Author: tjkgolfer

Golf enthusiast and business owner.

Top 10 of 2019: #1

by tjkgolfer, posted in 2019, Top 10
  1. Tiger Woods wins 2019 Masters.

In potentially the most iconic win of Tiger’s career, “final round red” has never been so fitting. As Woods walked off the 18th green moments after winning the 2019 Masters and capping one of the greatest comebacks in sports history, he flipped his putter to the ground. Seconds later, Woods lifted and hugged his son, Charlie, bringing back memories of the emotional embrace that a young Tiger and his father, Earl Woods, shared at Augusta after Tiger won his first Masters 22 years ago.

This past year was a major season, no pun intended, for Tiger Woods. Woods beat out Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele, and Brooks Koepka by one stroke to attain his fifth green jacket and card his 82nd PGA Tour win. Amidst Tiger’s final putt, an NBC Golf Channel announcer stated “A Return to Glory.” There is simply no other way to put it. In one of the most emotional finishes in tournament history, the 43-year-old Woods—playing like his young self in his 1997 win at Augusta National—came from behind to win the 83rd Masters Tournament by one stroke. Woods’ fifth Masters win moved him past Arnold Palmer, and puts him one behind Jack Nicklaus for the most green jackets in PGA history.

As a big Tiger Woods fan, this was without a doubt one of my favorite career highlights of him—one that I will never forget. Growing up in an era where I get to watch the greatest golfer to ever walk the greens win his fifth Master’s Tournament and get his 82nd win is an honor I will cherish forever. Every single PGA Tour player’s life has been, in some way, impacted for the better (or worse if you’re below Wood’s name on the leaderboard). From a young Rory McIlroy watching Tiger on his dad’s TV in Ireland to an accomplished Brooks Koepka praising Woods’ talented career, Tiger Woods will forever be an icon to the game of golf at every level.

Sentry Tournament of Champions Preview 2020

by tjkgolfer, posted in Golf

As is the case every year, the Sentry Tournament of Champions hosted at the Plantation Course of Kapalua in Maui, Hawaii is a spectacle of the golfing community. This PGA Tour winners-only event is fielded by some of the best in professional golfers from the 2019 season including Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Francesco Molinari, Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, and the defending 2019 Champion—Xander Schauffele.

While this field is a “winners-only” bracket, there are a few names to watch out for Sunday afternoon.

Dustin Johnson: Johnson, a Sentry Tournament of Champions winner in 2018, returns in the 2020 season despite having knee surgery on his left knee in September. While this PGA Tour Lifetime Membership holder may need a few adrenaline shots prior to next Thursday, do not count him out as one of the potential candidates for a great beginning to a 2020 season.

Tiger Woods: How can you have a tournament of champions, with a qualifier of winning a tour event the previous season, and not mention Tiger Woods? You can’t. Tiger unfortunately left win number 83 walk away at his self-hosted Hero World Challenge this past month in the Bahamas. What would make that better? An 83rd win in Maui. Look for Tiger to be laser focused this week eager to bring home his highly desired golf history record.

Rory McIlroy: Coming off one of his best years as a professional golfer, the Northern Irish native will be looking to secure his PGA Tour Lifetime Membership accolade with two wins this season—one of which may come this early January. With only two victories left to get to the magical 20, McIlroy seems eager and motivated to have another breakout 2020 season. As a long hitter, McIlroy will certainly have an advantage with the high winds of the Pacific on the 7,518-yard course. The only thing setting McIlroy apart from yet another PGA victory will be determined on how hot his TaylorMade Spider X putter will be.

Matthew Wolff: In only his third professional start of his career, this Oklahoma State graduate phenom secured a spot in the 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions after securing first place at the 2019 3M Open with a 26-foot putt. Finishing 21 under par at the 3M, this PGA Tour rookie got a taste of sitting at the table with the big boys—and he liked it. While he has one of the most unique swings on Tour, he is extremely confident, consistent, and an absolute contender to play with the best of the game. Plus, how savage would it be if a rookie who has one PGA Tour win came the Sentry Tournament of Champions and outscored some of the best in the game? I wouldn’t mind seeing that mic-drop.

