Morning 9: Match Play Day 2 | Does it matter if Tiger doesn’t make the weekend? | “Dormie” is dead

Published

7 years ago

Mar 29, 2019

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected])

March 29, 2019

Good Friday morning, golf fans.

1. Day 2

Doug Ferguson at the AP with the items of note from the second day of the Match Play…

“Bubba Watson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed and a host of others who have to return Friday morning to Austin Country Club with no chance of advancing out of their group.”

“The Match Play began to take shape, more because of 20 players from the 64-man field mathematically eliminated than who can still reach the weekend.”

“Jordan Spieth is still alive after building a 6-up lead through 12 holes on Kevin Na, but not winning until four holes later when Na missed a 4-foot birdie putt. Jim Furyk and Henrik Stenson emerged with 2-0 records from the group of FedExCup champions. They play Friday after knocking out Mickelson and Jason Day.”

Full piece.

2. Meanwhile, in the Dominican Republic…

AP Report…“Joel Dahmen birdied five of his last six holes Thursday for a 6-under 66 and a share of the first-round lead in the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.”

“Dahmen rebounded from a bogey on the par-4 third with four straight birdies and closed with another birdie on the par-3 ninth. Winless on the PGA Tour, the 31-year-old former University of Washington player was tied with Matt Jones and Paul Dunne.”

“Slow start,” Dahmen said. “I bogeyed the par 5 early, but knew that the front was gettable. The wind was pretty consistent all day, which was nice. Then just made a couple nice putts.”

Full piece.

3. …and in India

EuropeanTour.com report…”Julian Suri roared home in 30 to open up a three shot clubhouse lead on day two of the Hero Indian Open.

The American entered the second round at DLF Golf and Country Club with a share of the overnight lead but played his first nine holes in one over to slip a shot behind fellow first round leader Stephen Gallacher.”

“He then produced a stunning run of scoring, picking up six shots in as many holes to get to ten under with a second consecutive 67 and lead the way from England’s Callum Shinkwin.”

Full piece.

4. Does it matter if Tiger makes it to the weekend?

ESPN’s Bob Harig answers the question…

“Not necessarily. As Woods said after the Players Championship: “It’s kind of nice knowing that I’ll be able to get at least three good rounds in, possibly more if I play well, and that’s basically like a tournament.”

“If anything, it might be good for Woods‘ Masters prep if he gets a couple of days at home. Unlike a year ago, when he was coming off two top-five finishes and seemingly in good form heading to Augusta, there are some flaws he’ll need to address. And a trip to Augusta National this week might be in order either way.”

Full piece.

5. Romo

Digest’s Alex Myers reporting on Tony Romo’s opening-round effort…

“Making his second PGA Tour start, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback fired an opening 79. Romo is currently in last place. Matt Jones is the early leader after carding a 66 to start the opposite-field event to the WGC-Dell Match Play.”

“If having last year’s start in the same event under his belt helped settle Romo’s nerves on Thursday, it didn’t show. The NFL on CBS analyst bogeyed three of his first four holes before adding a triple bogey on No. 8. Romo failed to record a birdie during the round, but managed a respectable back nine of one-over-par 37.”

Full piece.

6. By the way…

A revisitation of the explanation for why Skechers dude Tony Romo doesn’t violate the Rules of Amateur Status, per Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…

“Asked for an explanation on why the two cases differed, since both Li and Romo are amateurs, a USGA spokesman said that the amateur status rule (6-2) specifically discusses whether an amateur golfer is one of golf skill or reputation – and since Romo is known first as a professional football player, and thus his reputation is not solely based on his skill as a golfer, the rule does not apply.”

“While Romo is an amateur golfer, it appears his football celebrity motivated this advertisement,” said Craig Winter, the USGA’s senior director of rules and amateur status. “Additionally, the Rules of Amateur Status prohibit an amateur golfer from being part of such promotions only when he or she has ‘golf skill.’ In the case of Tony Romo, while he plays at a high level, he is not considered to have ‘golf skill’ as they are defined in the rules.”

Full piece.

7. Death of dormie

In addition to “halve” biting the dust in favor of “tie,” apparently dormie is dead as well…

“The Forecaddie has since learned of another casualty of the simplified language: dormie. A word floating around the sport since the days of Mary Queen of Scots and first seen in an 1847 dictionary, dormie has been used to describe an insurmountable lead and was often misunderstood by broadcasters if an event was going extra holes to settle matches.”

