by If you opened this newsletter looking for a change of pace, you got it. The world’s best move from the moderate temperatures of the Northern Irish coast to the sweltering humidity of the Midwest for the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. We also have two major championships this week! The women head to France for the Evian Championship while the Senior Open Championship gets underway at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
Swampass Invitational
Formerly held at Firestone Country Club, the third WGC of the season kicks off outside of Memphis this weekend. As part of FedEx’s new deal with the PGA Tour, the FedEx St. Jude Classic got upgraded to a WGC event, drawing many of the game’s top players to TPC Southwind. Tee Times
Last year
The last event held at TPC Southwind was the 2018 FedEx St. Jude Classic. Dustin Johnson and Andrew Putnam started the day tied for the lead, but the tournament quickly turned into a rout. DJ shot a final-round 66 to Putnam’s 72, winning by six shots for his 18th PGA Tour title. He capped his round by holing out for eagle on the 72nd hole. It was a disappointing day for Putnam, but he would go on to win his first PGA Tour event two months later at the Barracuda Championship.
Storylines
Back for more – Dustin Johnson is second on the career WGC wins list with six. (We’ll let you guess who’s first. Hint: he has 18 WGC titles.) This week, DJ returns to the TPC Southwind as the defending course champion but in the midst of a hiatus from winning. Each of the past three seasons, DJ has won multiple times, but he is stuck on one in 2019.
Free stuff – The week after a major championship usually draws a pretty sparse field. But free world-ranking points, FedEx Cup points, and money have helped draw most of the world’s best to Memphis. Just 63 players are in the no-cut field.
Bueller… Bueller – In spite of the free points and money, Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler, and Francesco Molinari passed on this week’s event. Normally WGCs are must plays for those who qualify, but apparently not the week after the Open. Champion golfer of the year Shane Lowry is also skipping the event, deciding—sanely—to keep celebrating in his home country of Ireland.
Paulie’s Picks
In this week’s 63-man field, Paulie is looking at the purest ball-strikers. See his DraftKings and one-and-done fantasy picks here.
Print of the Week: Pasatiempo
For the fourth edition of The Fried Egg’s Print of the Week series, we head to California for a view of the par-3 18th hole at Alister MacKenzie’s Pasatiempo Golf Club. Get yours now!
20% of the proceeds will go to Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund, an organization that gives high school scholarships and educational support to economically disadvantaged Chicago high school students who demonstrate outstanding academic potential, leadership skills, and strong character.
Evian Championship
Bonjour. The LPGA travels across the pond for their fourth—and newest—major championship. Angela Stanford will return to defend her title, and all of the world’s top players, including the first three major winners of the season, will be in attendance at the Evian Championship. Evian Championship Tee Times
Quick hooks
The latest Sergio antics made the rounds on Twitter yesterday. In a video posted by @RayOwensMU20, García hits a poor tee shot on the 5th hole at the Open Championship, takes a few steps, then tosses his driver in the direction of his caddie without looking back. The crowd gasps in surprise. Just add it to the list of crummy things Sergio has done during golf tournaments while angry.
The rest of the PGA Tour is off to play a little Stableford in Reno, Nevada. FedEx Cup points are a hot commodity as players battle to earn their 2019-2020 PGA Tour cards. Tee Times
If you have not watched Shane Lowry celebrate his Open Championship win, do it now.
The Korn Ferry Tour heads to Springfield, Missouri, for the Price Cutter Charity Championship. Just three weeks remain in the race to the top 25. Tee Times
The U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur match-play bracket is set, and the top 64 players will battle for the title at SentryWorld in Wisconsin. Scoring
Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee qualified for his second Senior Open Championship in a row. Story
The Latest
Where there’s smoke… – Driver testing has taken center stage in the golf world after multiple clubs reportedly failed testing at the Open Championship. Andy Johnson dives into why this is a big deal and suggests some practical changes to the current (non-)policy.
Eclectic 18 UK – Our new series marches on with the 2nd hole at Machrihanish Golf Club on the west coast of Scotland.
The Fried Egg Podcast, Episode 149: Geoff Ogilvy – Lowry’s win, Xander’s driver, and what’s ahead
Geoff Ogilvy joins the podcast to discuss the week of golf at the Open Championship. Geoff and Andy start by talking about Shane Lowry’s impressive win and how tough it is to sleep on the lead. Since Rickie Fowler notched another high finish, Andy asks for Geoff’s perspective on top fives in majors versus wins. Their conversation moves to the week’s big controversy: non-conforming drivers and whether more rigorous testing should be administered. They wrap up the podcast talking about the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the new format this year, and the possible other formats for the Tour and playoffs. Listen on iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify.
Shotgun Start: Trouble with the WGC Swampass, courier Cup bubble boys, and a Korn Ferry currency
This Wednesday episode dives headlong into issues we have with the WGC Swampass Invitational presented by Initech. News of Shane Lowry’s withdrawal and a smaller field of just 63 players is used as a jumping off point to illustrate all the ways in which we think it’s a bad idea. We give great praise and deference to the people of and town of Memphis, despite some sensitivities about the criticisms of this event, which have nothing to do with the actual city. Are the WGCs still viable as a competition or does the competition not matter? Then we move to the opposite-field event in Reno, where it feels like the field took just one charter flight together from the Barbasol in Kentucky last week. We discuss how opposite-field events build their rosters and the changes coming next year. Andy then gets into some FedExCup bubble boys with this now being the moment in the calendar when it truly matters. We tell a Brandel story on the occasion of his making the Senior Open and critique the LPGA and Champions tours for having majors in the same week. We wrap with some more thoughts on illegal hot drivers and feedback we’re getting about the scant testing that exists. Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify.
Pro Shop
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