The manufacturer doubled-down on its epic holiday card on Christmas Eve, sharing some behind-the-scenes footage of the photo shoot.
“I never thought in my life I’d be in a onesie,” said Rahm, with Johnson adding, “Now I know how my kids feel like every night.” The most-excited appeared to be Wolff.
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson in green Christmas onesies? You bet.
Last week Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson were donning the red, white and blue for Team USA as the Americans made an epic comeback to win the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in Australia.
Now, they’re rocking … green Christmas onesies in front of a fireplace?
Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland didn’t need to make any introductions when they found out they were paired together for the QBE Shootout.
Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland didn’t need to make any introductions when they found out they were paired together for the QBE Shootout.
The two have known one another for years. Well, maybe not “years” but relatively speaking if that can be the case for a 20-year-old and a 22-year-old, respectively.
“I would love to play with Viktor,” Wolff said when his agent presented him with the idea last year. “That’d be awesome because we played together so much in college and I’ve known him since he was — I was like 15 and he’s 16 and stuff.”
They couldn’t resist taking some digs at one another during their Wednesday media session.
“I think our games kind of complement each other where he has a lot of length and my strengths are kind of more consistency and I think we can really feed off of each other,” Hovland said when asked about the pairing.
“I’m not consistent enough,” Wolff added with a chuckle.
“My strength is more consistency,” Hovland said, smiling. “You bomb the crap out of it, is that what you wanted to hear?”
“Yeah, you make me feel so good,” Wolff said.
Both played at perennial national power Oklahoma State. And they more than added to the legacy that the men’s team already has.
Wolff made the putt to clinch the 2018 national title for the Cowboys, then won the NCAA individual title this spring. He turned professional and won his fourth event, the 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota.
Viktor Hovland tosses his golf ball to his caddie during the QBE Shootout pro-am in Naples, Florida on Dec. 11, 2019. Photo by Chris Tilley/Special for Naples Daily News
Hovland, who is from Norway, spent the last two summers putting his name on leaderboards.
First, he won the 2018 U.S. Amateur, then this year he earned low amateur honors at the Masters (tied for 32nd) and the U.S. Open (he was 12th). The last golfer to be low amateur in both of those was Matt Kuchar in 1998. Hovland also broke Jack Nicklaus’ amateur record of 282 with a 280 in the U.S. Open.
So they’ve been ticketed for stardom and appear on their way.
Part of what they attribute to that is staying away from setting results goals.
Obviously, winning a golf tournament doesn’t fall into that, but there’s no way Wolff is shying away from that.
“If you win on the PGA Tour, it’s never a fluke,” Wolff said. “I’m sorry for anyone who might say it is. If you win on the PGA Tour, you beat the best players in the world and it’s the top tour in the world.
“But it definitely takes the stress off my shoulders. It frees me up. Playing in events like these, it gets you into that. It allows you to really give you the confidence that you can do it and know that you’re there for a reason.”
Hovland, who has two top-10 finishes since turning professional, sets his goals more on his game.
“It’s more process goals where, OK, if I’m struggling right now hitting a low cut with my irons, which is kind of the preferred shot that I like to hit, right now it’s launching a little too high and drawing maybe a little bit, that’s just what I had right now and that’s what I’m working on trying to get back to that little low cut,” Hovland said. “It’s not ‘OK, I need to make X amount of birdies and we need to finish so-and-so this week; I just care about my golf game. Week in and week out, that’s all I think about.”
And the other part of it for them is the success they’ve already had to lean back on.
“We know that our best is good enough to win,” Wolff said. “I feel like that’s why we don’t like to set goals of we need to do this, we need to win this many times, because we know if our game is where it needs to be, then the results will come.”
Wolff and Hovland don’t have a ton of experience with traveling to the same event and playing the same courses year after year, yet they didn’t really check in with each other that much.
And of course a question about that led to some more jabs.
“Not too much because we only see each other on the road and we were so used to seeing each other in college every day …” Hovland said.
“He’s sick of me by now is what he’s trying to say,” Wolff said.
“This is true. It’s going to be a long week,” Hovland said.
“It took a lot more convincing for him to play with me than it did for me to play with him,” Wolff said.
Analyzing the 2019 QBE Shootout and which teams of golfers are the best options for the event. Who will win at Tiburon Golf Club?
Twelve two-man teams will compete in the QBE Shootout at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla., this weekend. The 54-hole event runs three days, from Friday through Sunday.
The first round is played under scramble rules, whereby both members of each team will play every shot with the better ball being taken each time. Round 2 consists of greensomes, where both players tee off on each hole and the alternate shot is played from the spot of the better ball.
The final round is played under standard four-ball rules with each golfer playing the hole on their own and the best score being taken.
The 7,288-yard venue plays as a par 72. The teams compete for a $3.5 million purse, but it is not an official money event and no FedExCup points are awarded.
QBE Shootout – Odds, picks and best bets
Matthew Wolff. (Photo Credit: Rob Kinnan – USA TODAY Sports)
The two combine for just 42 years of age, making them younger than several of the individual golfers in this event. Hovland is expected to be a top contender for PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, while Wolff came up just short of the award last year.
Hovland, 22, placed solo fourth at last season’s Wyndham Championship for the best result of his young career. He’s ranked 96th by the Official World Golf Ranking, while Wolff, who got his first career win at the 3M Open last summer, is 117th in the world. Their odds are lower as fan favorites, but the youngsters have the length and putting, and the motivation for the early-career win in an uninspired field.
Charles Howell III-Bubba Watson (+800)
Watson, ranked 44th by the OWGR, is coming off a last-place finish at last week’s Hero World Challenge. Howell, ranked 54th in the world, missed the cut at the RSM Classic as his last event. The two combined for four victories in 2018.
Howell finished tied for third here last year with partner Luke List. Watson was sixth with Harold Varner III.
Charley Hoffman-Kevin Kisner (+1200)
Hoffman also finished T-3 a year ago (with partner Gary Woodland), while Kisner finished last with playing partner Cameron Champ. Kisner tied for seventh at last week’s Hero World Challenge exhibition. The two have plenty of length off the tee, and Kisner, who’s the defending match-play champion, can get hot and carry the team with his putter.
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Adam Woodard breaks down the top 10 male college golfers of the decade plus a few other honorable mentions.
College golf has increasingly become a window into the next generation of PGA Tour stars. It has helped tremendously that the NCAA Championship has been televised since 2014. That brought college stars right into golf fans’ living rooms, showing exactly the level of play that’s out there.
To reflect on the top college players of the past decade is to play a game of “remember them when.” The resumes are deep on these players, and each made a contribution to his team or his program that was beyond meaningful. These players raised the bar in college golf, and showed just how deep the talent pool is.
Here are the top 10 men’s college golfers of the decade followed by a few honorable mentions (in alphabetical order).
Top 10
Patrick Cantlay, UCLA
Patrick Cantlay during the 110th U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington.
Cantlay spent 55 weeks as the No. 1 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, a record he held until Jon Rahm broke it in 2016. He turned pro in 2012 after his sophomore season at UCLA, but it was his freshman season that caught the nation’s attention. Cantlay won four events in the 2010-11 season, including the NCAA San Diego Regional, and finished second at the NCAA Championship, where he led the Bruins to match play. In two years Cantlay had 14 top 10 finishes and 24 rounds in the 60s.
