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Darren Clarke, even at 53 and with a major championship to his name, was tinkering. Ahead of this week’s Charles Schwab Cup Championship on the Champions Tour, he hit an iron on the range at Phoenix Country Club, lowered his club and looked at his ball a little longer than you normally would. He turned around. 

Clarke, even at 53 and with a major championship to his name, wasn’t above counsel, either.  

“Beauty there,” Vijay Singh said, then added: 

“Watch your distance also.”

A couple of things to note here. Yes, Singh is a three-time major winner and a hall of famer, so it’s not as if Clarke was listening to your buddy who tells you to keep your head down. And the best talking shop with the best is always worth a listen. (It was just about a year ago where we documented even 86-year-old Gary Player picking the brain of 81-year-old Jack Nicklaus on the golf swing.)   

In the video shared to the Champions Tour’s social media feeds, Singh was checking Clarke’s distance from the ball at address. Clarke stood over his ball again. 

“I used to be more right there, Veej,” Clarke said. 

Singh grabbed an iron. While a player’s distance from the ball is also based on their own comfortability, Singh showed he takes his right hand off the club and uses it to touch both his left hand and left thigh.

“I just go like, bam,” Singh said as he began his demonstration. 

“I’m here, not here, you know,” he continued. “If I put my thighs, I just kinda feel that way, you know. If I’m touching it, I’m good. If I can’t reach it then … So you should have kind of like … 

“One or two, yes,” Clarke said.

“Yeah, just whatever you feel comfortable,” Singh said. 

“Yeah, exactly, whatever it is,” Clarke said.  

Clarke turned to the camera. 

“Hall of Fame tips,” he said. 

Indeed. Clarke hit another ball. And the session between major winners continued. 

“There you go, that’s freaking ripped,” Singh said. 

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The post Vijay Singh drops out of Korn Ferry Tour event after criticism appeared first on Golf.

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Well, so much for that controversy. Vijay Singh has dropped out of the Korn Ferry Challenge at Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass, just a few weeks after drawing heated criticism from Korn Ferry Tour pros for his decision to enter the event.

Singh’s withdrawal from the Korn Ferry Challenge was first reported by Golf Channel and comes two weeks before the event is scheduled to mark the resumption of the Korn Ferry Tour season.

In early May, Singh’s entrance into the Korn Ferry Challenge drew the ire of some still cutting their teeth on the developmental tour. The event’s $600,000 purse marked a crucial financial opportunity for developmental tour players, many of whom are struggling financially as a result of the worldwide sports shutdown caused by the coronavirus. In the eyes of some, Singh (who ranks 4th all-time on the PGA Tour’s money list) was taking a spot away from another, less financially secure player.

Brady Schnell, a Korn Ferry Tour veteran, was Singh’s most vocal critic, slamming the 57-year-old, 34-time PGA Tour winner in a series of since-deleted tweets.

“Hey @VijaySinghGolf you are a true piece of trash if you except (sic) money playing in a Korn Ferry Tour event and I’ll say it right to your face,” Schnell tweeted. “Do you know how much those points and money could do for a young kid? He’s a complete turd for playing.”

Schnell later apologized for his barrage against Singh, but his point sparked a larger debate surrounding one of golf’s most enigmatic players. Was Vijay, a professional golfer, wrong for choosing to play professional golf, even if it meant taking a spot away from someone else? On social media, people weighed in from all corners of the golf universe. Phil Mickelson even joined the conversation in Singh’s defense.

Ultimately, Vijay-gate 2020 vanished as quickly as it appeared, a strangely fitting ending for one of golf’s most understated figures. But whether you felt he was in the wrong or not, Vijay Singh won’t be there when golfers tee off in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. on June 11.

Editor’s Picks

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Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us @golf_com. This week we discuss how the pandemic will affect the game, the two upcoming matches, incredible rounds and more.

