Golf Digest Search Results

The Coolest Golfers Of All Time

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

As Fred Couples enters the Hall of Fame, we salute those golfers who have that certain something

The Grind: Snedeker's hot stretch, Grammy revelations, and Riviera predictions

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:45:00 GMT

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we've got two words for anyone who says golf isn't cool: Justin Timberlake. Between a new wife (Jessica Biel), a new album and a performance at the Grammys, we're not sure how much time he's spent on the course recently, but no matter. Timberlake is a golfer and a pretty good one at that. But while the smooth performer (we'll forgive him for that cheesy poem at the Ryder Cup opening ceremony) is known for "bringing sexy back," a certain mop-topped, putting wizard is the sport's unquestioned hottest commodity at the moment. Even JT would agree. . .

Even Clint Eastwood was impressed. Um, we think... (Getty Images)

WE'RE BUYING

Brandt Snedeker. Does this guy ever have a bad day? He's like the LeBron James of golf, just with a lot less muscle and a lot more hair. All Snedeker has done this season is rack up a third, two runner-ups and a win in five starts. Plus, I'm not sure if you've gathered this from all the gushing, but the Vandy Vanquisher (Sorry, "V"s are tough) is a "fast player" and a "great role model for young golfers."

James Hahn. Before this week, the 31-year-old rookie was known as that guy who did the "Gangnam Style" dance after making a birdie at TPC Scottsdale's 16th hole. But after a T-3 at Pebble Beach, he's now known as, um, well, OK, he's still that guy who danced "Gangnam Style" on a golf course.

Pebble Beach. Outside of the four major championships, I'd rank the AT&T as the tournament I'm most likely to watch no matter who is on the leader board. Even if all the pros got sick and it was just the amateurs playing the course, I'd still tune in for a glimpse of holes No. 7, 8, 17, and 18, among others.

WE'RE SELLING

CBS. As Golf Digest executive editor Mike O'Malley pointed out, the network didn't show a live shot by a tour pro until 22 minutes after third-round coverage was supposed to start thanks to a college basketball game running long (surprise, surprise) and a love of listening to Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo talk to each other. Sunday was similar, and when you throw in a long appearance in the TV tower by a rambling Clint Eastwood and too many televised shots by pro-am partners, it wasn't CBS' finest hour(s).

Bucket hats. The yellow ones you may have seen on both pros (above) and amateurs were part of a TaylorMade promotion. However, seeing them reminded me that I went through a phase of voluntarily wearing such hats both on and (gulp) off the course. I want to take this time to apologize to anyone in my life that had to endure that stretch.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour heads to Hollywood for the Northern Trust Open, aka that tournament even NBA legend Jerry West can't talk Tiger Woods into returning to. Last year, Bill Haas won a thrilling playoff at Riviera over crowd favorites Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley. Or at least it was thrilling to fellow members of Wake Forest's class of 2004.

Random tournament fact: Riviera Country Club, the site of this longstanding event, is commonly referred to as "Hogan's Alley," due to Ben Hogan's affinity for the course on which he enjoyed much success. OK, so that wasn't very random. . .

WEEKLY YAHOO! FANTASY LINEUP

Fortunately for everyone else, Brandt Snedeker isn't in the field this week. But these guys are:

Starters -- (A-List): Charles Howell III. Lost in Snedeker's incredible run is CH3's start to the season. Perhaps like Sneds, he'll get into the winner's circle (at a place where he picked up one of his two PGA Tour titles) after a couple of close calls.

(B-List): Luke Donald. The former World No. 1 begins his PGA Tour season somewhat under the radar. It seems like a good place to start considering he once posted 11 straight sub-par rounds at Riviera.

(B-List): Keegan Bradley. It was here last year where Bradley proved his 2011 PGA Championship win wasn't a fluke and where he showed he was also a world-class spitter. With that unfortunate habit gone, there's no reason to think he won't contend again.

(C-List): Adam Scott. The Aussie makes his first worldwide start of 2013 at a venue where he has a win and a runner-up. More impressive? He achieved both of those without the help of caddie Steve Williams.

