Congrats to the entire PGA Tour for winning the college football national championship. Every single one of them.

RIP Tim Rosaforte

Golf media luminary Tim Rosaforte died on Tuesday after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 66 years old. Rosaforte was best known as an on-air reporter for Golf Channel, where he worked full-time from 2007 to 2019. Earlier in his career, he covered the game for a number of outlets, including Golf Digest and Sports Illustrated. As yesterday’s outpouring of tributes from journalists, players, and other figures in the golf world demonstrated, Rosaforte was not only respected as a fair, hard-working reporter but also beloved as a friend and mentor. His voice will be sorely missed.

Jaime Diaz, a longtime friend and colleague of Rosaforte’s, penned a must-read remembrance for the Golf Channel website.

Opposites attract

Rarely do back-to-back PGA Tour venues contrast with each other like Kapalua and Waialae. Big and brawny versus short and strategic. Yet Cameron Smith may hold the keys to both courses. We’ll see if the Mulleted One can rise again at this weekend’s Sony Open.

Smith, last week’s winner and the 2020 Sony Open champion, has the playing style and current form to open 2022 with two straight titles. At the Sentry Tournament of Champions, Smith showed off a reinvigorated driver as he topped the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. But his true strengths are with his wedges and putter. Last season, Smith was first on tour in approach proximity from 100 to 125 yards, and last week (as well as at the 2020 Sony), he led the field in SG: Putting. Sticking short approaches plus rolling the rock is the proven formula for success at Waialae Country Club.

Smith is one of five players to have won both events on the PGA Tour’s Hawaiian swing. This week, he could become just the third (after Ernie Els in 2003 and Justin Thomas in ’17) to win them in the same season.


The Latest from The Fried Egg

Paulie’s Picks: Sony Open – Bryson decided to skip Waialae, but does Paulie like another bomber at one of the PGA Tour’s shortest course? Find out in his weekly column.

The Fried Egg Podcast: – Devon Carroll (@turfgirl24) discusses the underrepresentation of women in the turfgrass industry and how to change it. Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.

The Shotgun Start – Andy and Brendan talk Chicago sports (of course), the Sony Open, and Tim Rosaforte. Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Quick Hooks

Cabot has acquired World Woods Golf Club, a facility north of Tampa, Florida, featuring two 18-hole Tom Fazio courses. After a renovation, World Woods will reopen in 2023 as Cabot Citrus Farms. This is Cabot’s first property in the United States.

The Big Money Classic, an independent golf tournament that mysteriously popped up last year and made waves by offering a shockingly large purse, always sounded too good to be true. Well, it was. The top 12 finishers of last month’s second edition of the event still haven’t received their winnings.

Augusta National announced that 1977 and ’81 Masters champion Tom Watson will join Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player as an honorary starter for the 2022 Masters.

Ally McIntosh wrote a thought-provoking article on some disturbing trends in the architectural evolution of golf courses in Great Britain and Ireland.

The player who finishes atop the Korn Ferry Tour points list will now earn an automatic exemption for the following season’s U.S. Open.

Shane Lowry chose not to use “growing the game” as an excuse for his participation in the Saudi International, opting instead for “I’m not a politician.”