1. Golf courses are open again in all 50 states, and the PGA Tour is scheduled to resume in four weeks, but in ways large and small, the game looks and feels very different than it did before the coronavirus. When we look back on this period a few years from now, on which part of the game will the pandemic have had the most lasting impact?

Dylan Dethier, senior writer (@dylan_dethier): The optimist in me hopes, with so many other activities ruled out, that golf is going to thrive and new golfers everywhere will try and love the game! The pessimist side of me thinks that courses already struggling to make ends meet may close for good. Let’s hope Person No. 1 is much more correct.

Josh Sens, senior writer (@JoshSens): I think both Dylans are correct here. Courses that had serious pre-existing conditions heading into this are likely to shutter, but others seem bound to enjoy a kind of renaissance, especially as golfers seek out more affordable options. Could it be a Golden Age for munis? Competing forces at work here, of course, as city budgets dwindle. But a low-price course that can keep its greens in decent condition will be a hot commodity. An industry consultant I spoke with said he’s expecting what he called “The Great Cleanse.” Cleanses aren’t pleasant, but they can have some healthy results. Let’s hope.

Sean Zak, senior editor (@Sean_Zak): I think some of the smartest-run courses will thrive, and the less smart ones will be wise to follow whatever it is the smart ones do. Is it mowing less? Do accoutrements like flower beds along the course driveways just never get planted? It sucks, but the courses that were already struggling to make ends meet are probably going to struggle even more. Then again, all of us golfers can show a little awareness and play them until the fairways bleed. 

Nick Piastowski, senior editor (@nickpia): I see an impact on the camaraderie that the game provides. How long will it be before you feel safe shaking hands again? How long will it be before you feel safe riding in a cart again with someone? How long will it be before you feel safe sitting in the clubhouse and enjoying a burger and beer with 50 people in the room? I really hope it’s a short time, but none of us know. 

News

Why Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson might have to carry Peyton Manning and Tom Brady

By: Nick Piastowski

2. A second charity match was announced this week, this one featuring Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson against Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff. The event will come a week before the match pitting Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning vs. Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady. Which is the more compelling competition?

Dethier: It’s the Tiger-Phil match because of one very important decision: Alternate shot on the back nine. Watching the team dynamics as these legendary QBs put two of the game’s great recovery artists in strange positions will be worth the price of admission. I’m all in on mic’d-up DJ, though.

Sens: For the competition itself, the Tiger-Phil match for the reasons Dylan lays out above. But for the venue, it’s the other event, hands down. A chance for many of us to get our first good look at Seminole and see what all the fuss is about.

Zak: I am deeply compelled by four elite pros playing casual golf against each other without caddies. Do they think their way around the course in the same way? Will they attempt more miraculous shots than normal? If so, gimme four guys doing that at Seminole rather than just the two at Medalist. 

Piastowski: I’m really enjoying the dry humor going on among Tiger, Phil, Tom and Peyton, but I’m a bit more intrigued by the Rory, Dustin, Rickie and Matthew match. (In writing that last sentence, it’s pretty interesting that you can identify pretty much all the guys by just their first name. Haha!) The RDRM match will be our first live, televised golf in about two months, and I get the feeling they’ll try to put on a show in order to outdo the older crew. 

3. Vijay Singh is planning to play a Korn Ferry event when that tour resumes play in June, meaning the World Golf Hall of Famer will be taking the place of a regular Korn Ferry player on the minor-league circuit. Singh’s decision enraged at least one Korn Ferry player, who called out Singh with a series of sharply worded tweets before apologizing. (Singh’s not alone, by the way — Joel Dahmen and Kevin Streelman are among the Tour players in the field at the Scottsdale Open this week.) Given the current circumstances, should established Tour pros feel sheepish about playing in mini-tour events?

Dethier: I spilled enough ink on this one last week, but here’s the gist of it: Vijay Singh, one of this generation’s greats, has very much earned the right to tee it up that week — or really any week, anywhere. We should appreciate that a 57-year-old legend still has the fire to tee it up against golf’s next generation.

