Tag: Palmetto Championship at Congaree

Beware: World No. 1 Dustin Johnson dialed in at Congaree just in time for U.S. Open

Dustin Johnson seems to have regained some game this week, and suddenly he could be a factor at Torrey Pines.

RIDGELAND, S.C. – Fair warning.

Just in time for next week’s U.S. Open, Dustin Johnson is getting dialed in.

Shaking off recent struggles, the world No. 1 turned in a bogey-free, 6-under-par 65 Thursday to grab a share of the early lead in the first round of the Palmetto Championship at Congaree.

The scary part is his scorecard didn’t include a single birdie on the three par 5s, and he missed two birdie putts inside 8 feet. And his peers should take notice: The last time Johnson opened with a 65 or better on the PGA Tour, he won the Masters. In all, he’s won five of 16 times on Tour when opening with a 65 or better.

“I felt like I’ve been swinging well for a while now, just haven’t really seen the results or seen the scores,” Johnson said. “I made a few putts. I just played solid golf, finally put a round together.”

He’s had a hard time putting anything together this year. His lone top-10 on the PGA Tour came back in February and in his other seven starts, he finished north of 45th three times and missed two cuts, including in his most recent start in the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

In one seven-hole stretch, he hit every approach to within 11 feet. He found 10 of 14 fairways and ended his day by chipping in for birdie from 81 feet.

“It was OK,” he said about his putting. “The greens are kind of tricky to read. I missed a short one there on the par-3 fifth. But I hit the putt right where I wanted to, it just broke hard right and I didn’t see that in the putt. I’m happy with the way I rolled it. Obviously 6 under was a good score, but I still missed quite a few short makeable putts.

“The putting’s been off or it’s just like small little mistakes that you shouldn’t make, so sometimes it’s taken a little bit of time away and kind of clearing my head and definitely it helps. Put in a lot of good work last week and I feel like I’m swinging good, so if I can keep the putter rolling it’s going to be a fun week.”

[vertical-gallery id=778066110]

Johnson shared the lead with Doc Redman, who tied for 42nd in last week’s Memorial and then started this week by withdrawing from the U.S. Open final qualifier in Columbus, Ohio in his first round.

Turns out it was the best thing for him.

“I played 10 holes and then decided I had enough. We had a long rain delay and I was just ready to get home,” Redman said. “I spent Tuesday at home and then drove up Wednesday morning, which is what I needed. Memorial is such a long, hot, brutal week and I played really well the last three days there and so I was just trying to keep that going into this week and play well.

“It’s just been a lot of hard work the past few weeks. I know I’ve been playing well and it’s a pretty cool golf course. I was able to hit some good shots and make some putts and just kind of next thing I know it was kind of going well.”

Jhonattan Vegas stood alone in third with 66. A group at 67 included Patrick Rodgers and a large group at 68 included Tommy Fleetwood.

Among the late starters were Brooks Koepka, Ian Poulter, Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Kevin Kisner looking for a first in Palmetto State when Congaree hosts PGA Tour event

For Kevin Kisner, a native and resident of Aiken, South Carolina, it would be very cool to win an event in his home state.

RIDGELAND, S.C. – There’s the competition on the PGA Tour featuring the world’s best golfers battling each week for titles, prize money and points.

Then there are smaller contests within the grander scope, perhaps more for pride and bragging rights than anything else.

For Kevin Kisner, a native and resident of Aiken, South Carolina, it would be very cool to win an event in his home state. South Carolina has an annual tour stop on Hilton Head Island for the RBC Heritage. Kisner, on the PGA Tour since 2011, has come close to being fitted for a tartan jacket, including a playoff loss to Jim Furyk in 2015.

“I always wanted to be the first one to win Harbour Town, and Wesley Bryan snuck in and got me on that one,” Kisner, 37, said Wednesday.

Bryan, a Columbia, South Carolina, native, captured the 2017 Heritage as a PGA Tour rookie to become the first South Carolina-born champion in the tournament’s then-49 years of existence.

“We’ve got another chance this week, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to have a chance to win,” Kisner said.

This week is a one-time opportunity as Congaree Golf Club makes its PGA Tour debut by hosting the Palmetto Championship at Congaree. The tournament replaced the RBC Canadian Open on the 2020-21 schedule after the Toronto event was canceled because of logistical issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kisner has made four previous visits to Congaree, a private course north of Ridgeland near the town of Gillisonville in Jasper County.

“It’s a fantastic place to come and practice and work on my game. For me, they have an awesome practice facility, and the golf course is topnotch,” Kisner said. “The hospitality and the service they provide to all ambassadors and the PGA Tour has been topnotch. So I think we’re all fortunate to be here.”

Kisner is one of several PGA Tour players associated with the club as Professional Ambassadors. Congaree Foundation programs support golf, academic and vocational skills and opportunities for children, which closely aligns with the mission of the Kevin and Brittany Kisner Foundation in Aiken.

“We recommend a child in our area that we feel is worthy of coming down to participate in their foundation schooling that they have throughout the summer,” Kisner said in reference to the signature program, Congaree Global Golf Initiative.

