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Morning 9: 2 tours, 2 victory droughts ended | Rubenstein on Connery | Shinkwinning | 2 aces this year for 10-year-old

Published

6 years ago

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1. Gay a winner again at 48
Kevin Prise for PGATour.com…“Since the PGA TOUR’s Return to Golf in June, the 48-year-old was without a top-25 finish in 11 starts. He had made 169 starts since his last TOUR title, The American Express in 2013.”
  • “…The University of Florida alum carded a final-round 64 at the Bermuda Championship, capped off with a birdie at the 72nd hole, ultimately good for a playoff with Wyndham Clark at 15 under. Gay won with a birdie on the first extra hole – again the par-4 18th at Port Royal GC.”
  • “With his fifth TOUR title, Gay becomes the oldest TOUR winner since Davis Love III at the 2015 Wyndham Championship. He gains entry into next year’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, PLAYERS Championship and Masters Tournament, in addition to earning 500 FedExCup points.”
2. Shinkwinning! 
Reuters report…”England’s Callum Shinkwin won his maiden European Tour title when he beat Finland’s Kalle Samooja in a playoff to win the Cyprus Open after both golfers finished 20-under overall in a dramatic finale on Sunday.”
  • “Shinkwin, 27, was two shots behind Samooja with two holes to play and sank a birdie on the 17th before holing a 54-foot putt for an eagle on the par-five 18th, his second eagle at the hole after one in the third round.”
  • “Samooja managed to birdie the 18th to force the playoff but missed a birdie putt while Shinkwin sank his own birdie to win his first title in his 112th event.”
3. Phil headed to Houston
Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…“Phil Mickelson has decided to play in the PGA Tour’s Vivint Houston Open, not the PGA Tour Champions event, in his final tuneup before the Masters.”
  • “Last week Mickelson said he was exploring whether to tee it up in Houston at Memorial Park – a course he’d never seen – or at the senior event at Phoenix Country Club. Also complicating his decision was the Tour allowing 2,000 fans per day in Houston, marking the first time a Tour event in the U.S. has permitted spectators since the Players Championship. Mickelson later told GolfChannel.com that the fans wouldn’t be a deciding factor.”
4. Special Temporary status for Zalatoris 
Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…“We should be seeing a lot more of Will Zalatoris on the PGA Tour.”
  • “Entering the Bermuda Championship, the 24-year-old Wake Forest product needed just three points to achieve special temporary membership. He cliched the designation by making the cut on Friday and then made things official Sunday with a closing 68, T-16 finish and 59 FedExCup points.”
  • “Yeah, it’s exciting,” Zalatoris said. “I thought I had a pretty good chance of it in Vegas. Obviously a couple points short. I’m glad I got it done in one week. If I kind of let that wander a little bit, it wouldn’t have been fun.”
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5. Clarke wins TimberTech
“Craig Dolch syndicated in Golfweek…“It has been nine years since Darren Clarke had a victory toast, but he showed Sunday he still knows how to win and celebrate.”
  • “Clarke birdied the 18th hole to win the TimberTech Championship by a shot over defending champion Bernhard Langer and Jim Furyk. It was Clarke’s first victory since the 2011 British Open, and Clarke celebrated with a champagne toast outside the Broken Sound clubhouse.”
  • “I haven’t had one of these in a while,” Clarke said. “I was drunk for a week the last time I won. I imagine I’ll wake up with a headache tomorrow.”
6. Icon of the screen…and links
In his excellent piece on the passing of Sean Connery, Score Golf’s venerable Lorne Rubenstein wrote this: “…in that summer of 2000, Nell and I lived in Dornoch, Scotland, a village I had first visited in 1977. It remains my favourite course and village, way up in the Highlands. Connery loved Dornoch and wrote in his 2008 book Being a Scot that, “During the filming of Goldfinger, I learned the essential challenge of links golf in Royal Dornoch.”
  • “He also loved the entire country in which he was born. Connery was born in Edinburgh and was a strong supporter of Scottish independence. I contacted him and he agreed to write the foreword to A Season in Dornoch, my account of that summer of 2000 when we lived in a roomy, chilly flat above a bookshop a five-minute walk from the links.”
  • “As a Scot, I’m drawn to links golf and its enduring challenges,” Connery wrote. “It’s quite naked golf. There aren’t many trees, or features to aid your alignment. Much is left to the imagination, and to picturing the shot. Then there’s the wind, always a factor on a links. You’re required to play run-up shots, and to work the ball this way and that.”
7. Two aces this year…and he’s 10!
Joe McLean for Flagstick Golf…“In a normal year, the McMahon family would have been balancing Spring Hockey with Competitive Soccer throughout the summer for their son Mason. This year, it was golf and fishing for 10-year-old Mason who joined the Ottawa Hunt club in July and got out to play as much as possible.”
  • “…During his rounds of golf this summer, Mason scored two holes-in-one. Yes, two.”
  • “The first was on September 8th on the 7th hole at Stonebridge Golf Club. He scored the perfect shot from the white tees with a 4 hybrid from 137 yards. The second was on October 15th off the green tees on the 4th hole on the West course at the Ottawa Hunt & Golf Club. A 7 iron did the trick from 110 yards.”
8. Hickory finds its way back to Pinehurst
Shaun Tolson of Morning Read on Pinehurst’s new hickory club rental program…“It’s a fun experience for individuals who have never done it and also for people who might play hickories once or twice a year,” Barksdale said of renting a set and playing the No. 1 course, the No. 3 course, or The Cradle, Pinehurst’s nine-hole short course. (Although the hickory clubs can be rented for play on any of Pinehurst’s course – even the resort’s revered No. 2 layout – it’s on the resort’s aforementioned shorter courses that Barksdale and his team encourage their use.)”
“They go out there with no expectations whatsoever and simply enjoy the game. It really does give you an appreciation for the early years of golf and how talented those individuals really were.”  Renting a set of hickory clubs for a round at Pinehurst, which costs $50, can impact more than just a singular round of golf. The simple act of carrying those clubs to the driving range can pave the way for noteworthy introductions and interactions.”
9. Gay’s winning WITB
Driver: TaylorMade SIM (9 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade SIM (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 7 X
Hybrid: Callaway Apex (20 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White Hybrid 90 TX
Irons: Srixon Z U45 (4), Srixon Z 745 (5-PW)
Shafts: Project X 6.0
Wedges: Vokey SM8 Raw (50-12F, 56-14F@55, 60-10S@59)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Spinner
Putter: Scotty Cameron TN2
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Grips: Iomic