Sens: It does come off as a little ruthless, but, you know, no crying in baseball. Or golf. Singh isn’t breaking any rules to play, or benefiting from any dubious sponsor’s exemption. Don’t like it? Shooting a lower score is a way better response than sounding off on Twitter. On a side note, this whole rhubarb has drawn additional attention to an event that we wouldn’t otherwise be talking about, so that’s good, right?

Zak: I’ll play (what I think is a very reasonable) devil’s advocate and say yeah, KFT pros unquestionably need the start more than Veej. You cannot disprove that. Would it be potentially nicer that KFT player No. 144 or 128 or whoever gets their 36-72 holes instead of someone in the Hall? Again, undoubtedly true. But as always, pro golf has a ubiquitous excuse to clap back with: play better. Play better at any given time, and it will help you out sometime down the road when you need it. Brutally truthful right now, but it still works. 

Piastowski: There’s no doubt strong cases on both sides here, but if a player wants to play competitive golf and the player has earned the right to play competitive golf, the player gets to play competitive golf. We haven’t heard from Vijay yet, either (though he did like a few pro-Vijay tweets on Twitter) – there could be something more to the story. 

News

Spectator tracking, no grandstands among safety protocols at Memorial Tournament

By: Sean Zak

4. The Memorial revealed some of its plans as the PGA Tour’s second scheduled tournament with fans — electronic tracking of fans to prevent congregating, no grandstands and temperature checks. With such precautions, is it feasible that we could see spectators at events as early as July?

Dethier: I don’t see how it will be done safely at a large scale — shuttle buses and capacity crowds both seem like no-nos. If I put on my optimist’s hat, I guess a very limited number of fans could show up, park on site and walk to the course, where they’d stay spread out.

Sens: Feasible? Sure. Wise. I dunno. Seems like the potential risks outweigh the benefits.

Zak: It’s feasible. It could happen. Anything could happen. Just know that one month from now will feel as different (or more different) as a month ago felt. Spectators at a Tour event are still two months away, at the earliest. If I had to guess, the guidelines for spectator access will be even more stringent than the Memorial is planning. These events definitely want fans there, but they also don’t want egg on their face. 

Piastowski: The steps are great. And I agree with Sean – they do not want this to flop, so the plan should be airtight. But rule No. 1 on the plan, in bold and underlined and set at 100 point, should be if it’s not clear, if it’s risky, it’s a no-go. Let’s get this thing clear and be done with it. 

5. In a column examining some of golf’s new safety measures, our Michael Bamberger posited that the game is better without bunker rakes. “Faster, for one thing,” Bamberger wrote. “More primitive. More penal, for being someplace you shouldn’t be.” Agree?

Dethier: Oh yeah. Pros aim for the bunkers! At many Tour courses, that’s where they’ll find the most predictable lies. A little injection of ruggedness into the game would be a better challenge and make for more compelling viewing.

Sens: I don’t mind (some) unpredictability, and I love the increased pace of play, so yeah, sure. Worth mentioning, though, that not all bunkers are created equal. Tour pros make it look easy from the sand because they are elite players, of course, but also because the sand they play is pretty much perfect. Not just that it’s raked smooth, but the quality and consistency of the sand itself. That’s not at all the case at most of the courses the vast majority of us play. Also, at a high-falutin rakeless place like Pine Valley, most players are at least going to make an effort to smooth the sand with their feet. That’s not going to happen at your local muni, where the “primitive and penal” Michael refers to would simply become a comical minefield of footprints. As much as any features on a course, bunkers reveal the difference between golf’s haves and have-nots. The one-percenters simply have it easier. Long story short: I like the idea of going rakeless, so long as there’s a local rule that allows you to take relief within a bunker on courses where there’s been zero effort to smooth out the sand. As for the fine print of that rule, I’ll leave that to someone smarter. 

