Justin Thomas had the perfect reaction to his buddy making an ace.
Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas were known for their wild spring break golf trips at Bakers Bay that featured the likes of Jordan Spieth and Smylie Kaufman in their younger years. You know, when Snapchat was all the rage back in 2017.
According to a signed pin flag by the players in the group, Fowler aced the par-3 third hole from 182 yards out with a 7-iron, and the hole-in-one was captured on video and shared on social media on Thursday morning.
— Rickie Fowler Tracker (@Rickie_Tracker) April 25, 2024
Rickie and JT are no strangers to aces, they’re professional golfers after all. But you just have to love the reaction on the tee box, jumping and screaming like a couple of amateurs at the local muni. Pro golfers, sometimes they’re just like us.
Rickie Fowler and wife Allison announced on Tuesday that they will be filling out their foursome in August.
The Fowlers revealed on social media that the couple is expecting their second child, to join big sister Maya, who was born in November 2021.
Fowler tells Golfweek the due date is Aug. 4 and if all goes well he expects to play in the British Open in mid-July and then wait for the birth of their second child. Fowler said he’s going to be a “girl dad” again.
Allison was showing a baby bump at the Masters last week. She served as caddie in the Par 3 Contest on Wednesday along with Maya, who stole hearts playing with Sammy Spieth, Jordan Spieth’s first born.
Fowler, who has an AJGA bag tag for Maya on his golf bag, talked on the Netflix documentary “Full Swing” about the importance of family and what it meant to have his wife and daughter at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July when he ended his four-year winless drought.
“I’ve always wanted to win having Maya around,” he said in the second episode of season 2 of the Netflix show. “Just being able to have the videos and pictures in that moment, that will be a special one, and hopefully there will be plenty more and ones that she’ll remember.”
Congrats to the Fowlers on their happy family news.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — With so much focus on the competition the week of the Masters Tournament, Wednesday has become a welcome sight for many in the field.
The Masters Par 3 Contest is a way for players to decompress the day before the opening round, but also make lifelong memories with their families. Competing in his third Masters, Augusta resident Luke List embraces the ‘calm before the storm,’ so to speak.
“It’s a special week, and this kind of gets everything rolling,” he said. “Once this is over it’s time to go. Living here in Augusta now it’s really special being here, and, yeah, I just can’t wait to get going.”
Rickie Fowler took the day with a score of 5 under. Since its inception in 1960, no winner of the Par 3 Contest has ever donned a green jacket that same week. The level of superstition among the field continues to this day, with players letting caddies, significant others or their children step in to make the next shot, disqualifying them in the process.
Few moments are more iconic than a player’s child taking the club from their father. Gary Woodland knew long before setting foot on the No. 9 green who’d be taking his final stroke: his 6-year-old son, Jax.
“It was exciting. He’s thought about it all day,” he said. “He’s known that was going to be his shot. He told me to hit it a lot closer than that so I was apologizing I didn’t hit it closer for him. That was so cool. Just so see his reaction, that was very special.”
Of the 80 players in the field, just 16 turned in complete scores.
The Masters Par-3 Contest aces
Sepp Straka
Straka was the only player who aced a hole (No. 5) and played a complete round, finishing two strokes behind Fowler in a tie for second.
Luke List
The first hole-in-one of the day came from the Augusta resident. Oddly enough, this wasn’t List’s first ace during the Par-3 Contest, but to talk about that we’ll have to go back to when he was an amateur.
“A long time ago, 2005, I made one on No. 7 in the Par-3,” he said. “So this was kind of — it was awesome to have my family there. It was neat. I didn’t see it go in, just heard the crowd, you know it is. It’s organized chaos out there with the kids, but we had a good time.”
Gary Woodland
Woodland followed up List with the second ace of the day, which was also the first Par-3 Contest ace of his career.
“This is my 12th time playing the par-3. I’ve had some close calls. It was nice to see one go in,” he said. “Nice to see my kids’ reaction. They were so excited. I will say, my son making the putt on the last was more exciting for me than that ball going in.”
Viktor Hovland
Hovland was the third to ace No. 6 and the final hole-in-one of the day.
New York Golf Club is the latest TGL team to be announced.
The New York TGL team has one player on its roster from the Empire State, but it also has two California boys and an Englishman.
New York Golf Club is the latest TGL team to be announced, and it will compete in the league beginning in January 2025. Its four-player roster is comprised of Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young and Rickie Fowler.