 

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Ben Alberstadt is the Editor-in-Chief at GolfWRX, where he’s led editorial direction and gear coverage since 2018. He first joined the site as a freelance writer in 2012 after years spent working in pro shops and bag rooms at both public and private golf courses, experiences that laid the foundation for his deep knowledge of equipment and all facets of this maddening game. Based in Philadelphia, Ben’s byline has also appeared on PGATour.com, Bleacher Report...and across numerous PGA DFS and fantasy golf platforms. Off the course, Ben is a committed cat rescuer and, of course, a passionate Philadelphia sports fan. Follow him on Instagram @benalberstadt.

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 Memorial Tournament

Published

3 weeks ago

on

Jun 1, 2026

By

GolfWRX is on site this week at the Memorial Tournament, with both Alistair Cameron and Tour Photographer Greg Moore on the ground in Dublin, Ohio, where a strong field is assembled to pay homage to the Golden Bear.

In addition to WITB galleries, we’ve already been treated to an in-hand look at Tommy Fleetwood’s new TaylorMade Spider putters.

Check out links to all our photos below.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

 

 

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Tour Tech Rundown: Heroic Henley

Published

4 weeks ago

on

Jun 1, 2026

By

Around the world, the golf wheel spun this final week in May of 2026. From New Jersey to Austria, with stops in Korea, Texas, and North Carolina (don’t let me route your next trip) the world’s finest put their golf games on display. There were three playoffs, some known commodities and some new talent. It was the sort of week that we hope to have at this point in the seasons. June and July afford double-digit major events, and perhaps, one of this week’s champions will use this success as a springboard to new heights. Time to run it all down, tech style, in this week’s Tour Tech Rundown.

Thanks to WITBHub, Today’s Golfer, GolfWRX, and Inside Tour Golf for initial research into equipment.

PGA Tour @ Charles Schwab Challenge: Heroic Henley denies Cole

Eric Cole did nearly everything that a fellow can do, to secure a first PGA Tour title. He stayed one shot clear of Ryder Cup player Ben Griffin. He kept US Open champion Gary Woodland and wunderkind Michael Brennan two shots distant. He posted 70 on day four to reach twelve under par. And then, Russell Henley revealed his Dr. Strange cloak. Henley made 47 feet of birdie putts on holes 16, 17, and 18, to jump from minus-nine to twelve-deep, and secured a spot in a playoff with Cole. The duo returned to the final tee, and put on a stripe show.

Both golfers found the fairway off the tee, and Henley improved on his regulation play with an approach to four feet. Cole did himself proud, tucking an iron to a dozen feet, but he was unable to convert the putt for three. Henley is one of the best putters on tour, and he proved it once more by draining a putt for a fourth consecutive birdie, and a sixth PGA Tour title. For Eric Cole, that first victory should come, and soon. He has done everything necessary to earn the chalice lift.

Henley’s Suitcase

  • Driver: Titleist TSi3 at 10 degrees. Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70g 6.5 TX
  • Metal: Titleist TS3 at 16.5 degrees. Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 80 TX
  • Hybrid: Titleist TSi2 at 21 degrees. Shaft: Mitsubishi MMT hybrid 100 TX
  • Iron: Titleist T250 4-iron. Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Golf AMT Tour White X100
  • Irons: Titleist T100 5-6 irons. Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Golf AMT Tour White X100
  • Irons: Titleist T100 7-9 irons. Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
  • Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 at 48 and 50 degrees. Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Golf Tour Issue X100
  • Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 at 54 and 60 degrees. Shaft: rue Temper Dynamic Golf Tour Issue S400
  • Putter: Titleist Scotty Cameron T5 Tour Prototype

LPGA @ Shoprite LPGA: Welcome back, Celine!