Xander Schauffele: An obvious name to put on this list, Schauffele is always a name to be mentioned at every tournament he commits to playing. Schauffele has been in the top ten in FedEx points the last two years, and is the defending champion of this Maui-hosted event in 2019. While not a super long hitter relative to his playing mates, Schauffele makes his strokes back with superior iron play and a great short game. A winner in every aspect of the term, look for Xander Schauffele to come back defending his belt and winning a back-to-back Sentry Tournament of Champions title.

Grad School Sports FedEx Cup Draft Results 2020

by tjkgolfer, posted in Golf

The bets have been placed and the drafting is over! Your 2020 Grad School Sports FedEx Cup Draft results are in. Overall, the preview played an important role between Grad School TJK and Grad School’s JPF results in selecting key players in the 2020 season. At the first of each month, Grad School TJK and Grad School JPF will be able to make decisions on their current draft picks. They will be able to add, drop, or trade up to two players they wish. The 2020 Draft initial selection results are as follows:

Round 1: Grad School TJK was given the first pick of the 2020 Draft as he lost the 2019 FedEx Cup bet. With the first pick, Grad School TJK selected Brooks Koepka—currently unranked in the 2020 FedEx Cup Rankings.  Grad School JPF followed up the second pick of the first round with selecting Dustin Johnson—also currently unranked in the 2020 FedEx Cup Rankings. While both first-rounders are currently unranked, look for them to have a big 2020 season.

Round 2: With the first pick of the second round, Grad School TJK obtained 2019 FedEx Cup winner, Rory McIlroy—currently ranked 4th in the 2020 FedEx Cup Rankings. Grad School JPF elected Justin Thomas as his second overall pick—currently ranked 5th in the 2020 FedEx Cup Rankings.

Round 3: Round three led to the drafting of Xander Schauffele—currently ranked 21st—by Grad School TJK and Justin Rose—presently ranked 170th—by Grad School JPF.

Round 4: Grad School TJK obtained veteran Jason Day—currently ranked 139th—and Grad School JPF scored big with selecting Tommy Fleetwood—ranked 109th presently.

Round 5: The final round of the 2020 FedEx Cup Draft initial selecting finished with Grad School TJK selecting cry-baby Patrick Reed—ranked 70th—and Grad School JPF selecting Bryson DeChambeau—ranked 52nd.

The details are shown as follows:

$100 PGA FedEx Cup Bet

  • On the 1st of every month, you may have the opportunity to add/drop/trade players that you have chosen to be of your Top 5 Choices. You will have 24 hours to make the add/drop/trade. Prior to add/drop/change, you must consult the other party to notify them of the add/drop/change. Every month, first choice to add/drop/trade will change (Tanner in March, Jeremy in April, etc.). A maximum of 2 add/drop/changes may occur during these 24-hour periods. 
  • DEADLINE to add/drop/trade is May 1st. On this date after the 24-hour period, those 5 players in the box below are final—no exceptions.

TJKJPF
Brooks Koepka (u)Dustin Johnson (u)
Rory McIlroy (4)Justin Thomas (5)
Xander Schauffele (21)Justin Rose (170)
Jason Day (139)Tommy Fleetwood (109)
Patrick Reed (70)Bryson DeChambeau (52)

