Starting a new chapter
+ Autumn choices; Is 'The Match' a precursor of PGA Tour-LIV things to come?; Arnold Palmer protege gets to work on The King's design.
THE STARTER
🏌️ Rory McIlroy will team with Scottie Scheffler against Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in the latest iteration of “The Match,” which will be played in December in Las Vegas. McIlroy put together this PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf match. Is this a shot across the bow at the negotiations between the two parties?
🏌️ Speaking of which, those negotiations — PIF and PGA Tour — were reported to be ongoing in New York last week. Think “The Match” was a topic of conversation?
🏌️ Jon Rahm, who plays for LIV Golf, will play in three DP World events this fall to try to qualify for the European Ryder Cup team. But he insists he won’t pay the fines levied by the Tour for defecting to LIV. Don’t you think someone will pay Rahm’s fines?
🏌️ Isn’t it strange to see a U.S. Solheim Cup team without Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel, Brittany Lang and Brittany Lincicome? Or are we just getting older?
🏌️ The Amgen Irish Open is being played at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland, which is ranked the No. 1 course in the world by one publication. But it’s clear that County Down’s famous rough was cut back and thinned out so the players could get around the course. Wonder if anyone could break 80 if the “normal” rough were in place?
🏌️ Even after the Tour Championship, PGA Tour golf goes on with fall events, in which players can get their exempt status or get in the 2025 signature events. Will you watch or are you all in on football?
🏌️ It appeared that Sahith Theegala carried two 8-irons at East Lake but a deeper dive uncovered that he was having trouble with his 7-iron. As a result, he asked his manufacturer to send him a 7-iron with “8” stamped on the bottom. Does that make sense to anyone except a golfer?
🏌️ Tony Romo, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current CBS broadcaster, has entered PGA Tour Q-School for the third straight year. Dream or delusion?
🏌️ Show of hands: How many of you use the “leaf rule” for fall and winter golf?
:: Mike Purkey
FEATURES
Rosie Jones is leaving a new mark on women's golf
The 13-time LPGA winner and former U.S. Solheim Cup captain has become the face of a Women's South Carolina Golf Association initiative and enlisted the help of some notable longtime friends.
:: Ken Klavon | Read
Scottie Scheffler had reason to smile in 2024
Seven PGA Tour wins and nearly $62 million in earnings were quite the haul, but were his accomplishments diminished in any way by the lack of LIV Golf stars? The First Call readers share their opinions.
:: TFC Inbox | Read
BOOKMARKED
Good reads that are mainly about golf, but not always.
📖 Fall Foliage 2024: Plan your day trips with this interactive map
Let the New England leaf-peeping preparation begin.
:: Jessica Reyes | Boston | 09.12.2024
📖 America must free itself from the tyranny of the penny
The penny may seem like a harmless coin. But few things symbolize our national dysfunction more than the inability to stop minting this worthless currency.
:: Caity Weaver | New York Times | 09.01.2024
📖 When ‘The Blues Brothers’ took over Chicago
Car chases in the Loop! Hate rallies in Jackson Park! John Belushi in the mayor’s office! This exclusive excerpt from a new book details how our city became the inextricable backdrop to “The Blues Brothers.”
:: Daniel De Vise | Chicago | 04.12.2024
📺 Jeff Goldblum rewatches ‘Jurassic Park,’ ‘Independence Day,’ ‘The Big Chill’ and more
Jeff Goldblum takes a walk down memory lane as he rewatches scenes from his classic works including “Jurassic Park,” “Independence Day,” “The Fly,” “Kaos,” “The Big Chill” and “Wicked.”
:: Vanity Fair | 09.04.2024
BUSINESS
THE FIRST CALL
Week in Review: The industry’s names, news and notables making headlines. | Read
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Golf Industry Press Releases | Read
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PERFECT PUTT
Callaway, Topgolf split
A breakdown of the Topgolf spin-off.
:: Jared Doerfler | Read
Publisher Jared Doerfler analyzes the business of golf. Subscribe to Perfect Putt.
LIFESTYLE
THE STYLE LINKS
Make sure to hop on the Dunning Golf site to grab some cool limited edition Solheim Cup swag and cheer for the women this weekend.
:: Janice Ferguson | IG: @janiceferguson_thestylelinks
19TH HOLE
Each episode of the “Course of Life” podcast closes with the guest sharing a favorite 19th hole experience.
Alexa Pano, LPGA player: “My drink would be a Shirley Temple. And Chipotle is my go-to meal after every round.”
:: Alex Lauzon | Co-host of “Course of Life” podcast
TFC EVENTS
The Friars Golf Club: Greenbrier
September 19-22, 2024 | The Greenbrier | White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
:: Event and registration information
ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN NOTES
Brandon Johnson reimagines Arnold Palmer’s King’s North
The reimagining of the front nine on King’s North at Myrtle Beach National, long one of the Grand Strand’s most popular layouts, is progressing on schedule as the course targets an early October reopening.
Architect Brandon Johnson is overseeing the two-year, two-part project — the back nine will enjoy an overhaul in the summer of 2025 — that will transform the experience on the Arnold Palmer design.
King’s North closed on June 3 to begin the project and the course’s greens have all been restored to their original size and in some cases expanded, claiming an additional 30,000 square feet of putting surface. The greens have been sprigged with TifEagle bermudagrass and are growing in nicely with a month remaining before the venerable layout reopens.
“The greens are going to be a lot bigger,” said Johnson, who worked for Arnold Palmer Design Company for 17 years before launching Brandon Johnson Golf Design. “It was fun rediscovering a lot of the old, original green boundaries; you kind of see where things might have been and then you start peeling back layers and go, ‘Oh, there was a green over there.’ We were able to smooth the contours we rediscovered and there is a nice roll and flow to the new greens.”
RELATED: Brandon Johnson forges own style, design firm
With work on the greens and the surrounding areas largely complete, Johnson and his team are focused on the continuing renovation of the front nine bunkers, which will add to the strategic value of a course golfers have long flocked to.
“Between widening fairways, opening up the front of some of the greens so you can play the ball on the ground, and tweaking angles of the bunkers, there are going to be some new strategic locations that will present some fun riddles for players to solve,” Johnson said.
Johnson is also leaning into the already rugged aesthetic King’s North enjoys, expanding the layout’s waste bunkers to showcase the area’s naturally sandy soil.
“We are excited to welcome golfers back to King’s North in October, so they can enjoy the rare opportunity to experience an architect’s vision for a reimagined layout at the halfway point,” said Steve Mays, president of Founders Group International. “Brandon’s work will help recapture the magic of Arnold Palmer’s original design, while incorporating his own vision for one of the Myrtle Beach area’s iconic courses, and the buzz surrounding the reopening is already building.”
King’s North was last renovated in 1996 when Palmer oversaw a complete redesign of what was previously called the North Course. The layout shot to the top of the list of Myrtle Beach’s best designs and was ranked among America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses by Golf Digest.
RELATED: Read this week’s complete Design Notes
RELATED: Design Notes archive
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