Daniel Berger wins his first PGA Tour event, Brooke Henderson ousts World No. 1 Lydia Ko to win her first major, and Mark Wahlberg shows off his funky backyard in this week’s edition of The Links.
First-time winners keep rolling in Memphis
Daniel Berger (-13) carded four straight rounds in the 60s to win his first career PGA Tour event at the FedEx St. Jude Classic on Sunday. The 2014-2015 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year took home 500 FedEx Cup points along with $1.16 million in winnings. Brooks Koepka, Steve Stricker and Phil Mickelson tied for second, three strokes back of Berger at TPC Southwind.
Notable scores: Dustin Johnson (5th), Wesley Bryan (T-58), Ernie Els (MC), and Padraig Harrington (MC).
Phil, DJ & others made charges, but @DanielBerger59 held strong to win the @fesjcmemphis: https://t.co/GkjlbH8LKwpic.twitter.com/ZE8DEwd92N
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 13, 2016
#WITB – Daniel Berger
Driver: TaylorMade M2 (10.5 degrees) with a Fujikura Pro Series 53 shaft
Fairway Metal: TaylorMade M2, (17 degrees)
Irons: TaylorMade RocketBladez Tour (3) and TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 11 (4-PW) with Project X 6.5 shafts
Wedges: TaylorMade Tour Preferred EF (50, 60 degrees) and Tour Preferred ATV (56 degrees) with True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 shafts
Putter: TaylorMade Ghost Corza
Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Major Champion: Brooke Henderson
Eighteen-year-old star Brooke Henderson (-6) and World No. 1 Lydia Ko dueled down the stretch at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in a major for the ages. Brooke birdied the 71st hole to tie Ko for the lead and force a sudden death playoff, where she stuck her approach to 3 feet for the win. Henderson’s first major victory is her ninth straight top 10 this season.
The feeling when you win your first major! Congrats to @BrookeHenderson on your @KPMGWomensPGA victory!https://t.co/v8opmJ8P71
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 13, 2016
Marky Mark’s Funky Backyard
Mark Wahlberg officially has the coolest backyard you’ve ever seen. The A-List star (who plays to a sub-5 handicap index) enlisted Back Nine Greens to construct this beautiful artificial turf practice facility in his backyard. Oh, the good life (sigh).
Oakmont’s green speeds and rough will blow your mind
The European Tour was onsite with An Byeong-hun to show the world just how delicate the greens will be at this week’s U.S. Open at Oakmont, proving once again to be golf’s hardest test.
Now try hitting out of the greenside, break-your-wrists-thick rough — where you’ll need a search party to find your wayward tee shot — and see if you can hold the green. Because you can’t. Trust us.
Rough short of 17 green… Yeah, I’d say Oakmont is ready ? @usopengolf
A video posted by Justin Thomas (@justinthomas34) on
If you don’t believe us, 2010 U.S. Open champ Graeme McDowell challenged golf writer, Doug Ferguson, to test it:
Golf writer @dougferguson405 gives a short game lesson on the 17th at Oakmont…. pic.twitter.com/DsBaYbfSu2
— Graeme McDowell (@Graeme_McDowell) June 12, 2016
Tour Life: Justin Thomas
GoPro’s Never Satisfied series on Justin Thomas’ life on the PGA Tour continued with another installment this past week. Take a look inside his practice round at THE PLAYERS with his two best golf buddies, who also happen to know their way around a golf course.
Tiger officially withdraws from U.S. Open and Quicken Loans
Tiger officially pulled out of the US Open and Quicken Loans National last week, citing physical playing condition. Woods will miss the 10th year of his foundation’s tournament at Congressional along with yet another major this week at Oakmont.
Continuing to make solid progress but not ready to play US Open & Quicken Loans, will be hosting QLN for TWFound. https://t.co/zs98S9GrhA
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) June 7, 2016
Extras!
This guy found a new way to pick and clean:
A video posted by GolfBalled.com (@golfballed) on
Quote of the Week:
“A shot misplayed should be a shot irrevocably lost” – William Clark Fownes, Jr.
Oakmont Grounds Committee Chairman, 1910
Be sure to check back here at the GolfTEC Scramble again next Monday for our latest weekly edition of The Links!