***Rankings are current as of Dec 16, 2019 and adjusted every week***

First Choices

January→ Jeremy

February→ Tanner

March → Jeremy

April → Tanner

May → Jeremy

Grad School Golf: FedEx Cup Draft Preview

by tjkgolfer, posted in Golf

This is a short tradition, one that has only lasted a mere two years, but Grad School loves it. Each year after a few PGA tournaments begin, Grad School JMP and Grad School TJK put on a little bet. We each pick five PGA Tour members in a “draft” order who we believe will win the FedEx Cup. Throughout the year at the beginning of each month, up until the PGA Championship, we are allowed to make two transactions—which can either be add/drop’s or trades. Grad School JMP took home the trophy, and the purse prize, last year by picking Rory McIlroy (fifth and final pick in the draft) from day one. Rory had an absolute stellar 2019 year to be the favorite just ahead of Grad School TJK’s leading stallion—Xander Schauffele. This year, Grad School Sports is presenting a little “draft preview” to help Grad School JMP and Grad School TJK in selecting their 2020 draft picks. Check back Monday December 16th for the final draft picks.

Rory McIlroy: This is an obvious first-round pick. Rory is coming off arguably his best year to date. Turned pro in September 2007, this golf phenom is a four-time major champion. In 2019, he had 18 Top-10 finishes, won THE PLAYERS Championship, and is 2019’s Player of the Year.

Brooks Koepka: Overall, just a great guy. We love him here at Grad School Sports. The man won three events in 2019 and captured his fourth major championship. For the second year in a row, he beat our McIlroy for the PGA of America Player of the Year. The man holds the record for the fastest time in golf history to go from zero to four major wins. Simply said, this guy is an alpha male. Look for him to have a breakout 2020 season.

Justin Thomas: Mr. 2017. Hailing from Louisville, Kentucky, this professional had his star moment in 2017. In one year, he managed five PGA Tour wins—including the 2017 PGA Championship, and culminating his first FedEx Cup. If there’s one thing Thomas is—it’s consistent. It seems that every event I watch with Thomas in the field, his name is always near the top. He may not be having another breakout season this year, but the 2019 FedEx Cup fourth-placer will always find a way to be in or near the spotlight.

Patrick Reed: Eh. It hurts me to say it, but maybe if he improves his lies this season he’ll manage to steal a few wins on Tour. Or get his card revoked. Solid Top-265 FedEx Cup player.

Tony Finau: The last player in this preview is one I think could have a record-breaking 2020 season. He placed seventh in the FedEx Cup standings in 2019, but his 2018 season gives me high hopes with 11 Top-10 finishes. Finau was Tiger Woods’ first captain’s pick for the 2019 President’s Cup, and I think this is both a high honor and a little appetizer for the work Finau has in store for 2020. Look for him to have a great performance in Australia this week, and a phenomenal 2020 season.

Honorable 2020 Mentions:

  • Xander Schauffele
  • Paul Casey
  • Kevin Kisner
  • Hideki Matsuyama
  • Patrick Cantlay
  • Francesco Molinari
  • Joaquin Niemann
  • Tommy Fleetwood
  • Webb Simpson
  • Jon Rahm

What’s in the Bag 2020: Grad School TJK

by tjkgolfer, posted in Golf

More than once a year, I’m definitely the type of golfer to want to purchase new equipment, upgrade my technology, and just enjoy the fruits of TaylorMade Golf. With that being said, if something works for me, there’s no way in heck I’m taking it out of my bag. That’s the purpose of this post—to give other an insight into what I will be playing with at the beautiful Kinglsey Club Golf Club in Northern Michigan this year, as well as a few tournaments. This post will cover more than what is simply, “in my bag”—it will cover pretty much everything I use on the course at any given time. Please be aware, though, I’m a through-and-through TaylorMade guy. So take this opinion with a grain of salt.