“Sadly, “dormie” has been dropped from the rules of golf, perhaps less due to its lack of accessibility and more to its relative uselessness. But as this week has shown, it’s still acceptable to use the word, if necessary.”

Full piece.

8. A peek behind the curtain

Our Ryan Barath examined some tour issue irons of the past and present in a peak WRX feature.

Discussing Tiger Woods’ irons…”When Tiger moved to Nike Golf, he was introduced to Mike Taylor. There’s no need to really go too deep on MT’s impact on the game of golf, since so much has already been said, but a quick refresher: his roots run deep with shaping clubs to perfection, from Hogan, to Impact Golf Technologies (Tom Stites post-Hogan Company, which in essence became Nike Golf overnight), to now Artisan Golf. Together, they worked on a number if irons from the original forged blades to the MM Proto.”

“With Nike’s departure from the equipment space and now being a part of TaylorMade’s staff, Tiger has the ability to work with their entire R&D team, while also benefiting from Mike Taylor’s work at Artisan Golf in Ft Worth Texas, to create the original masters for what are now the P7TW irons.”

“There was always speculation about this relationship until recently when it was confirmed by PGA Tour.com’s Equipment Writer, Andrew Tursky, during an interview with Tiger

“Yeah, he ( Mike Taylor ) worked on all these irons. He worked on all my wedges. I talk to him probably every few weeks, giving updates on how I feel, things that I think could be better. He’ll bounce a few ideas off me, what I think, what direction we need to go down the road, how can we make them any better than what they are. And this is the same process I went through all those years when I was working with him at Nike. But now working with him at TaylorMade, it’s a lot more seamless.”

Full piece.

9. ICYMI: Tiger’s lefty bushwacking

If you didn’t see TW’s tidy little escape yesterday, here’s the context, per Dan Kilbridge at Golfweek…

“Woods’ approach shot from 162 yards out sailed over the green and settled into a cluster of bushes just in front of a hospitality tent. It looked to be dead with no chance of getting up and down from there.”

“But Woods decided he could take a swipe at it. He got down on one knee and assumed a modified left-handed stance, the toe of the club pointed toward the ground. With a flick of the wrists, the ball popped out of the bushes and rolled onto the green just 4 feet from the cup.”

See the shot here.

Most birdies without breaking par – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

4 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

Will Schube

In our forums, one user is wondering how many birdies other players have had in a round while still failing to break par. @Lalan45, unfortunately, asked the question after a unique experience of their own.

They wrote:

“Today I managed 8 birdies but still shot even par, could have been a round to remember! What’s the most birdies you’ve made in a round and still didn’t break par?”

Our members in the forum shared their own experiences with successful rounds that still resulted in a score over par. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

kwcsports: “I’ve had 5 a few times, still shot 80+ haha.”
jda: “I played a course for the first time, had 8 birdies, 9 doubles and an eagle. The infamous no-par round. I kept the scorecard. Every shot had a creek that I did not know about, or I was within 8-10 feet for a birdie look. To this day, I have no idea if I should be really jacked up or mad about that performance.”
jvincent: “I think my record is either 5 or 6. Probably shot 75.”
Instron4204: “3 birdies and shot a 92…man I suck!”

Entire Thread: “Most Birdies Without Breaking Par.”

News

Best current stock shaft 2026 – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

4 hours ago

Jun 11, 2026

Will Schube

In our forums, one user is asking for thoughts on the best stock shafts offered in 2026. Stock shafts are the shafts included with a club when it’s purchased from retailers or OEMs.

@DTorres asked:

The last couple years has seen a lot of updates and additions to no upcharge stock shafts, which do you think is the best offering in 2026?

Im a bit of a shaft nerd and recently during my Members Testing with the Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond I found the updated Project X Denali Frost Black to be a fantastic stock shaft. I absolutely did not mesh well with the original Denali. Just curious what other people think are the current best Stock shaft offerings out with new models and stock Ventus options and LinQ options popping up here and there.