That program helps high school golfers from around the world learn how to pursue and earn college scholarships. For golfers fresh out of college and new to the professional ranks, they can turn to seasoned veterans such as Kisner.

Davis Thompson plays his shot from the third tee during the second round of the 120th U.S. Open Championship on September 18, 2020 at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Davis Thompson just completed a highly decorated amateur career with his final season at the University of Georgia. He’s making his pro debut this week and had breakfast on Tuesday with Kisner, UGA Class of 2006.

“I was asking him for advice,” Kisner said. “He’s playing better than I am right now, so I was hoping he could help me.

“These kids are so prepared to play the PGA Tour now,” he continued. “They walk around with their protein shakes and TrackMans, and they’re ready to hit it 350 yards. I don’t think they need any advice.”

So what did they talk about?

“We were just cutting up, talking about Georgia,” Kisner said with a smile.

Thompson had his turn with a video press conference on Tuesday and was asked about the consistent success of so many former UGA golfers on the PGA Tour. Former Bulldogs Greyson Sigg and Thompson’s college roommate, amateur Spencer Ralston, qualified Monday for next week’s U.S. Open.

“Definitely gives us a lot of confidence that we’re kind of in the same fraternity and then we kind of feed off each other and congratulate each other. So I think it’s pretty healthy,” Thompson said.

Though he’s not a Georgia guy, Dustin Johnson could have been if he had listened to Kisner, his old friend and competitor as juniors in the Palmetto State.

“Tried like heck to get him to transfer from Coastal Carolina to come to Georgia, and that would have been something special, too,” Kisner said Wednesday.

The world’s top-ranked player, Johnson was born 37 years ago this month in Columbia, S.C. He is playing the first two rounds in a grouping with Kisner, so the whole first-to-win contest might come up in conversation.

“Obviously, it’s my home state,” Johnson said Wednesday. “It’s where I grew up. It’s kind of where I honed my skills throughout my early days all through college. Yeah, it would mean a lot to win in South Carolina.”

Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Email him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz

No, really, Angry Golfer Tyrrell Hatton stayed calm during semi-calamitous wedding day

Weddings can bring out the worst in all of us, but Tyrrell Hatton managed to keep his cool during his despite much going wrong.

RIDGELAND, S.C. – The scene-stealing star of the hilarious “Angry Golfers” video released by the European Tour had every reason to go ballistic on his wedding day.

Somehow, however, world No. 11 Tyrrell Hatton’s head didn’t explode.

It was unsettling enough that the wedding plans needed to be altered due to COVID-19 restrictions, which led Hatton and his longtime girlfriend, Emily Braisher, to wed alone May 28 in Asheville, North Carolina.

And then things didn’t go as planned on the way to “I do.”

“The day wasn’t very smooth,” Hatton said Wednesday ahead of his start in the Palmetto Championship at Congaree. “Our driver turned up an hour late, so that meant we arrived half an hour late for our ceremony.

“Obviously, it wasn’t ideal. I think the most frustrated I got was when we were actually in the car driving there because the fact that he pitched up an hour late and then was driving under the speed limit. I politely asked him to use the right pedal and press a little harder to try and make up a little bit of time.”

Then the day took another unfortunate turn for the man who has helicoptered irons after poor shots, bitten into the shaft of his putter after bad putts and nearly broken clubs over his knees.

Mr. and Mrs. H wanted to take their wedding photos along the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway but Mother Nature chimed in. And Hatton kept his cool.

“We wanted to hike up and have some nice pictures. Unfortunately, after finishing the ceremony, it absolutely pissed down with rain, and we then had to drive like two miles down the road, pulled over in a lay by, and we had our wedding pictures taken on the side of the road,” Hatton said. “Not quite as magical as you’d planned it, I guess, but it was still pretty special.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPa_3uLDv0D/

Hatton, who won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January, last played in the PGA Championship two weeks ago, where he tied for 38th. He’s back at work but needs some gym time.

“It might have changed my waistline because I certainly drunk my body weight in beer up in Asheville,” he said of his wedding day. “I need to get back in the gym and sort myself out.

“I started practicing again last Wednesday, so I’ve had a few days to kind of try to get back into it. Naturally, I think I’ll be quite rusty. I would say the last month and a half has been a little bit awkward for me really. I started to feel like I was playing really well again at the Zurich Classic when I partnered with Danny Willett, and then getting the COVID test, the positive result the following week in Tampa was a surprise, and I felt like I was going to have a really good week there.

“All of a sudden, it’s two weeks off, and my next event’s the PGA. Again, rusty at the start, and as the week went on, it felt like it got a bit better, and I’ve just had two weeks off again. So naturally, going to be quite rusty, and just hoping that I can hit some good shots to find some momentum out there.”

[mm-video type=video id=01evs4fc5k5ec55x7s playlist_id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01evs4fc5k5ec55x7s/01evs4fc5k5ec55x7s-a1a10e324a4f9ebf2e920bf0a59d2094.jpg]

[lawrence-related id=778085270,778092218]

‘It’s getting golf in front of people’: Brooks Koepka on his quarrel with Bryson DeChambeau

Brooks Koepka doesn’t see why his public spat with Bryson DeChambeau would negatively impact the Ryder Cup, or golf in general.

