cup.

“I hit one bad shot. Honestly after that the recovery, the wedge shot was great after that shot into the green. I hit a really good number and hit a really good putt and just broke a little more than I thought,” Straka said of the 18th. “You know, I gave myself a lot of grace there because that was my only real bad shot of the day. So, yeah, I didn’t dwell on it too much.”

Todd made a late bogey on No. 16 that stalled his back-nine momentum and a poor approach to the par-5 17th led to a par that killed his chance at catching his friend Straka.

“If you told me when I teed it up that I shot 3-under and tied the guy I was playing with, I would have thought I had a pretty good chance to win,” said Todd. “So obviously Sepp went out well there and played an unbelievable round. Hats off to him. Really happy for him.”

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PGA Tour fraternity house leads the way Saturday at 2023 John Deere Classic

Here’s what we learned from Moving Day at TPC Deere Run.

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The field took the phrase “Moving Day” to heart on Saturday at the 2023 John Deere Classic.

Of the 69 players to make the cut this weekend at TPC Deere Run, 53 players were under par in the third round, with 16 signing for rounds of 5 under or better.

With just 18 holes to play, it’s truly anyone’s tournament as 23 players are within five shots of the lead. Those in the mix include a handful of would-be first-time PGA Tour winners, as well as a small group of rookies and amateurs looking to make a name for themselves.

Get ready for what should be an exciting final round with the five things that we learned from the third round of the 2023 John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run.

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What you missed from a busy Sunday at the 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Who’s ready for a Monday finish?

Who’s ready for a Monday finish?

Gusting wind and rain on Saturday at the 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am forced tournament officials to call play early, pushing the PGA Tour’s annual stop on the Monterey Peninsula to a Monday finish, the first at Pebble Beach since 2019.

After the third-round action finished early Sunday afternoon, the final round began at 3:20 p.m. ET. Each player completed the front nine, and of the 75 players to make the cut, 16 completed their round.

If you weren’t watching, here’s what you missed from Sunday and what you need to know for the Monday finish at Pebble Beach.

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Sam Burns buries long putt to beat his buddy Scottie Scheffler in a playoff, taking Charles Schwab Challenge title

The LSU product dropped a 38-foot putt from off the green to capture his third PGA Tour victory of the season.

FORT WORTH, Texas — With his longtime coach Randy Smith eyeing each swing, Scottie Scheffler spent a little extra time on the range at Colonial Country Club on Sunday working through low knockdowns, something the world’s top-ranked player hadn’t done particularly well through the tournament’s first three days.

Looking for his fifth win in his last 10 starts — and to become the first player to win five PGA Tour events before June 1 since Tom Watson turned the trick in 1980 — Scheffler knew the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge would be more about standing strong in the wind than sprinting toward the lead.

With consistent winds in the 30 mph range making the small greens at Colonial even tougher than usual to hit, Scheffler’s strategy was spot on — and nearly worked.

But as he and others fought to keep their heads afloat, Sam Burns found an even better plan of attack — get out early, play well and wait for the pack to come back to him.

Burns earned his third victory of the PGA Tour season by posting an early 65, then waiting as others struggled to deal with the wind.

He then beat Scheffler — his buddy, with whom he shared a house at this year’s Masters — by dropping an incredible, winding 38-foot putt from off the green on the first playoff hole.

For the few hours before Burns’ heroic putt, however, he wasn’t even in the conversation.

At one point on the back nine, five players all sat at 10 under as Scheffler, Davis Riley, Brendon Todd, Harold Varner III and Scott Stallings found themselves all tied. Meanwhile, Burns sat in the clubhouse at 9 under.

Riley, who briefly held the lead, was the first to fade away, dropping a shot on No. 13 and then knocking a drive on the next hole out of bounds through a chain-link fence.

Todd, who considers Colonial his favorite course on Tour, dropped strokes at Nos. 11 and 12. Varner then had a stretch of triple bogey-double bogey-triple bogey on Nos. 12-14.

And Stallings tried to stay above water but lost single strokes at 12, 14 and 17 to fall off the chase.

Scheffler, who failed to make a birdie through 18 holes, made knee-knocking par putts of nine, six and eight feet in the final four holes to force the playoff. His only previous appearance in a playoff was when he captured his first Tour victory, as he beat Patrick Cantlay on the third hole at the WM Phoenix Open.