Zak: I wonder how a world of unraked bunkers would change my approach shots, or perhaps my practice sessions. I think we’d all become better bunker players and understand that the feeling of the sand beneath our spikes is worth something! Suddenly being first out is wayyy better than being last out, right? 

Piastowski: DON’T MAKE THE GAME ANY HARDER! Haha! It does add another strategic element to the game, for sure. And something else to consider: You totally know there’s going to be a Trapgate/Sandgate/Bunkergate (trademark) when some pro or some caddie “accidentally” builds a few castles in the trap to hurt the players behind them. 

News

PGA Tour pro shoots a ridiculous 12-under for his final 11 holes

By: Nick Piastowski

6. Joel Dahmen shot a 14-under 58 (!) at one of his home courses, which included a 12-under blitz over his last 11 holes. What’s the most eye-popping round you’ve ever witnessed?

Dethier: A few months into my pro career, an unnamed player in the group in front of me at a New England mini-tour event took several minutes emerging from the left woods on No. 12. Later, I’d find out that he’d been doing some, uh, dirty work in there after a negative reaction to something he ate. Also, he shot 62.

Sens: For sheer statistical absurdity, I’m going to have to refer to one of my own rounds. Ten years or so ago, I, a 6 or 7 handicap at the time, was 6-under through nine holes at the Links at Spanish Bay, and 7-under through 11, playing from the tips. That span of holes included two hole-outs from the fairway for eagle. It was totally ridiculous. And of course I reverted to the norm and wound up going 16-over for my final 7 holes, low-lighted by a 9 on the short par-3 13th hole. I didn’t break 80.

Zak: Hahahahahha, Sens! That’s incredible. In terms of eye-popping, Spieth’s 64 on Sunday at Augusta chasing after Patrick Reed was pretty damn remarkable. Sunday at the Masters, you can only hope to see every shot from a reasonable distance, so that little white ball is even smaller and yet it continues to just go to the hole like a magnet. The ball just kept going in. 12, 15, 16, etc. Eventually his Titleist hit the center of a tiny branch down the chute on 18. I think the biggest what-if 64 in Masters history. A circle on 18 for 62 and a sudden death match against Reed. My gosh I’ve still got chills. 

Piastowski: This one I never witnessed, but just heard about. I was fortunate enough a few years back to get on a higher-end track in Vegas, and we asked the forecaddie about the players who have come through. He said the most incredible thing he saw was Aaron Judge of the Yankees hitting off the tee — upward of 450 a pop! The caddie said that he was hitting it to places that really weren’t supposed to be in play.  

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The post Pro golfer apologizes after blasting Vijay Singh for entering Korn Ferry Tour event appeared first on Golf.

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A Korn Ferry Tour golfer has apologized after calling a World Golf Hall of Famer a complete turd, a true piece of trash, and selfish. 

A day after slamming Vijay Singh over his decision to enter the first Korn Ferry Tour tournament after the coronavirus hiatus, Brady Schnell said he was sorry and should have used a different approach.

“Yesterday I said some disrespectful things towards @VijaySinghGolf and for that I am truly sorry” Schnell wrote on Twitter. “A different approach should have been taken in order to get my point across. I will learn from this and be better! I’m looking forward to getting back to work and playing some golf.”

Schnell’s criticism, in a series of since-deleted tweets, stems from Singh’s decision to enter the Korn Ferry Tour’s Korn Ferry Challenge on June 11-14, the first tournament on the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit after a hiatus due to the coronavirus. The 57-year-old Singh will exercise his lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour – a result of having more than 20 wins – as the tour he mainly plays on, the 50-and-over Champions Tour, isn’t scheduled to resume play until July 31. 

Schnell slammed Singh for the decision.

“Hey @VijaySinghGolf you are a true piece of trash if you except money playing in a Korn Ferry Tour event and I’ll say it right to your face,” Schnell said in one tweet. 

His comments arise from Singh, who has made over $71 million on the PGA Tour, taking the spot and the potential money from a regular on the tour. In another tweet, Schnell said, “Its just Vijay being Vijay. Selfish.”