“New Yorkers expect and deserve the best, and we couldn’t be more excited to have four of the best players in the world serve as an extension of the thriving golf and sporting culture of our city and region,” said Steve Cohen, owner of the NYGC and the New York Mets. “Rickie, Xander, Matt, and Cameron’s unwavering dedication to the sport, successful track records, and passion for winning is undisputable, and we look forward to watching them compete on golf’s newest stage.”
Per the release, “NYGC’s logo is inspired by New York’s state bird, the Eastern Bluebird. These birds are commonly found where forests meet fields, and particularly on golf courses. Our design features a dynamic swinging club crafted into the form of a wing with four grooves, one for each of our players. The circle pays homage to the circles on our scorecards and the iconic NYC Subway circle.”
Since turning professional in 2009, Fowler has recorded 10 wins, including the 2015 Players Championship. His most recent title came at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic last July.
Schauffele has been a top-10 player in the world for the better part of the last five years. Since turning professional in 2015, he has recorded seven PGA Tour titles, two DP World Tour wins and an Olympic Gold Medal in Tokyo.
Fitzpatrick became England’s first major champion since 2016 when he won the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, joining Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win a U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur at the same venue.
In 2022, Young earned Rookie of the Year honors when he became the seventh player since 1980 to collect five runner-up finishes in a season on Tour, including a second-place finish at the Open Championship and T-3 at the PGA Championship.
This week hasn’t been too kind to 2015 Players Championship winner Rickie Fowler.
After making the cut on the number (1 under) Saturday morning when the second round finally finished, Fowler posted a third-round 4-over 76 and now sits at 3 over for the tournament, dead last of players to make the weekend.
On Saturday at TPC Sawgrass, Fowler made the turn with an even-par 36 but struggled on the back and eventually shot 4-over 40. His back-nine scorecard included a double-bogey seven on the par-5 16th, the easiest hole on the golf course.
And he didn’t get off to the strongest of starts as a fan interrupted Fowler during his tee shot.
He pointed directly at the fan and asked him what he was doing.
This is an all-time clip from Fowler.
Here’s video of incident at the 16th tee box. Romano told the same guy moments before to put his phone on silent multiple times.. he didn’t. Rickie was not a fan of him. pic.twitter.com/Vovx1RlM3X
— Rickie Fowler Tracker (@Rickie_Tracker) March 16, 2024
Moving day has come and gone and now it’s time to crown a winner at the Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the first of four straight tournaments in the Sunshine State.
With 18 holes left at PGA National’s Champion Course, Shane Lowry, David Skinns and Austin Eckroat lead the way at 13 under, three shots clear of five players at 10 under (Jacob Bridgeman, Min Woo Lee, Martin Laird, Kevin Yu and Victor Perez).
In four previous starts on Tour this season, Skinns failed to make a weekend.
As for Lowry, this showing isn’t a surprise. He lives locally and has finished inside the top five here each of the last two seasons. Eckroat has made the cut in four of his previous five starts this season, but has yet to finish inside the top 20.
42-year-old David Skinns hasn’t made a cut on TOUR since 2022, and his best career finish is T29.
If you missed any of Saturday’s action, no worries, we have you covered. Here’s everything you need to know from the third round of the Cognizant Classic.
We have a clustered leaderboard heading into moving day.
The first two rounds of the Cognizant Classic at PGA National’s Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, are in the books and we have a clustered leaderboard heading into moving day.
The name leading the way, however, is Bud Cauley, who is making just his second PGA Tour start since returning to action after a three-plus-year absence thanks to multiple injuries, including some from a car accident.
Cauley, who made the cut at the WM Phoenix Open last month, signed for a 6-under 65 on Friday, good enough to get him to 11-under total and the 36-hole lead all to himself, one clear of Garrick Higgo and Austin Eckroat at 10 under.
“I gave myself enough time to prepare at home before I started playing again,” Cauley told the media. “My expectation was to come out and compete, and I felt like my game was in a good spot.
“Saying it is one thing, doing it is another. I’m really happy with how I’ve played. I feel like my game has been trending in the right way. I’ve been hitting the ball well and just needed some scoring things to start.”
He kept the card clean, tacked on five birdies and is now in position to complete one of the best Tour stories of the last decade.
“There were a lot of times where I thought that my career was over. To be back here playing and playing well, it’s nice. It just makes me that much more happy that I kept after it and didn’t stop trying.”
Round 2 was suspended due to darkness – 14 players didn’t finish, but there will be 13 returning because Chandler Phillips withdrew – so third-round tee times are unavailable until play finishes Saturday morning.