Bench -- Bill Haas(!), Dustin Johnson, Aaron Baddeley, and Lee Westwood.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Maybe you were dealing with Nor'easter Nemo. Maybe you happened to miss the broadcast. Or maybe you just want to see it again. Phil Mickelson fell on his butt at Pebble Beach. Literally. We still love you, Phil, but this is too good (Deadspin referred to it as "the unquestionable sports highlight of this or any year") not to keep enjoying:

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

-- Phil Mickelson will fall while trying to scale Riviera's clubhouse to check the gutters for a lost ball: 10-to-1 odds

-- After playing the Pebble pro-am with 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh, Jason Day will lecture his playing partners on the virtues of running the Pistol offense: 5-to-1 odds

-- Justin Timberlake's (man crush alert!) new album will be awesome: LOCK

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Paulina Gretzky. At Golf Digest, we have eyes everywhere. And apparently, that means we often have eyes on attractive females in crowd. This week's photo of the week is of Paulina Gretzky as she dutifully followed both her current boyfriend, Dustin Johnson, and her dad, Wayne, as they played together in the AT&T Pro-Am. The two didn't fare too well thanks to DJ missing the cut, though we'll cut the guy some slack. It's tough enough to impress your girlfriend's father, but imagine what that's like when your potential father-in-law is commonly referred to as "The Great One"?

CELEBRITY/ATHLETE WE'D LIKE TO PLAY GOLF WITH (NOT NAMED JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE)

Taylor Swift. No, I'm not a big fan of her music and yes, her voice leaves a lot to be desired. But did you see her at the Grammys? No, I'm not talking about her outfit (though she did bring it), but rather her enthusiastic reactions when CBS' cameras showed her in the crowd every 20 seconds. What a fun playing partner she'd be on the course. I picture her yelling "NICE TAP-IN!" before pulling out a guitar to write an angry song about a greenkeeper who shot her a mean look.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK (NOT INVOLVING PAULINA GRETZKY). As an old man when it comes to keeping up with the hip youngsters' music, I had no clue who Frank Ocean was before watching part of the Grammys. So I have even less of an idea who this smiling guy (thanks to Stina Sternberg for Instagramming the pic), apparently a part of Mr. Ocean's family or entourage, is, but I do appreciate his passion for golf. Is that Tiger-like print on his shirt supposed to represent support for the game's biggest name? Regardless, if anyone knows where I can purchase such an outfit, please let me know. I could make a lot of money in dare bets wearing that around the office.

UPDATE:

Stina and I have been informed that the man in question is rapper/producer "Tyler, the Creator." We apologize for our lack of hipness.

THIS AND THAT

Rocco Mediate won in his Champions Tour debut. When is the book coming out? . . . Lydia Ko, 15, won the New Zealand Women's Open, which is her third pro win. Three wins? That's it? . . . The USGA announced it's eliminating the Amateur Public Links championship. What a surprise, Brandt Snedeker, golf's man of the hour, once won that event too. . . . Nor'easter Nemo was no joke (left). It's times like these I feel fortunate to live in an apartment so I don't have to shovel snow.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Why do I live in the Northeast?

Will the pope take up golf now that he has some free time?

Is Phil Mickelson that hard-up for golf balls these days?

-- Alex Myers is a contributing editor for GolfDigest.com. Feel free to email him and please follow him on Twitter since he has self-esteem issues.

Golf-Crazed Celebs

Sam Weinman — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 05:00:00 GMT

As celebrities descend on Pebble Beach, a look at the most passionate golfers among them.

Tenuous golf connection: Jessica Biel turns heads at Medinah

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:27:00 GMT

By Alex Myers

Justin Timberlake's love of golf has been well documented. The actor/singer/dancer/envy of most guys is an avid player, and has supported the game in a variety of ways from attaching his name to a PGA Tour event, to buying and fixing up a boyhood course in Memphis.

Overall, the only two-time participant in Golf Digest's U.S. Open Challenge has helped increase golf's coolness index. But his contributions to the sport's "hotness," thanks to the company he keeps, aren't going unnoticed either.

Related: Our Hottest Golfer Contest

At Tuesday's Ryder Cup Captains & Celebrities Scramble at Medinah, not only did Timberlake play, but his lovely fiancee, actress Jessica Biel, was a loving follower in his gallery (above, right). The two got engaged in January and are expected to be married sometime next month. It doesn't appear that Beal is a golfer, but if you zoom in on the photo, you can see a rock on her finger that's approximately the size of a golf ball.

Here are two more pictures of Biel, so, um, you don't have to zoom in.

Of course, you don't have to look closely to notice the parasol Biel was holding while walking the fairways. Hey, you keep doing what you do, Jessica. And Justin, please play in as many celebrity tournaments as you like. . .

Follow @AlexMyers3

(Photos by Getty Images)

Trending: Eastwood and Timberlake created bond at Augusta

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:06:00 GMT

By Derek Evers

Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, and Justin Timberlake at the Trouble With The Curve premiere after party. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

If you're a red-blooded American male, chances are you envy the lives of Clint Eastwood and Justin Timberlake. Success, fame, money, women, toughness (well, Eastwood at least); they seem to have it all. And just when it seems it can't get any better for two of the country's preeminent leading men comes word the pair spent some time together playing golf at Augusta National. Two rounds. A week before the Masters.