RIDGELAND, S.C. – Brooks Koepka doesn’t think his public spat with Bryson DeChambeau will disrupt team chemistry and cause any damaging tension come Ryder Cup time if both are wearing the red, white and blue.

No, the friction between the top-10 players in the world that has played out on social media won’t lead U.S. captain Steve Stricker to start pulling out his hair or asking one of his vice captains to make sure the two are in separate corners in September at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.

“I don’t see why it would,” the four-time major champion said Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s start in the Palmetto Championship at Congaree. “There’s only eight guys that are playing, four guys are sitting. I play with one other guy. I don’t understand (why it would matter).

“Let’s say I don’t play with Bryson or Bryson doesn’t play with me; he takes care of his match, and I would take care of my match, and I don’t know how that has any effect. What you do off the golf course doesn’t have any effect on the golf course.”

The back and forth between world No. 8 Koepka and No. 5 DeChambeau has been going on for some time now but escalated rather quickly at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island last month, i.e. the infamous Koepka eyeroll.

Its crescendo – for now – came last week in the Memorial at Muirfield Village in Ohio, when Koepka wasn’t even playing. DeChambeau was playing, however, and he was repeatedly heckled by pro-Brooks fans who were calling DeChambeau “Brooksie.” A few fans were removed from the tournament (not at the request of DeChambeau) and Koepka later put out a video offering free beer to anyone whose day was cut short because of their taunts.

Koepka told Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch that he wasn’t condoning disrespectful to inappropriate behavior by offering the beer. Some people in golf’s circles think Koepka crossed the line and was being a bully in cyberspace. Others are put off with the quarrel. As for Koepka, he thinks it’s good for the game.

“I really do. The fact that golf’s on pretty much every news outlet for about two weeks pretty consistently, I think that’s a good thing,” he said. “It’s growing the game. I get the traditionalists who don’t agree with it. I understand that, but I think to grow the game you’ve got to reach out to the younger generation. I don’t want to say that’s what this is, but it’s reaching out to a whole bunch of people. It’s getting golf in front of people. I think it’s good for the game.”

At the PGA, Koepka was doing an interview Friday when he was clearly thrown off by the sound – and likely sight – of DeChambeau. He rolled his eyes, lost his train of thought and dropped a few expletives. The video was not supposed to see the light of day but somehow reached social media circles and quickly went viral before it was removed.

“It doesn’t bother me, honestly,” Koepka said when asked if the video’s release upset him. “I’m OK with anything I do. I don’t really live with regrets. It’s nothing I’m terribly upset about. From everybody I spoke to, it is what it is and move on.

“He didn’t say anything to me. He wasn’t speaking to me. He was saying something about how he hit a perfect shot and it shouldn’t have been there, and it was just very, very loud. With the media right there, you kind of know, hey, look, we’re all kind of in this area, just tone it down, and it was just so loud. Then I think he realized that he had gotten right behind me, and he toned it down a little bit, but I just lost my train of thought, which I think was pretty obvious.”

While he struggled with his surgically repaired right knee but managed to finish in a tie for second behind Wanamaker Trophy winner Phil Mickelson. During his off time the past two weeks, Koepka said the knee has improved.

“It feels probably better than ever,” he said. “Doing kind of a quad stretch. My foot can kind of touch my butt for the first time, so the knee is months and months ahead of schedule. It feels really good, just being able to do work, doing some Pilates, just started that. I think a lot of this has really helped. I know Dr. (Neal) ElAttrache is very pleased, Mark Wall, physio. Everyone is very happy.

“I’m playing good. I like the way everything’s been going. My body’s getting better and better every day, feeling more comfortable doing things on the golf course that maybe I couldn’t do from Augusta to PGA. It’s just getting better and better every day. So I’m very pleased and like my chances.”

Brooks Koepka on the 17th green during the first round of the Masters. (Photo: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports)

That goes for this week and at next week’s U.S. Open, which he won in 2017 at Erin Hills and 2018 at Shinnicock.

“I like playing before the U.S. Open, and I’m under repped this whole year. I haven’t played much,” said Koepka, who has finished just 24 competitive rounds in 2021 (he won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February). “The big thing is just getting big reps under my belt. I felt like I played good at Kiawah. I liked the way I played, putted iffy, didn’t putt too well, but it’s one of those things where I felt like maybe if I had a few more rounds kind of going through the year and was a little more comfortable, it might have been, I guess maybe easier for me.

“So that’s part of the reason why I wanted to play this week. I need to play. I haven’t played enough out here to really feel like, hey, man, I’ve got this shot. I feel comfortable with everything we’re working on, and now that the knee’s not really an issue anymore, it’s getting a lot freer and able to hit golf shots and read putts, get down there fully without bigger effort to get down to read it.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=01evcfxp4q8949fs1e image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

[lawrence-related id=778108788,778108654,778108154,778106756]