We were given the option for any stock shafts for our members review. I went with the 70g Black Frost 6.5 because it’s a shaft I don’t have, it’s an updated version of the original Denali and hear little about. I typically use a Diamana WB, GD VF or a HOF Raptor. I’m not saying it was neck and neck with any of those but it was a pleasant surprise I’m not accustomed to in stock shaft offerings.

Our members in the forum have been offering up their own thoughts on the best stock shafts available in 2026. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

rsballer10: “IMO – MCA Ka’ili White Darkwave, Tensei 1k Black/white, UST Lin-Q White. People are free to spend their money however they see fit, but for me personally the shaft catalogs these days have enough options that I don’t see the value of a $400 upcharge. I have never had a problem finding a no upcharge shaft that fits the bend profile and weight that I need. Whether the paint job is good enough or not is above my pay scale.”
bcflyguy1: “Project X Titan Black. I’ve had one in 60TX in my Quantum TD Max for several weeks now. Have to give Titlieist their flowers for finding a way to make it available as a featured option; very shrewd bit of business and one that I suspect will be duplicated by the other companies. TT/PX have a certified banger on their hands with Titan.”
CTG77: “Undoubtedly, it’s the Tensei 1K RIP shafts from Titleist. The Tensei line gives about 98% of the performance of a Ventus VeloCore+ shaft at a tiny fraction of the cost if you’re looking for a blue or red profile. The white is not an exact match for Ventus Black, but it’s closer to it than the non-VeloCore+ Ventus shafts that come from Callaway or formerly came from TaylorMade.”

Entire Thread: “Best current stock shaft 2026.”

News

GolfWRX’s Father’s Day Gift Guide (2026)

Published

2 days ago

Jun 9, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

A reminder from your friends at GolfWRX: Father’s Day is June 21. And as we do every year, we’re rounding up the best gifts for dad.

As we say every year, there’s no better golf-related Father’s Day gift than a round of golf with pops. Be it a country club or your favorite muni, take the time to get together to play 18 if you can.

Let’s get to the gifts.

Ghost Golf Qualifier Diamond Polo

We like the new polos that Ghost is offering, as the fabric and fit are so good. These new Qualifier Collection polos breathe well, are lightweight, stretch with your swing, and of course look great. You can wear them on the course, in the office, or just out at a casual event and they will fit right in.

Buy here.

STR8-Strip Grip Tape Remover

If your dad is an equipment aficionado and tinkers with his clubs, this tool works wonders. Removing grip tape has never been easier, just put a little head on the tape and the STR8-Strip peals it right off the shaft without any damage.

Buy here.

Why Golf: Putting Thing

When it comes to practice, it is good to have a purpose. This “Putting Thing” sure does it. We know from personal experience how challenging it can be and how rewarding it is on the practice green. This also provides some competition for your kiddo to see who will unload the dishwasher or do the next chore around the house.

Buy here.

OluKai Lae‘ahi Men’s Breathable Slip-On Shoes

Riding to and from the course in style and comfort is always a good thing. If you’re in a hurry, it’s a nice feature to slide into your shoes and get to the tee time. For the post-game shoe, at your locker or while putting your clubs away in the car. Nice to slide into a shoe that looks good anywhere. Pair that with meeting the family for dinner, no need to change!

Buy here.

Therabody Theragun Relief

A little wellness goes a long way. Keeping loose is a good way to go when it comes to the weekend game or treatment during the week. If there is a little ache or pain, the Theragun is there to help out. Help loosen up the back for a pre-game warm-up or cool-down.

Buy here.

World Cup golf apparel

Something for the soccer dads. Embrace the World Cup fever this summer on the course with custom gear to support the nation of your choice.

Buy here.

FootJoy Pro SL spikeless golf shoes

Give the old man a break and save his feet with the Footjoy Pro SL Men’s Spikeless Golf Shoes for some added comfort on the course.

Buy here.

Bushnell Wingman 2 GPS speaker

Combine all the hits as well as some game improvement with the Wingman 2 Golf GPS Speaker by getting audible distance readings from 38,000+ courses worldwide through the Wingman 2 remote or speaker.

Buy here.

Personalized Titleist Pro V1 golf balls

The No. 1 ball in golf is a safe bet, and the Pro V1 fits the largest chunk of the bell curve if you don’t know what ball pops plays. Add personalization for a, well, personal touch!

Buy here.