Let us take a moment as the collective sighs dissipate.

In a recent interview with USA Today promoting their new film Trouble With The Curve, Eastwood and Timberlake admitted their shared passion for the game led to some off-set time on the course during their Atlanta-based production. Being that Eastwood didn't direct Curve, he was able to spend some time working on his game in-between shoots.

"When you're directing, you never get to play golf," Eastwood told USA Today. "But we managed to get a few rounds in down there."

"Down there" of course refers to Augusta National, and though scores weren't revealed, the time the two spent together seems to have served at least their sense of humor well.

"If [Timberlake] had been a lousy player it would have been, 'He can't play the role.' " Eastwood joked, probably knowing a trip to the home of the Masters was in the cards during his stay in Georgia.

"He might be great on the tape, but what's his handicap?" Timberlake fired back.

Timberlake sports an impressive 5 handicap, so he had no problems sharing a few rounds with the legend, and maybe a few laughs at his expense. Which is more than can be said for director Robert Lorenz and the rest of the Curve crew.

"The two of them would go off and have fun while the rest of us were working all the time," Lorenz added.

But can we expect the duo to make any future tee-times together?

"We were just talking about that. When does the sun go down?" Timberlake asked, somewhat rhetorically.

"I don't know." Eastwood replied. "How late do you think the driving range is open?"

Sigh.

Follow @derekevers

Trending: Lions and Bieber on the golf course

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:53:00 GMT

They say that March comes in like a lion. And while I'm not quite certain who "they" are, those of us residing in the Northeast can attest to the temperature-tantrums nature can wreak in early spring. On the horizon are the dew-lined greener pastures of the golf course, but a quick glance out the window has you reaching for your flat-stick to once-again practice your wall-to-wall carpet putts. So what do lions and golf have to do with one another? Why, Justin Bieber of course.

Aside from unpredictable weather forecasting, March 1 is National Bieber Day. At least in the eyes of tweens who reside on Twitter. Though clearly not a real holiday, like National Pancake Day before it, the social-media savvy have declared it so, and thus we must pay attention as long as it stays in our trending feed. Which is a good thing, because there are far more examples of Justin Bieber on the golf course than there are of lions (lambs, however, are another matter). Turns out Bieber might just be a Justin Timberlake-in-training; he already has the pipes, now he just has to work on his swing.

Timberlake on learning golf from Butch Harmon

Bob Carney — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:57:00 GMT

Interesting exchange during Justin Timberlake's Playboy interview posted this month about his experience with Butch Harmon. You'll recall that Timberlake, who played in our Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge its first two years and broke...

Monday Qualifier

John Strege — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 04:00:00 GMT

For the second straight week, an event supposed to be an afterthought grabs our attention

PGA Tour: Shriners Hospitals Open: Byrd Ends Playoff With Hole-In-One

AP — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 01:23:00 GMT

Jonathan Byrd ended a marathon playoff in Las Vegas with a hole-in-one.

Kim: Partying reports 'way, way exaggerated'

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:02:00 GMT

You know we are in a slow time of the golf season when the biggest story of the week involves a player who hasn't cracked a top 10 since May withdrawing from a tournament that hasn't captured anyone's attention in more than a decade.

We are talking, of course, about Anthony Kim's withdrawal from the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, this on the heels of a handful of sketchy reports of his late-night carousing in Las Vegas.

(Photo by Getty Images)

To his credit, the 25-year-old Kim, in an interview with Sports Illustrated's Alan Shipnuck readily admits he was taking full advantage of his time in the Nevada desert, but also says the golf media got only a fraction of the story right. For one thing, Kim says, some of the details of his partying have been "way, way exaggerated." But more importantly, he insists it was his still-ailing surgically-repaired thumb and not a wicked hangover that led to his withdrawal from the tournament on Wednesday morning.

"I'm not going to deny my friends and I went out and had a great time in Vegas," Kim told Shipnuck. "But that had absolutely nothing to do with me having to W/D. People may not want to believe that, but it's true."

What irks Kim even more is that he says he's actually spent the past few months rededicating himself to golf, hiring a personal trainer and putting in marathon practice sessions near his boyhood home in Palm Springs to prepare for the Vegas tournament. The problem is he may have overdone it -- on the course, he points out, not in the club.

"My swing is better than it's been in a long, long time. My game is a little rusty, but in my practice before Vegas I was getting my old rhythm back. I feel close to playing really good golf."

-- Sam Weinman