Driver: 2019 TaylorMade M6. My biggest issue in 2019 was driving accuracy (no surprise). After taking a dreaded loss to Grad School JPF in the Kaplan Cup, I decided to switch things up. I knew that if I was able to significantly increase my driving accuracy, I’d be able to get green in regulation on 80% of my approach shots. At the beginning of 2019, I was running a Project X HZRDUS Black 75g extra stiff shaft in my driver. It worked out pretty well. I was hitting about seven or eight of fourteen fairways—not too horrible. I was shooting in the mid to low 80’s, but knew I was missing a piece to my game. So boom. I went to my local golf equipment specialist and we discussed putting in a 3-wood shaft. Yes, no joke. We flirted with the idea of cutting down my extra stiff shaft, or putting in a softer shaft with a higher flex point. But in the end, I swaped my driver shaft for a 3-wood. And what happened? The first round out I hit eleven of fourteen fairways. I immediately fell in love. Was I losing much on my drive? Not really. I lost about 10ish yards per drive, but a sacrifice I will always take and just club up on my approach. So the shaft for 2020 is the Mitsubishi Kuro Kage Silver TiNi 65g stiff 3-wood shaft.

3-Wood: Oddly enough, my 3-wood is actually my #1 club in the bag at the moment, and has been the last two years. It’s a TaylorMade 2017 M1 15° 3-wood head with the Mitsubishi Kuro Kage Silver TiNi 65g stiff 3-wood shaft. Straight up. No draw or fade favor.

3-Hybrid: Yup. I go 3-wood, then 3-hybrid. Why? Well I have about a 15 or so yard difference, and I am uncomfortable shooting a 3-wood in the rough, and an iron is too short, so this is my answer. I don’t use it often, but when I do, it’s in the rough or on angulated fairways where my 3-wood will fade or draw hard. 2017 TaylorMade M1 19° 3-hybrid head with the Mitsubishi Kuro Kage Silver TiNi 60g stiff 3-hybrid shaft. Straight draw favor.  

2-Iron (Driving Iron): This is a new addition to my bag as of 2019. I’ve used it for about half of the season, and I’m in love. It’s a 2018 TaylorMade UDI (Ultimate Driving Iron) with a Project X HZRDUS Black 75g extra shift shaft. Bent 2° up. Standard loft. Love it.

4-PW Irons: So I play irons 4-PW. They are my pride and joy. TaylorMade P770’s with KBS Tour FLT 120g stiff shafts. Looking at the P760’s, and they hit about the same—with the addition of SpeedFoam technology. But hey, the P770’s work for me so I’ll keep them another season of two until the milling or grooves wear out. High launch, high spin. Bent 2° up. Standard loft.

Wedges: Brand new edition to my bag—put in the last few rounds of the season. And, woah. Seriously. I highly recommend these wedges. They are the TaylorMade Hi-Toe (copper finish) wedges, in 52°, 56°, and 60°. Great workability and offer high spin. All with KBS wedge shafts.

Putter: Here we go. I knew you were all waiting for this, and here it is. The best putter I’ve ever had: the 2019 TaylorMade Spider-X in copper finish. 33 inches. Standard lie and loft. The 2.0 Pistol grip from GolfPride make it slightly thin feeling at times, but this is an absolute money maker. I get more control, feel, and top spin on this putter than I ever had before. With this putter, I was pretty much feeling good from six feet in. It’s a great feeling when you stick it within ten feet knowing you easily have an 80% chance of making the putt. This will never be replaced.

Balls: I exclusively use TaylorMade Project (a) golf balls. Just give them a try—you won’t regret it. Less expensive than the TP5 or TP5X and the same quality and specifications.

The Extras:

  • Glove: TaylorMade TP Flex
  • Shoes: Nike Tour Premiere White Out
  • Bag: TaylorMade Flex Carry Fairway Bag

President’s Cup Preview 2019

by tjkgolfer, posted in Golf

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last month or so, today begins the 2019 President’s Cup hosted in Australia. The President’s Cup features the United States vs International teams both made up of 12 outstanding golfers. The 2019 United States team includes: Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Matt Kuchar, Xander Schauffele, Webb Simpson, Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau, Tiger Woods, Gary Woodland, Tony Finau, Patrick Reed, and Rickie Fowler. They will be facing a “not-so-stacked” International team featuring: Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Marc Leishman, Abraham Ancer, Haotong Li, C.T. Pan, Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Adam Hadwin, Sungjae Im, and Byeong Hun An.