Scottie Scheffler lines up his putt on the first green during the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports

But Burns, who already had victories this season at the Sanderson Farms Championship and the Valspar, posted the day’s best round, including a 30 on the front nine. Burns teed off nearly 90 minutes before Scheffler, and the LSU product took advantage of beating the afternoon gusts, although the world’s 10th-ranked player did play the final seven holes at even par.

He admitted that he wasn’t even thinking about the leaders as he made his way through his final round.

“I never really did, to be honest. When you start the day seven back, I knew Scottie was at 11, I mean, the way that guy is playing right now, who would have ever thought that you’d have a chance seven back?” Burns said. “But I mean, with the wind we had today and the way the golf course is set up, to go out and shoot the score that I did today was really good.”

When the playoff started, the nearly two-hour delay didn’t seem to faze Burns, as he piped a drive well past Scheffler on the first playoff hole and then calmly drained the 38-footer for the victory. Scheffler followed by just missing his putt from 37 feet away.

For Burns, this has become a huge season. The 25-year-old from Shreveport, Louisiana, has eight top-10s in 17 starts on the year and now is only behind Scheffler (four) in terms of Tour wins on the season.

And while the two are extremely close, Burns knows his buddy was not taking it easy on him.

“Yeah, we’re probably best friends,” Burns said. “But at the same time I can assure you, he wanted to beat me more than anybody else and I wanted to beat him more than anybody else, and it just happened to be the two of us at the end.

“It’s going to be a fun story that we’ll get to have for the rest of our careers, and fortunately, I got the better end of it this time, but hopefully, we’re at the beginning of these situations in the future.”

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Jon Rahm was en fuego to start the Mexico Open: ‘Probably as solid a round as I’ve had all year’

Jon Rahm had a simple plan: hit driver everywhere, and it worked Thursday.

Jon Rahm had a simple plan for playing Vidanta Golf Course in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico — hit driver everywhere.

“If it doesn’t fit,” he said, “we’ll figure it out.”

Rahm found the generous fairways fit his trademark fade just fine in the opening round of the Mexico Open, finding the short grass on 12 of 13 holes on his way to shooting a bogey-free 7-under 64 and grabbing a share of the lead at the PGA Tour’s newest event on the schedule.

“When I feel at my best, I’m pretty much comfortable hitting driver anywhere,” Rahm said. “It was one of those rounds where it felt like everything clicked together. Short game was good, had a chip-in, putting was good and tee to green was fantastic.”

Rahm, who was unseated as World No. 1 last month and entered the week at No. 2, started on the back nine with a couple of nifty par saves and jumpstarted his round with three birdies in a row starting at No. 12, where he holed a 15-foot putt. Then he chipped in from 30 feet at 13 – “a huge bonus,” he said – and capped the birdie streak with a 2-putt birdie at the par-5 14th.

Rahm’s birdie pace slowed as he worked hard to add a circle on the card by sinking a nine-foot putt at 18 and drilling an approach from 206 yards to 3 feet. That improved the Spaniard to 5 under.

“Although I went into a little dry spell, I didn’t care about it so much because it is not the easiest golf course,” Rahm said. “The one thing to keep in mind for people watching the scores, there’s a big difference between morning and afternoon (conditions). We had no wind for 13, 14 holes, it’s very, very scorable. Once the wind starts going 20, 30 miles an hour, this golf course starts showing some teeth.”

Rahm took advantage of his ball-striking prowess and said he felt especially comfortable with the driver. He had missed a pair of makeable birdie putts in a row when he stepped to the tee at the 311-yard par-4 seventh, drove the green and his 42-foot putt turned right and crept in for eagle.

“I never really lost patience here,” said Rahm, who deemed his performance as “probably as solid a round as I played all year.”

Jon Rahm of Spain plays his shot from the 12th tee during the first round of the Mexico Open at Vidanta on April 28, 2022, in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

Rahm shared the early lead with Monday qualifier Bryson Nimmer, Trey Mullinax and veterans Jonathan Byrd and Brendon Todd. Starting on the back nine, Todd heated up on the front side, dropping six birdies between the second hole and the seventh. His streak of four in a row began with a 5-wood from 235 yards that rolled to within a foot of the hole.