Soo Bin Joo had her eyes on a maiden LPGA title. She held the lead after two rounds, then hit a red light at the intersection of can-I and how-To. Joo posted plus-two on day three in New Jersey, and dropped to a T4 finish, which was still a career-best for the young Korean golfer. Instead of a new face, a familiar face returned to the top of the podium.

Celine Boutier was the It Girl in 2023. She collected four victories, including a major title at Evian. Boutier reached world number one status, then simply faded into the background. No wins came her way over the next 30 months. On Sunday, she collected LPGA victory number seven, at the same trace as LPGA victory number two.

Day three saw Boutier manage the windswept Seaview Bay course with six birdies and a bogey. She was challenged in the end by Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol, who signed for a 66 of her own. Yubol came up one shot shy of the top ladder rung. Finishing in third place at -7, two back of the winner, was Ireland’s Lauren Walsh.

Celine’s Suitcase

  • Driver: PXG 0311 Black Ops Tour-1 at 9 degrees. Shaft: Graphite Design AD IZ-5
  • Hybrid: PXG 0311 Black Ops at 19 and 22 degrees. Shaft: KBS Hybrid Prototype
  • Hybrid: PXG 0311 Gen5.
  • Iron: PXG 0311 P Gen 4 5-9 irons
  • Wedge: PXG 0311 T Gen 4 PW
  • Wedges: PXG 0311 Sugar Daddy II at 50, 54, 58 degrees
  • Putter: Bettinardi Studio Stock 3 DASS

DP World Tour @ Austrian Alpine: KK? KK!

Kota Kaneko has a rhythmic name. It has strong vowels and a run of voiceless stops in its crunchy K sounds. On Sunday in Austria, Kaneko put a stop to a challenge from Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia and everyone else, and claimed a first-ever title on the DP World Tour. Gouveia did well to reach 16-under par over four days, but Kaneko held firm, two shots in the clear.

Davis Bryant of the USA also forged a strong challenge for the win. He ended in a tie with Gouveia for second place. Kaneko began and finished his final round in a bit of a malaise, but he caught fire midway through. Birdies at 10, 12, and 13 provided the necessary cushion to cruise to the finish line without breaking a serious sweat.

Kaneko’s Suitcase

  • Driver: Ping Max G440
  • Metals: TaylorMade Qi4D at 15, 16.5, 21, and 24 degrees
  • Irons: TaylorMade P760 5 and 6 irons
  • Irons: TaylorMade P7TW 7-9 irons
  • Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design at 46, 52, 56, and 60 degrees
  • Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Cruiser Arm Lock #7

Korn Ferry Tour @ UNC Health Championship: Improbably Alvaro

Alvaro Ortiz may have had a bit of scare on the outward nine on Sunday, but he came through in clutch fashion in the end. Ortiz began the day bogey-double, and added another double bogey at the 11th hole. He was mired in a downward trend, spiraling away from the top of the leader’s board. Ortiz found hope at the 14th, where his first birdie of the day tumbled home. Inspired, he closed with birdies and 17 and 18 to catch Ross Steelman at 10-under par, and the duo returned to the 18th deck for overtime.

The extra session concluded in brief time. Ortiz, buoyed by his newly-retrieved confidence, hit the fairway with driver, then approached to six feet and drained the putt. Gobsmacked, Steelman could do little more than smile and applaud, as his run at the top came to a close. The victory was the first for Ortiz on the KFT, and will implant him squarely in the chase for a PGA Tour promotion.

Alvaro’s Suitcase

  • Driver: Ping G430 MAX driver at 9 degrees loft
  • Metal: Ping G430 MAX 3W
  • Iron: Ping iDi Driving Iron
  • Irons: Ping Blueprint S irons
  • Wedges
  • Putter: Scottsdale TR Piper C

LIV @ Korea: Me llamo Joaquin

Chile’s Joaquin Niemann had been away from the LIV winner’s circle throughout all of 2026. This week in Korea, he reminded us that he is still a force to consider. Niemann chased down Taylor Gooch over the closing holes at Asiad Country Club, then claimed victory with a hole-one birdie in extra time. Bryson DeChambeau claimed solo third, one shot in arrears at minus-eleven. Dustin Johnson finished on fourth, one putt farther back.

Niemann’s Suitcase

  • Driver: Ping 440 LST
  • Metal: Ping G440 Max at 15 degrees
  • Metal: Ping G425 Max at 21 degrees
  • Hybrid: Ping G430 at 25 degrees
  • Irons: Ping Blueprint S 5 through PW
  • Wedges: Ping S159 at 52, 56, and 60 degrees
  • Putter: Ping PLD Anser

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Russell Henley’s winning WITB: 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge

Published

4 weeks ago

on

May 31, 2026

By

Driver: Titleist TSi3 (10 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70 6.5 TX

3-wood: Titleist TS3 (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 80 TX

7-wood: Titleist GTS3 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Project X Denali Black 80 TX

Irons: Titleist T250 (4), Titleist T100 (5-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold AMT (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (7-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (48-10F @47, 50-08F @51, 54-10S @55, 60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48), S400 (47)

Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X5 Tour Prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

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