Golf Digest Search Results

Golf's Biggest Phenoms

Alex Myers — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

We take a look at some of the most talented youngsters to ever burst onto the scene.

Style notes from Round Two at The Masters

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 00:38:00 GMT

Mr. Style, Marty Hackel weighs in on a few Friday head-turners at Augusta, and attempts to explain one of Day Two's biggest conundrums.

The good news is a lot of people are asking me why adidas is scripting all of their players in the same clothing. The bad news is I have no rational explanation except that they, adidas, have drawn quite a bit of attention.

Well, at least they are allowing the players to wear their own choice of belts!

Tianlang Guan

Pretty good selection for the young man from China. Patterned trousers are and excellent choice and I love the orange shirt.

Ryo Ishikawa

Ryo never ceases to amaze me with the way he puts everything together. Look at his shoe laces if you want to understand the phrase "it's all in the details." Impressive stuff.

Follow @MrStyleMH

Ryo Ishikawa: My Checklist

Ryo Ishikawa — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Ryo Ishikawa, 20, has nine wins on the Japan Golf Tour, the first coming when he was only 15. Here are his tips for hitting the fairway.

October 2012 Table of Contents

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 04:00:00 GMT

What the stats project for Day 2 at the Open Championship

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 21:36:00 GMT

(Getty Images)

Seven notable first-round stats that indicate how the Open Championship might unfold Friday, provided by Golf World contributing writer Brett Avery, who compiles the Rank and File statistical sections for the magazine's coverage of the major championships and other significant events.

1. Overnight leader Adam Scott (shown above) has endured plenty of grief from fellow Australians for his spotty record in major championships: 45 starts, including the last 44 straight, but only seven top-10 finishes against 15 missed cuts. Since the start of 2011, though, Scott has conjured his strongest stretch: T-2 in the '11 Masters, solo seventh in the '11 PGA Championship, T-8 at this year's Masters and T-15 in last month's U.S. Open. Scott's 151st career major round, however, marks his first time in the lead and only an 18-hole bogey cost him a record-tying 63. Scott's second-round scoring average in majors is 72.42 but he's 70.33 on Fridays since the '11 Masters, breaking par three times. In case you want to look beyond the horizon, Scott ranks 163rd this season on the PGA Tour in third-round scoring average (72.43) but 12th in final-round scoring (69.86).

2. Only five first-round Open leaders have won since 1975: Tom Watson (1980 at Muirfield), Seve Ballesteros (1988 at Lytham), Greg Norman (1993 at Royal St. George's), John Daly (1995 at St. Andrews) and Tiger Woods (2005 at St. Andrews). In the first 11 Opens at Lytham, only three first-round leaders have proven victorious: Peter Thomson in '58, Gary Player in '74 and Ballesteros in '88. Perhaps even more dispiriting for Scott, only two first-round leaders have won on the PGA Tour this season (George McNeill at the Puerto Rico Open, Zach Johnson at the Crown Plaza Invitational at Colonial). [h/t PGA Tour]

3. The last six holes at Royal Lytham & St. Annes did not destroy players as readily as it might have in blustery conditions, although they still handed out plenty of bruises. Seven players among the top 20 and ties (21 players) avoided dropping any shots in that stretch: Paul Lawrie, Nicolas Colsaerts (each 65/T-2); Brandt Snedeker (66/solo fifth); Jamie Donaldson, Scott Pinckney, Anders Hansen and Anirban Lahiri (each 68/T14). Lawrie shot 65 in the final round at St. George's in 1993 (T-6) and Hansen tied his Open best, posted in both '08 and '09. Snedeker, Colsaerts, Donaldson and Pinckney had the lowest rounds of their brief major careers while Lahiri, who has four top 10s on the Asian Tour this year to climb to 226th in the world, was making his major debut.

4. On the opposite end of that scale:

--Scott bogeyed the 18th to miss out on the first 62 in major history (or the 26th round of 63, depending on one's expectation of his finish).

--Zach Johnson (65/T-2) bogeyed the 17th to fumble a share of the lead the week after winning a playoff at the John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour.

--Graeme McDowell (67/T-6) bogeyed the 15th and 18th.

--Rory McIlroy (67/T-6) missed one of only three fairways at the 15th, conking a spectator in the head with his errant drive and seeing the ball carom out-of-bounds en route to a double.

--Paul Casey (72/T-80) was three under on the 13th tee but finished bogey-par-double-birdie-double-bogey.

--Lee Westwood (73/T-99) made four bogeys coming home

--Ryo Ishikawa stood one under on the 14th tee but reeled off five bogeys for 74/T-115.

5. Ernie Els (67/T-6) produced his 37th sub-70 score of his Open career, tying him with Nick Faldo and three ahead of Jack Nicklaus. Els has at least one round in the 60s in every Open since 2000 with the exception of last year (72-76, missed cut at Royal St. George's). He also stands No. 3 on the list of most sub-par rounds since 1963 with 46, passing Tom Watson and trailing only Faldo (53) and Jack Nicklaus (59). What are the chances he shoots another round in the 60s this week? When making a prediction, free to cite either his A] multiple rounds in the 60s in five majors since the '09 Open or B] his 69-79 to miss the cut in '10 at St. Andrews.