“Do you know how much those points and money could do for a young kid?” Schnell wrote in another tweet. “He’s a complete turd for playing. He’s got his money and he’s got his career. Just wait another month and roll with your senior friends.”

Singh has not responded – but has liked several tweets supporting his decision. 

Including one from Phil Mickelson. 

“It’s no secret VJ and I aren’t close, but I’d like to say on his behalf that in addition to being a member of the HofF, he’s a big part of the PGA Tour’s success which financially subsidizes, and always has, the KFT,” Mickelson tweeted. “He has earned the right to play when and where he wants.”

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People are getting mad at Vijay Singh. That’s an evergreen statement. People have been varying degrees of “getting mad at Vijay Singh” for decades. 

They’d taken a break, though. In recent years Singh has been recast as the range-grinding, soft-spoken mystery figure hitting tires with sledgehammers and occasionally reappearing during tournaments. The Big Fijian most recently stole the show at the 2019 Honda Classic, where he played his way into the final group at age 56. Nobody was mad at Vijay Singh then.

News

Pro slams Vijay Singh for plans to play in Korn Ferry Tour event

By: Kevin Cunningham

But now people are mad at Singh again. This time it’s because Singh has signed up to play in the first Korn Ferry Tour event when the tour resumes play in June. The optics of a man with $71 million in career Tour winnings taking a spot — or a paycheck — from a bunch of golf’s hungry minor-leaguers coming off a three-months layoff is admittedly not great. But I’d urge you to resist the knee-jerk reaction. Don’t get mad at Vijay Singh. He’s a professional golfer playing the highest-level tournament for which he is qualified, looking to sharpen his game and compete at a course he knows well. Simply put, his buy-in should be good in this — or any — card room. He’s earned that.

These words are too late for Brady Schnell, a 35-year-old Korn Ferry member who took to Twitter Thursday to call Singh a “true piece of trash” and a “complete turd” in tweets that have since disappeared (and Schnell’s account is now private).

I’m not sure my words would have had much effect in any case; Schnell seemed rather set on his views here. But he was hardly the only one — and if you believe him, plenty of his peers felt the same way. Vocal golf fans took to the Twitter streets, many of them upset on behalf of the Korn Ferry pros (some others, to be fair, stuck up for Singh).

If you’re wondering how Singh is in the field to begin with, the PGA Tour resumes that same week at the Charles Schwab Challenge, but Singh’s lifetime Tour status won’t get him into the field at Colonial. As an alternative, Tour rules allow fully exempt Tour players to compete in Korn Ferry events when they’re not qualified for that week’s PGA Tour event. Enter Singh, playing a home game at TPC Sawgrass.

Let’s review, briefly, some of the reasons you may be predisposed to rule against Singh. We can begin in 1982, when 19-year-old Vijay left Fiji to play the Australian mini-tours and was eventually banned for making long-distance phone calls back home and sticking tournament organizers with the bill. Not cool. At the 1985 Indonesian Open, Singh was accused of stroke-shaving, which led to his expulsion from the tour (he has always maintained his innocence) and a subsequent two years’ exile as a club pro in the rainforests of Borneo.

Fast-forward to 2000, when he won the Masters and reportedly told everyone to “kiss my ass” on his way off property. Or to 2003, when he was less than enthusiastic about Annika Sorenstam’s appearance on the PGA Tour and said he hoped she’d miss the cut, if she wasn’t going to properly qualify. There was the incident in 2007, when Singh won at Bay Hill and made a point of parking in spots assigned to the media throughout the week, just because he could. There was the deer antler spray incident in 2013, too, which led to Singh’s suspension (later dropped) and Singh’s lawsuit (later settled). 

