The post Field of Dreams? This PGA Tour leader grew up on a grass farm appeared first on Golf.

The post Field of Dreams? This PGA Tour leader grew up on a grass farm appeared first on Golf.

If you’re running out the clock on your workweek on Friday by streaming some PGA Tour action at the office, consider sharing a fun fact about Farmers Insurance Open 36-hole co-leader Adam Schenk with your co-workers.

You might flag down Dale from IT, if he walks by your office when Schenk comes on the screen, and ask him a question.

“Hey, Dale!” you’ll say. “Guess what this pro golfer’s parents did for work? First thing that comes to mind.”

“I dunno. Doctor? Lawyer?” asks Dale. You’ll forgive him for being prone to classic golf stereotypes.

“Nah. Even better.”

“Golf pros?”

“Sod farmers!”

Dale groans.

But it’s true. Schenk grew up in Vincennes, Indiana, on a 1,500-acre farm. His family grew corn, beans, wheat and, yes, grass. Three types: Zoysia, fescue and bluegrass.

What was that like?

“A lot of mowing,” Schenk said after his second round on Thursday. “But we had a seven-acre field of Zoysia in front of our house, so I would just go out and have basically a driving range whenever I wanted to. That was definitely beneficial.”

I should think so. Sure, Schenk didn’t have the manicured greens of a golf course in his yard — “I needed a chipping green, that’s what I need to improve on the most,” he joked — but he had the benefit of space. And grass.

Maybe Schenk dug deep into his golfing origin story during Thursday’s second round, where he hit just 4 of 14 fairways but gamed his way to a bogey-free round that featured 10 birdies including eight (yes, eight!) in a row. Schenk’s demolition of Torrey Pines’ North Course was so complete that he lost track of his score; when he suffered a harsh lip-out at No. 18, he turned to his caddie for reassurance.

“I’d kind of lost track of exactly how many under I was and I didn’t know if that [putt] was possibly to shoot 59 and I didn’t,” Schenk said.

“He said, ‘Yeah, it’s 70,’ because that putt would have been to shoot 59. I was like, ‘No way it wasn’t.’ He was just joking with me, like he likes to do.”

Schenk’s scorecard read 62 in the end, one shot off the course record. As a result he finds himself in impressive company, tied with Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm at 13 under par. He’ll join them in the final group on Friday, mostly thanks to his putter.

“It’s not like I was hitting it to 10 feet every time making the putts, I had a lot of lengthy ones,” Schenk said. Shotlink data isn’t available for the North course, but he ran back through his eight-birdie run as best he could.

“The first I made was 4, it was about seven feet. The next hole was probably eight feet. The next hole was maybe four feet. Then the par 5, I skipped a hole there, that was 30 feet. Then I came to the par 3, that was probably another 40-footer. Then I two-putted hole 9 [for birdie], and then 10 was probably another 35-footer. No. 11 was short of the green, that was probably another 30-footer. I think that was it for the streak.”

Ah, yes. That was it.

Schenk said the last time he’d made eight in a row was when he was 12 or 13 years old in an age-group championship. That was a while ago; he turned 30 on Wednesday.

“Honestly, I lost track of how many I made in a row, I knew it was a couple obviously,” he said.

If you need more Schenk fun facts, there are several that surround his wonderful last name. Perhaps the most attention he’s ever gotten came after he was randomly paired with Ryan Yip and Jhared Hack in the final round of the 2016 News Sentinel Open, a Web.com Tour event at the time. Schenk, Yip and Hack? Dale might groan again at that one.

Schenk said he has leaned into the dubious moniker; plenty of his friends just call him “Shank.” He even hit one on Thursday while warming up for his second round.

“It’s funny, I was hitting some pull cuts on the range this morning. I did shank one, it was my first one in a while, but I cold-shanked a sand wedge, it was like my third shot of the day,” he said. “But I usually hit it off the toe in tournaments, so that’s fortunate.”

One reporter had a final follow-up question. With as well as Schenk had read the greens on Thursday, his family farm didn’t supply the sod for Torrey Pines — right?!

“I wish,” he said. “It would be a long way to ship sod.”

The post Field of Dreams? This PGA Tour leader grew up on a grass farm appeared first on Golf.

The post Pro thought he could touch his ball. The rules said otherwise. appeared first on Golf.

The post Pro thought he could touch his ball. The rules said otherwise. appeared first on Golf.

Adam Schenk, on Thursday and Friday at this week’s Houston Open, could dust off his ball should it have landed in any fairway at Memorial Park. Storms had soggied the course, and lift, clean and place was in play.   

But this was Saturday. 

In an unfortunate move, and as first reported by pgatour.com, Schenk touched his ball on the 5th after thinking he could after a drive into the fairway during the third round, and his par four became a bogey five after incurring a one-stroke penalty. It was a violation of Rule 9.4b, which states: “If the player lifts or deliberately touches his or her ball at rest or causes it to move, the player gets one penalty stroke.”

News

How quirky was this Houston Open par-4? One star teed off with wedge (!)

By: Nick Piastowski

To Schenk’s defense, lift, clean and place, or preferred lies, had been in play during the first two rounds, and all four rounds at last week’s World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Rule 8E-2 under Model Local Rules states: “When conditions such as wet ground conditions throughout parts of the course may cause mud to stick to the ball, the Committee can choose to allow the player to lift, clean and replace the ball in the general area. Such relief should be limited to those portions of the course where needed.”

Schenk, who had been in a share of the lead at the time, bogeyed two more holes on Saturday, birdied none and finished with a two-over 72. He entered Sunday’s final round three shots out of the lead.   

“Well, before the round started, Woody, you had predicted somebody would do exactly what Schenk did,” analyst Curt Byrum said on Golf Channel’s broadcast of Saturday’s third round.  

“It just becomes part of the routine after doing it so many rounds in a row so it doesn’t surprise me at all,” said analyst John Wood, also a longtime caddie. 

The post Pro thought he could touch his ball. The rules said otherwise. appeared first on Golf.