6. ThorbjÃ¿rn Olesen birdied every par-3 hole en route to a one-under 69. Nine of the top 21 players birdied both par 5s: Scott, Johnson, Snedeker, Els, Bubba Watson (67/T-6), McDowell, Toshinori Muto (67/T-6), McIlroy and Anders Hansen (68/T-14). K.J. Choi and Keegan Bradley both eagled the seventh and birdied the 11th while shooting 70 and 71, respectively.

7. All 156 players broke 80 as the field scoring average settled at 71.583. That's the first time everyone has broken 80 in the first round of a major championship since 1998 at Royal Birkdale, a streak of 55 tournaments. The high score Thursday was by Michael Hoey, who birdied the 18th for his 79. Fourteen years ago at Birkdale the top scores were eight-over 78s by Bradley Dredge, Francis Howley, Gary Orr and Toru Suzuki. Eleven players failed to break 80 in a second round in '98 on a day the field averaged 74.758.

Ryo Ishikawa seeking to be next breakthrough winner at the Travelers

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 18:04:00 GMT

CROMWELL, Conn. -- In a rare instance, Ryo Ishikawa won't be the youngest player in his group when he tees off Thursday morning at the Travelers Championship. Even rarer? He might not not even be the most-watched young gun in his pairing.

That honor probably will go to 20-year-old Patrick Cantlay, who is making his pro debut this week at TPC River Highlands a year after firing a second-round 60 here as an amateur. Ishikawa has never played with the former UCLA star or John Peterson, the third member of the group who made his own splash with a T-4 at last week's U.S. Open. But the Japanese phenom, who is still three months shy of his 21st birthday and seems to travel with a caravan of media from his home country, doesn't seem to mind sharing the spotlight.

"To have somebody like Patrick to play in the same group is fantastic, and I'm very honored to play with him," Ishikawa said. "I've been to the range and I have seen him swing. He has a nice swing, and I look forward to playing with him."

Amazingly, it's been more than two years since Ishikawa burst onto the world golf stage when he shot a final-round 58 to win a Japan Golf Tour event -- coincidentally, the same day Rory McIlroy won his first PGA Tour event at Quail Hollow. His best PGA Tour finish came earlier this year when he was runner-up in the Puerto Rico Open, and he recently finished T-9 at the Memorial. Ishikawa said putting is his main focus this week after four three-putts last Friday turned out to be the main culprit in him missing the cut at Olympic Club.

He also hopes to join a recent list of players, including Bubba Watson and Hunter Mahan, who have picked up their maiden PGA Tour titles at this tournament. Certainly, the Travelers seems fitting as the site of a breakthrough win for Ishikawa, who might lead professional golf in frequent flyer miles considering he splits his time between two tours on opposite sides of the globe. In fact, this will be the last tournament in a taxing stretch of five consecutive events in the U.S.

"I really want to play well before I go back to Japan, so I can earn my PGA Tour card for next year," he said.

For such a young player, Ishikawa is taking an old-school approach this week when it comes to who will carry his bag. Having never played TPC River Highlands before this week, he has employed local caddie Kevin Smith. It's a move he's done several times of late to help him deal with unfamiliar surroundings. So far, he likes what he sees.

"This course is a great place to play, especially with the pin placements," Ishikawa said. It's very aggressive. That's kind of the style I play."

-- Alex Myers
Follow @AlexMyers3

(Photo: Harry How/Getty Images)

A mature, confident Cantlay ready to start his professional career

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:20:00 GMT

CROMWELL, Conn. -- Just one year ago, Patrick Cantlay made PGA Tour history at this very venue.

A second-round 10-under par 60 -- the lowest round ever posted by an amateur in a pro event and the course record at TPC River Highlands -- made Cantlay the story of the tournament, proving his 21st-place finish at the U.S. Open the week before was no fluke.

That special week made it an easy decision for Cantlay to pick this week's Travelers Championship as the event to make his professional debut, he said Tuesday in a pre-tournament press conference.

"The timing makes sense, being able to start somewhere that I'm comfortable and have good memories," said Cantlay, who will forgo his final two years of eligibility at UCLA. Cantlay will tee it up with world phenom Ryo Ishikawa and recently-minted pro John Peterson, who made a boatload of cash with his T-4 at last week's U.S. Open in his first major championship.

"I'm ready and feel comfortable with being a pro and trying to be as good as I can be," Cantlay added.

Matches We'd Like To See

Alex Myers — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

We play matchmaker and rundown some pairings we'd like to watch at this week's Accenture Match Play Championship.

The Golf Digest 50

Ron Sirak — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Golf Digest presents its ninth annual ranking of the top money makers in golf.

2011 Pictures of the Year

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Slideshow: Golf Digest and Golf World photographers capture the essence of an exciting season on and off the course