Golf Monthly March 2024

neil.tappin@futurenet.com The last time I went for an iron fitting was back in 2018. Despite my ball-striking usually being a strength, I remember struggling at the time and the set I opted for was the Mizuno JPX 919 Forged. Over the last couple of years, I’ve seen a significant improvement in my approach play, and yet, as much as I love my Mizunos, I began to think a change was due for the 2024 season. This was largely driven by the announcement of an update to Ping’s Blueprint offering. In particular, the brand introduced a new Blueprint S model that is a modern-day take on the popular S55, which dates back to 2013. That S55 model was the first time I’d ever played a Ping iron and I loved it.…

Variety is the spice of life I have been a Sky Sports subscriber for a few years and I find the golf coverage really good to watch. Its programmes, whether live or more usually edited highlights, show a good mixture of tee shots, approach shots, chipping and putting, interspersed with drone flyovers to give context and strategy for the holes in question. There’s also interesting, humorous and informed commentary on the shots we see. Recently, I was looking forward to watching the PGA Tour Champions tournament from Hawaii, with its wonderful scenery and well-known senior competitors. But I turned it off after about ten minutes after watching nothing but about 20 consecutive putts, all of them, very strangely, holed from various distances. What is going on in the editing process?…

• Congratulations on winning your fourth Dubai Desert Classic. How does that feel? It feels amazing to have won that big coffee pot four times. I certainly don’t take anything for granted, and I always appreciate the opportunity to be able to do what I do. Dubai has always been a place where I come back to and reminisce about my career, because I really feel like it’s where everything started. • You first played here 18 years ago. What are your memories of that? The arc of my career and Dubai in general have sort of tracked each other pretty consistently along the way. The first Desert Classic, I took a media credential and I walked inside the ropes to follow Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Thomas Björn. Just…

The PGA Tour has completed a landmark investment deal with Strategic Sports Group worth around $3 billion through its new commercial venture, PGA Tour Enterprises, the circuit’s CEO Jay Monahan has confirmed. The consortium – led by Fenway Sports Group and also including New York Mets owner Steve Cohen’s Cohen Private Ventures, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry – is preparing to inject the money into PGA Tour Enterprises, which will increase the for-profit entity’s valuation up to around $12 billion. A statement from Monahan revealed that, as part of the agreement, almost 200 PGA Tour members will collectively be able to earn circa $1.5 billion in immediate and future equity shares, with players receiving more depending on career achievements, recent accomplishments and rankings.…

477 Max Homa’s 477-yard drive at The Sentry broke the PGA Tour record in the StatLink era 1991 Nick Dunlap’s American Express win was the first by an amateur on the PGA Tour since 1991 • END OF YEAR WORLD RANKING • CAREER EARNINGS (PGA TOUR) $116,000,000 The LPGA Tour’s total prize pool for 2024, a record for the circuit Lydia Ko won her 20th LPGA Tour title at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions 58 At The Sentry in Hawaii a total of 58 drives were recorded that exceeded 400 yards -32 Rory McIlroy played the DP World Tour’s two January tournaments in Dubai in 32-under-par 40 How many feet Grayson Murray holed from on the first play-off hole to win the Sony Open • STROKES GAINED, 2023…

“THE GAME IS F****** IMPOSSIBLE, ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE”James Morrison endured a tough weekend at the Dubai Desert Classic and let his unfiltered feelings be known after a 76 on the Sunday “EVERYBODY GIVES ME C*** ABOUT THAT. I’LL FOREVER HAVE THAT. I OWN IT”Bryson DeChambeau addresses his infamous ‘par 67’ Augusta National remark “IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE A SPORT ANYMORE, IT LOOKS MORE LIKE A BUSINESS”Mike Lorenzo-Vera thinks modern golf is in danger of forgetting the history and traditions of the sport “QUITE A LOT WAS CARRYING ON FROM THE WORK WE STARTED”Henrik Stenson was not surprised by Europe’s Ryder Cup win in Rome, saying Luke Donald used a lot of the plans he put in place before losing the captaincy 19 At 19 years, four months and 11 days, South…