While the United States team seems to be the absolute favorite in recent history (losing only once in the last 25 years), 2019 leaves a gray area where we have lots of speculation in how the United States will play. There are a few main factors that make me think we may have a tough challenge this year. First, perhaps the best United States golfer in the last five years dropped out—Brooks Koepka. And for some reason, Tiger Woods chose Rickie Fowler to replace him. Why did he do that? I’m not quite sure. The format for the President’s Cup is four-ball, foursome matches, and singles. To be completely honest, Rickie Fowler is not the greatest match player, so slotting him in place of Koepka may be fatal.

The States team also includes Kuchar, who was great at last year’s Dell Technologies, and even had a chance to win the FedEx Cup. However, he is by no means the most consistent player on Tour—in fact, he is spotty at best. The United States is also bringing in five rookies to the President’s Cup, which could prove very beneficial, or just down-right horrible.

On the flip side, The United States boast Tiger Woods, Gary Woodland, and Justin Thomas. All of which are coming off phenomenal placings at the Hero World Challenge. Tiger Woods, well, he needs no introduction. The man is simply the greatest golfer in the history of the sport (yes, I did just say that). Gary Woodland played almost flawless golf at the Hero and his green-reading ability will hopefully carry over into this week. And last but not least, there’s Justin Thomas. Thomas is quite reasonably the best match player on Tour—even taking down Rory McIlroy in last year’s Ryder Cup.

Overall, even with the bad taste of Patrick Reed in everyone’s mouth, the 24 hour travel to Australia, and the potential rise that many of the International team members boast, we can expect to see a fairly dominant United States team taking down Matsuyama and the International team this week.

Tiger Woods and 83? G.O.A.T. Status?

by tjkgolfer, posted in Golf

Tiger Woods. The name alone is enough to send shivers down the back of any golfer. A name that many know, even though they may not be golf or sports fan themselves. In contrast, many avid golf fans know that Tiger Woods currently ties the record for the most PGA Tour wins in golf history with another all-time great—Sam Snead. However, it is fair to note that in those 82 wins, Snead only has 7 Majors. Tiger Woods, on the other hand, has 15 Major wins—second only to Jack Nicklaus. Tiger Woods has also achieved 10 Player of the Year awards, been given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, holds the lowest career scoring average in Tour history, and is one of five golfers in history to win all four majors in his career (Woods has actually won each major at least three times).

With all those accolades in mind, Tiger Woods is without a doubt, the greatest golfer to ever walk the course. But will the G.O.A.T ever achieve 83 Tour wins? Well, he just barely missed it this past weekend at his self-hosted tournament: the Hero World Challenge. In the short answer, yes. I firmly believe this is the “year of G.O.A.T.’s” and that Tiger will in fact put away the sought-after 83. But that now begs the question, how many wins can Tiger achieve? 85? I don’t see why not. 90? Eh, maybe. The real answer comes in two schools of thought: Tiger’s durability and the upcoming competition.

Most fans of the sport are aware that Woods has a history with back problems. In fact, it’s fair to say that Woods will never be the same golfer he was prior to his scandal in 2009. The scandal led to a downright spiral of the great golfer, and since then, has had a number of issues that seem to stem from the incident 10 years ago: the “at-home” issues, the DUI, and the injuries. All of these played a role in hindering Tiger from competition for a number of years—potentially costing him a highly coveted record.

The second school of thought noted is competition. It’s no secret that Tiger Wood is 43 years old and that there are younger, stronger golfers in the field: Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas. Not to mention the “up-and-coming” stars such as Matthew Wolfe, Cameron Champ, Joaquin Niemann, and Viktor Hovland. These youthful golfers not only have the ability, the strength, and the “it” factor to win, they have the passion and determination to make a name for themselves. Heck, Rory McIlroy still has the hunger and has the “something to prove” mentality as he needs to win a green jacket. The one downside to being the G.O.A.T. is that once you’re at the top, there’s nothing left to “prove” per se—he’s done it. He’s achieved nearly everything. The one other thing that is getting in Tiger’s way is the aspect of fatherhood. Tiger Woods used to spend every waking moment at the golf course practicing and playing. However, now that his children are growing up, his priorities have undoubtedly shifted. His focus is now on being a better father, and as bad as it is to say, may be a downside to his career.