If you missed any of Friday’s action, no worries, we have you covered. Here’s everything you need to know from the second day at the Cognizant Classic.
One of the perks of winning on the PGA Tour is better tee times.
One of the perks of winning on the PGA Tour is better tee times. Just ask Jake Knapp, who went from the outhouse to the penthouse in one week.
Knapp, a 29-year-old rookie who was working as a bouncer at a bar-restaurant in Southern California just two years ago to make ends meet, teed off in the third-to-last group of his wave last week in the opening rounds at the Mexico Open at Vidanta. That’s when the greens are bumpier and riddled with spike marks and the wind blows its hardest. None of that bothered Knapp, who won the tournament.
Along with the seven-figure check and a berth in the Masters, Knapp received primo tee times for the first two rounds of the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches alongside former world No. 1 and 2012 Cognizant Classic winner Rory McIlroy and defending Cognizant Classic champion Chris Kirk.
How did Knapp feel playing in one of the featured groups in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, alongside McIlroy, one of the game’s biggest stars?
Jake Knapp prepares to hit his approach shot on the ninth hole during the first round of the 2024 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches at PGA National. (Photo: Jeff Romance/Palm Beach Post)
“Not nearly as nerve-racking as I thought it was going to be, to be honest,” Knapp said. “I met him this morning in dining and had some casual conversation, and he’s a super, super nice guy. So is Chris. It was just a good easy morning.”
Indeed, it was for Knapp, a UCLA product, who opened with a solid 3-under 68 at PGA National Resort’s Champion Course on Thursday, one stroke more than Kirk and McIlroy, who said of playing with Knapp that he “likes to put people at ease,” and four back of the co-leaders Chad Ramey and S.H. Kim.
Like many of today’s current crop of players, Knapp grew up idolizing Tiger Woods. He also admired the game of former world No. 1’s Luke Donald and Dustin Johnson. Knapp, who grew to become one of the longer hitters in the game, was short in stature as a kid and tried to emulate Donald’s wizardry with a wedge and putter until hitting his growth spurt as a junior in high school.
“Then as I started to hit it farther, started to transition more into the DJ category,” Knapp said. “Obviously over the last few years, a lot of people have tried to emulate Rory and just all the things he does on and off the course.”
McIlroy and Knapp shared a mutual admiration. While the Northern Irishman outdrove him on this day – an average of 327 yards for McIlroy to 319 yards for Knapp on the two measured driving holes – he couldn’t say enough good things about Knapp – an example of game recognizing game.
“He could definitely be a star. It looks like he’s got the full package. He’s obviously got the speed. He can control that speed pretty well. He hit some beautiful shots out there today,” McIlroy said. “He could be a superstar out here, for sure.”
Chris Kirk, who won the season-opening The Sentry in Hawaii, is returning to defend his title.
The first stop of the PGA Tour’s Florida Swing is going to have plenty of familiar names teeing it up, even if the tournament’s name is different.
The 2024 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, formerly the Honda Classic, is the first of four straight weeks the Tour will be in the Sunshine State. PGA National’s The Champion course in Palm Beach Gardens is a par-70 layout measuring 7,125 yards and has long been a stern test on the schedule.
Rory McIlroy, the 2012 champion of the event, highlights the field, along with 2017 winner Rickie Fowler. Chris Kirk, who won the season-opening The Sentry in Hawaii, returns to defend his title, as well. Other notables in the field include Matt Fitzpatrick, Tom Kim, Shane Lowry and Min Woo Lee.
Ryan Palmer is also in the field, and it will be his 500th PGA Tour start.
Here’s a look at the field for the 2024 Cognizant Classic.
Commitments to the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches (February 29-March 3) include 2012 champion Rory McIlroy (first start at the event since 2018) and Ryan Palmer, who is making his 500th career start on the PGA TOUR.
Close-up photos of the golf equipment stars like Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth are using.
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – This week the PGA Tour moved from the frat house atmosphere of TPC Scottsdale to one of the most posh venues on the schedule, Riviera Country Club. Instead of crowds booing bad shots in an arena-like setting, the Genesis Invitational is all about movie stars, a classic course and an ultra-elite field highlighted by Tiger Woods.
Golfweek’s David Dusek was in the practice areas and around the PGA Tour equipment vans this week with his camera and took plenty of close-up photos of the gear being used by the players who are looking to win the $4 million first-place check.
