As always, last week’s Wyndham Championship was beautifully run and very well supported. Thanks to everyone there for the warm hospitality; it’s much appreciated. And big congrats to Si Woo Kim, a really fine young player, on his first win on the PGA TOUR.
In fact, it was a special weekend for South Korean golf, with Inbee Park winning the gold medal at the women’s Olympic golf competition. That means that across both golf competitions in Rio there were six medal winners from six different nations and overall it was great to see golf making such a positive showing on its reintroduction to the Games. The course rightly got great reviews, the crowds were enthusiastic and they showed-up in good numbers, and I’m told the television viewing figures around the world were very strong. All in all, everyone in Rio did an incredible job of showcasing our sport.
For me, well…the Wyndham Championship brings to an end a run of tournaments where I felt like I played some really good golf, but just got nothing out of my game in terms of results. That happens sometimes. Missing the FedEx Cup playoffs now puts me out of PGA TOUR action in the very short term, but I won’t be looking at this as downtime. Far from it. There is lots of work to do, in the gym and on the practice range, and there’s plenty of tournament golf for me to look forward to. My motivation levels are high and my mindset now is to keep my foot on the gas pedal and try to focus on building towards a strong finish to the year.
Before any of that, we travelled up to New York on Monday morning to Century Golf Club for a Pro-Am hosted by Philip Mintz. Century is a beautiful layout benefiting from Colt and Mackenzie classic design influences – that’s some pedigree! Talking of legendary names, a certain Ben Hogan had the job of assistant pro here in the late 1930s and was even made head pro for a couple of years. Anyway, it’s always a pleasure to be here and play this superb golf course. Thanks to Philip for his continued support and to everyone at the Club for making us feel so welcome.
Elsewhere, we had another two really well supported events taking place on Monday in this year’s Els for Autism Golf Challenge, one at Duke University Golf Club in North Carolina and another at TPC Boston in Massachusetts. These are two very fine golf courses and we appreciate their support. Duke University was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and latterly Rees Jones, while TPC Boston is an Arnold Palmer design that hosts the PGA TOUR’s Deutsche Bank Championship.
I also want to thank every competitor for taking part, which in the case of the Duke University day included three alumni from their men’s basketball team – Grant Hill, Gerald Henderson and Jay Bilas – alongside other distinguished guests. My appreciation extends beyond yesterday, though, and to everyone who has jumped on board throughout this year’s Golf Challenge. There are several events still to play before Liezl and I welcome all the winning teams and top fundraisers to the Grand Finale in Las Vegas later this year, so please click here if you’d like to get involved.
Finally, I must just give a quick shout-out to one of my sponsors, Boeing, as the company gets ready to host the Champions Tour’s Boeing Classic over in Seattle at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, a beautiful golf course and the only Jack Nicklaus signature layout in the Pacific Northwest. I know from talking to some of the guys that have played there in recent years that it’s always a really enjoyable week, not just for the players but for the fans also, and Boeing do a great job there. I send everyone my best wishes for another successful staging of this tournament.
I’ll write again very soon. In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.