In between there were less tangible accusations of Singh generally being a loner and a jerk. There’s also no discounting his role as foil to the more-popular Tiger Woods in the mid-2000s. Even then, he kept the media at arm’s length, smarting from the firestorm that followed his Sorenstam comments. While stories occasionally emerged of Singh’s good humor or the ways he supported younger players — with both time and money — he didn’t do much to endear himself to the public. If you’ve entered this week with a less-than-favorable feeling about Singh, well, that’s understandable and I’m not here to argue with you. 

But let’s tick through the reasons you shouldn’t get mad at Singh about this incident in particular. He’s following the Tour’s rules and playing through a category reserved for PGA Tour pros. He’s playing the best tournament he can. He’s sure to try his hardest; he always has. More to the point, Singh has earned this. He’s not some middling, well-connected pro on a sponsor’s exemption. He’s one of the greatest golfers of the modern era. We should be praising his work ethic, admiring his competitive fire, lauding how far he’s made it from hopping fences to caddie, $1/day, at Nadi Airport Golf Club. We should sit back in awe that he could still summon the desire to take on golf’s rising stars. If he were more broadly beloved, we would. If this were Fred Couples the only thing we’d be figuring out is the live-streaming schedule.

Finally, while people remember Singh’s solo 6th at the Honda last season, it’s not like this is Justin Thomas coming to buzzsaw the field and take the kids’ lunch money. Excluding the Honda, here are Singh’s eight starts on the PGA Tour since the beginning of last season: MC-MC-MC-MC-MC-MC-MC-MC. He’s 57 years old. He’s No. 849 in the world (Schnell is just behind him at No. 913).

Don’t like that Singh’s there? Shoot a lower score than he does.

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The Korn Ferry Tour is set to resume play June 11-14 with the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass. After a long coronavirus-related layoff, the players who ply their trade on the PGA Tour’s developmental circuit are no doubt itching to play. But one surprising name popped up on the list of pro golfers expected to tee it up: Vijay Singh.

News

How Joe LaCava messed with Vijay Singh's 'caddie rule' at the Masters

By: Dylan Dethier

Singh’s sparkling career resume includes three major wins among his 34 PGA Tour victories. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame way back in 2006. In light of those accomplishments, one Korn Ferry pro was extremely unhappy with Singh’s decision to play the Challenge event, and he unleashed on the Hall of Famer on Twitter.

In a since-deleted tweet, pro golfer Brady Schnell took Singh to task, writing, “Hey @VijaySinghGolf you are a true piece of trash if you except money playing in a Korn Ferry Tour event and I’ll say it right to your face.”

And Schnell didn’t stop there, he responded to other Twitter followers who spoke out in support on Vijay, calling Singh “selfish” and writing that “Its just Vijay being Vijay.”

Schnell’s primary beef has to do with Singh, who sits in fourth place on the PGA Tour career money list ($71,216,128) taking a spot and much-needed potential earnings from a young player fighting to make it in pro golf. Schnell, who is 35, has $424,456 in career earnings on the KFT, and has competed in a total of 27 PGA Tour events, including 21 in 2019 when he made six cuts.

“Do you know how much those points and money could do for a young kid?” Schnell wrote in another since-deleted reply. “…He’s got his money and he’s got his career. Just wait another month and roll with your senior friends.”

Most recently, the 57-year-old Singh has been playing on the PGA Tour Champions, where he’s collected four victories since 2017, the latest coming at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in November 2018.

Singh has a lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour as a result of having more than 20 wins, so he’s not using a Korn Ferry Challenge event to earn his way back to the big leagues. Instead, he’s likely using it as a warm-up for when the senior tour returns.

The Korn Ferry Tour has been suspended since March. Many KFT pros struggle in the best of times to make ends meet financially on the cutthroat Tour, and the cancellation of months worth of tournaments has made their sitatuions worse. Every event will count when play finally resumes.

You can read more about Korn Ferry Tour pros’ experience during the shutdown in this story from GOLF’s Zephyr Melton.

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The post How Joe LaCava messed with Vijay Singh’s ‘caddie rule’ at the Masters appeared first on Golf.