“That was just kind of a big momentum birdie,” said Todd, 36, who could use a good week having recorded just one top-10 finish in 16 starts this season.

Byrd, 44, hit eight of nine greens on the front nine and at the one he missed he chipped in from 25 feet for birdie en route to shooting an opening-nine 29.

“When you catch a run, you’ve just got to press down the pedal and see what you can get out of it,” Byrd said.

Two more birdies and his lone hiccup of the day, a bogey at 15, and Byrd, who last won in 2001, signed for his best start to a tournament this season. All facets of his game were cooperating but none more so than his putting. As part of his practice routine, Byrd attempts to make at least 100 feet of putts.

“Today I did it on the course,” he said.

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Tee times and tournament history for Georgia Bulldogs at 2021 Masters

There are six former Bulldogs competing at the 2021 Masters. Here is tournament history and tee times for the former Dawgs in Augusta.

Spring is in the air in the first week of April, which means the annual Masters Tournament in Augusta, Ga., is upon us.

COVID-19 forced the postponement of last year’s tournament that was eventually played in November. Former South Carolina Gamecock Dustin Johnson secured his first ever green jacket and will look to defend his title as the tournament begins its first round of play on Thursday.

Georgia golf has had a very strong presence on the PGA Tour and just last year at the 2020 Championship, eight Bulldogs made the cut. The field is no different at the 2021 Masters. Six Georgia Bulldogs (seven if you count Patrick Reed) will tee off for the 85th version of the tournament.

Here they are…

Former Georgia Bulldogs ready for some home-cooking at Masters

Bubba Watson is one of six former University of Georgia golfers in the field this year.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – For most golfers in the 2021 Masters field, the inclusion of fans this April signifies a return of roars. For Bubba Watson, however, he’s anticipating a more specific applause.

“With the fans here it’s going to be a different feel, more excitement, more energy,” said the 2012 and 2014 champion. “We’re going to hear a lot more ‘Go Dawgs.’ ”

Watson is one of six former University of Georgia golfers in the field, joining Kevin Kisner, Brendon Todd, Brian Harman, Hudson Swafford and Harris English.

Watson played a practice round Sunday with Bryson DeChambeau and Augusta National Golf Club member Condoleezza Rice, and noted the firmness of the course. Bubba singled out the 17th hole, saying, “Gosh, 17 right now, a couple chip shots that were just – you can hear it.  The ball just doesn’t have the check that we’re used to.”

For Todd, the former UGA standout began Monday by pushing his three children on a swing at their Augusta rental home before playing a practice round with Danny Willett. Todd was the final player to leave the 18th green Monday afternoon.

Masters: Tee times | How to watch | Hole-by-hole overview

“I was pushing my kids on the swing and I looked up at those Georgia pines and thought, ‘Man, this feels like home,’ ” Todd said.

This is Todd’s third appearance at Augusta National. After failing to make the cut in 2015 and 2020, he is confident in his form this April.

“I’m definitely getting more comfortable around here,” Todd said. “No question. This course is playing fast right now, which is different than my first two times. In (2015 and 2020) we got some rain, so this year could be different.”

Kisner echoed Todd’s statement.

“This is my first time over here since January and it’s a lot different than November,” the Aiken, South Carolina, native said. “It’s going to be pretty spicy. If they keep progressing the conditions, I think we’re in for a big weekend.”

Kisner missed the cut in November, and in five previous trips to Augusta National, he has never cracked the top 20. When asked about his chances this week, Kisner said, “I’d love it if that thunderstorm stays away. And if they start mowing down towards the green, that would be a lot easier. The greens are pure. They’re as fast and as firm as I’ve seen them in a long time.”

Kisner teamed up with Harman on Monday for a friendly round against Swafford and English. Kisner and Harman lost the match 1 down.

For Kisner, the round was largely spent assisting his former mates on the ins and outs of Augusta National. This marks Harman’s first Masters invite since 2018, while Swafford and English haven’t competed since 2017 and 2016, respectively.

“I hadn’t realized a lot of those guys hadn’t been here in a number of years,” Kisner said. “They were picking my brain pretty good. I was the elder statesman out there, which was a little bit weird.”

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