Golf Digest Search Results

My Five: Costliest Equipment Switches

Jaime Diaz — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 05:00:00 GMT

With Rory McIlroy officially signing with Nike, Jaime Diaz reviews five previous equipment changes that didn't pay off

Article Preview: A Glimpse Inside The Soul Of Pro Golf

Max Adler — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 04:00:00 GMT

From the November issue: How religion has emerged in a world where the meek don't inherit the money title.

U.S. Open: 10 Ways To Win At Olympic Club

Alex Myers — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 04:00:00 GMT

We break down what it will take to be successful at Olympic Club

Olympic Club's U.S. Open History

Alex Myers — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 04:00:00 GMT

A look back at the exciting -- and unexpected -- results of the four national championships held at Olympic Club.

Lee Janzen makes an unusual tour stop

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:51:00 GMT

When the U.S. Open returns to the Olympic Club in June, it will be impossible for the name Lee Janzen to not come up. After all, it was Janzen who held off Payne Stewart by a shot at the San Francisco venue in 1998 to claim his second major championship, and the most recent major at Olympic.

Janzen, who hasn't won a PGA Tour event of any kind since, is unlikely to crack this year's Open field. But it won't be for lack of effort.

Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images

Now 47, Janzen is still grinding away, even if his grinding style of play -- which led to his two most famous wins -- isn't what it used to be. How determined is Janzen to recapture some of that old magic? This week, for the first time since 1990, he is teeing it up in a Nationwide Tour event.

Duval among a failing group of tour veterans

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:07:00 GMT

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- It has not been a good week for a group of PGA Tour veterans and tournament winners at the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament at PGA West.

Three former major champions -- David Duval, Rich Beem, Lee Janzen and Shaun Micheel -- are not going to earn PGA Tour exemptions for 2012. Duval is T70, Beem T115 and Micheel T109 early in final-round play. A fourth major winner, Lee Janzen, is T43 and still contending for one of the 25 tour cards available.

Another group -- Scott McCarron, Carlos Franco and Robert Gamez, all PGA Tour winners -- also will fail to earn playing priveleges next year. McCarron, now a resident of La Quinta, is T143, Franco T134, and Gamez T127.

A threesome of former tour winners are in position to return to the PGA Tour -- Vaughn Taylor (T9) and Bob Estes and Jeff Maggert (both T23).

-- John Strege

10 Killer Picks from 10 U.S. Opens

Fri, 13 May 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Golf Digest's Christian Iooss, Director of Photography, shares 10 great images from the previous 10 U.S. Opens

10 Greatest Strokes Of Luck

Alex Myers — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:00:00 GMT

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, we look back at golfers who had good fortune on their side.

Q&A: Trent Dilfer On Golf, Travel And Ravens LB Ray Lewis

Matt Ginella — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:00:00 GMT

(Dilfer says putting is the strength of his game.)Trent Dilfer might be having a better career off the football field than he ever had on it. He’s established himself as a perceptive analyst for ESPN...

Plenty to follow at pressure-packed Q School

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 20:46:00 GMT

The grueling and potentially life-changing event known as the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament is underway and as always, there are no shortage of subplots. This year's Q School features a field of 162 players hoping to put together one good week in order to vault to the game's highest level for the 2011 season.

From recent college graduates, to former winners on the PGA Tour, to career journeyman, the crop teeing it up at Orange County National Golf Center in Winter Garden, Fla., is as diverse as ever. Some of the more noteworthy names are two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen, former teen phenom Ty Tryon and 2008 U.S. Amateur champion Danny Lee.

In all, there are 16 former PGA Tour winners playing this week. The top 25 and ties after the six-day event will earn their PGA Tour cards for next year, while the next 50 and ties will have playing privileges on the Nationwide Tour.

Billy Mayfair and Scott McCarron are among that group of former winners having to try to earn their tour cards again. McCarron, who made news early in the year with his less-than-flattering remarks regarding Phil Mickelson using old Ping Eye 2 wedges, was in position to lock up his tour card for the next two years with a win at the Reno-Tahoe Open in July, but a final-round 81 dropped him to a tie for 35th place.

Then there's the amazing story of Erik Compton, who continues to follow his PGA Tour dreams despite having had two heart transplants. Compton already got through one qualifier this year when he earned a spot in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

As for Tryon, who became the youngest player ever to make it through Q School in 2001 at the age of 17, he was never able to stick on the PGA Tour. Lee, a New Zealand native, became the youngest winner on the European Tour at the 2009 Johnnie Walker Classic at the age of 18 (A record 17-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero recently broke), but hasn't produced much since either.

For players like Tryon and Lee, there is still plenty of time to find their games again, even if it doesn't come this week. For others like PGA Tour veteran Briny Baird, who opened with a disastrous 79, the chances of finding success are starting to fade.

One golfer in his infant stages of being a pro, former Clemson University star Kyle Stanley, got off to a fast start on the first day of the pressure-packed tournament with a seven-under 65 to grab the early clubhouse lead. But as Baird and others who have been through this long and arduous process can attest, it's only going to get tougher over the next five days. As Janzen tweeted after opening with a 74: "Qschool. Nothing fun about it!"

-- Alex Myers