The post How Joe LaCava messed with Vijay Singh’s ‘caddie rule’ at the Masters appeared first on Golf.

Among PGA Tour caddies, Joe LaCava held some legendary status long before he started looping for Tiger Woods. That came from professionalism, success, confidence, and for picking his spots with a sharp sense of humor.

So when several of LaCava’s caddie peers got together earlier this week to talk shop on SiriusXM, it was inevitable that his name would come up. John Wood (caddie for Matt Kuchar), Joe Skovron (caddie for Rickie Fowler), Michael Greller (caddie for Jordan Spieth) and Paul Tesori (caddie for Webb Simpson) sat in with with SiriusXM’s Carl Paulson and Dennis Paulson as part of a series called Sports from the Sidelines.

Egged on by Tesori — who insisted he had his former boss’ permission to tell the story — Wood launched into a story harkening back to the early 2000s. At the time, Tesori was caddying for Vijay Singh, while LaCava was still on the bag for Fred Couples.

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Tesori started working for Singh in 2000. “Obviously he’s known for work ethic and, y’know, maybe some sketchy personality traits at times, he was always pretty good to me outside the ropes, inside the ropes he could be tough.”

He lets Wood take it from there; we’ll do the same.

John Wood: “Vijay had a rule, y’know, he was No. 1 in the world and he had a couple rules for his caddie at the time, who was Paul [Tesori]. You couldn’t eat on the course, you couldn’t talk to other people and what was the third — you couldn’t use the restroom?”

Paul Tesori: “I could use the restroom and eat at the turn, between 9 and 10, that was it.”

Wood: “Big thing was you couldn’t talk to the other caddies and players — you were with Vijay. So of course Joe LaCava, who, if anyone knows anything about Joe, there’s more good stories about Joe than the rest of us combined. We’re on the first hole at Augusta, and of course Joe knows this rule so as soon as they both tee off, where’s Joe? Shoulder-to-shoulder with Paul, walking up the fairway.

“‘Hey, where ya staying, Paul? Where’d ya eat last night, Paul? Hey, you been practicing late, Paul? Hey, how’s the family, Paul?’

“Paul’s, y’know, sunglasses on, walking straight forward, not even looking. Just doing his job. So they both get to their balls, Fred hits up on the green, Vijay hits up on the green, soon as they replace their divots, there’s Joe again.

“‘Hey, what’d you guys hit there? What do you got that wind doing, Paul?’ Just right in his ear, trying to get him to talk and trying to get him in trouble. So they get up on the green and Fred’s putting and Vijay kinda sidles up to Joe, says, ‘What’re you doing, bro? Trying to get my man in trouble? He’s not supposed to talk to anybody, leave him alone!’

“And Joe, y’know, Oakleys on, staring straight ahead, doesn’t even acknowledge Vijay’s walked up to him and looking straight forward, Joe just says, ‘Bro, if you don’t get away from me, I’m gonna drop you right here on the 1st green.’

“And I think Vijay had so much respect for that he just backed off and laughed.”

Tesori: “Yeah, he did. True story. And Vijay really liked Joe after that, too. He liked guys that would kinda go right to the edge with him.”

The entirety of the exchange is worth a listen on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio here.

The post How Joe LaCava messed with Vijay Singh’s ‘caddie rule’ at the Masters appeared first on Golf.

The post Houston Open | Tournament History appeared first on Golf.

The post Houston Open | Tournament History appeared first on Golf.

The Houston Open is being played for the final time at the Golf Club of Houston, the site of Anthony Kim’s last PGA Tour victory in 2010.

The post Houston Open | Tournament History appeared first on Golf.

The post Tournament History: Valspar Championship appeared first on Golf.

The post Tournament History: Valspar Championship appeared first on Golf.

The Copperhead Course at the Innisbrook Resort, home to the Valspar Championship, features a unique layout that has four par 3s on the scorecard.

The post Tournament History: Valspar Championship appeared first on Golf.