Tiger Woods has achieved things in sports that may potentially never be surpassed. He is a once-in-a-century golfer. He is the greatest athlete of all time, arguably in any sport. But is this great golfer’s career coming to a close? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Tournament Review: Hero World Challenge 2019

by tjkgolfer, posted in Golf

Founded in 2000 by the G.O.A.T. himself, Tiger Woods, the Hero World Challenge based in the Bahamas features 18 of the World’s Top 50 golfers. Held each December, this PGA stop provides great competition due to the prerequisites required to compete—and this year did not disappoint. In the opening round on Wednesday, although coverage seemed to be spotlighted on our tournament host, Gary Woodland and Patrick Reed both carded -6 (66) to share the lead.

The second round showcased a hard-fought battle between Patrick Reed and Gary Woodland, both tied from the day before. Reed’s approach shots seemed to get the best of Woodland—who was unable to match Reed’s pin-seeking short and mid game. Reed simply outshined on Thursday carding another 66 with the solo lead at -12.

With the beginning of the third round, the leaderboard showed Gary Woodland, Jon Rahm, and Henrik Stenson all within four shots of Reed. Due to the obvious elephant in the room, Reed was forced to take a two-stroke penalty on the 11th in a greenside bunker, forcing him off the top of the leaderboards and taking a nice 74 for the day. Meanwhile, Gary Woodland played flawless golf to shoot a 68—leading Henrik Stenson by one. With similarly carded rounds, Stenson and Woodland shared highlights on Friday—but were unable to do enough damage to stop Rahm, Thomas, Woods, and Reed from being three shots behind the lead.

Our final round was pretty much a career highlight reel for Henrik Stenson. With phenomenal approach shots, long putts, and tap-in eagles, Stenson made me think he had won last year’s FedEx Cup. Although Rahm, Stenson, and Reed all carded final round 66’s, nothing was ripping that $3.5 Million purse from Stenson’s hands.

Patrick Reed: A Hope for Average Golfers?

by tjkgolfer, posted in Golf

If you got a chance to see the World Hero Challenge yesterday, you most likely heard of Patrick Reed’s little “mulligan move” on the 11th hole. In a greenside bunker, Reed took advantage of the PGA’s new rule change. Well within the new PGA rules, you may in fact ground your club in a bunker, however you cannot improve your lie in any way. Patrick Reed decided to just give the middle finger to professional golf and not once—but twice—moved sand to obtain a better lie on his shot.

This just begs the question, if I “pulled a Reed”, could I play on the PGA Tour? Better yet, could any average golfer play to the likes of a Top 50 golfer in the world, if they were to “pick-and-clean” every shot? Heck, I may as well just put a tee on the fairway and see how low I can go. Patrick Reed may be my new idol, because he makes me feel like I really do have a shot to be a PGA Tour professional. In fact, it makes me think I may be able to just cheat my way through Q School and see if I can’t make the Top 25 in the money list to jump on stage every Thursday through Sunday on NBC. This new fad, “pulling a Reed”, burns at my core because it makes me wonder how many other times a Top 50 player in the world like Patrick Reed has knowingly cheated off camera. And we all know darn well that if we did not have televised coverage, and no replay, you can be certain Reed would never have been called out and would never self-penalize himself with a two-stroke penalty.

All in all, I feel safe tonight knowing I can take my overly expensive golf clubs that are way beyond my golfing ability, and dress up in all TaylorMade apparel just to sign up for Q School with the intent on cheating my way through the ranks of the PGA Tour, sponsorships, endorsements, and winning the 2020 FedEx Cup.