Month: May 2023

Categories
PGA Tour

Opportunities

By Scott Messner

Brooks Koepka won the 2023 PGA Championship, played at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, with a final score of -9, two shots better than Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland. It was the third PGA Championship victory for Brooks to go along with two U.S. Open wins. His five major victories have him tied for 15th on the list of all-time major wins. Brooks is also the first golfer to win a major from the LIV Golf Tour. I enjoy the majors especially more now as it gives me a chance to watch the best golfers in the world compete on one stage.

The PGA Championship is unique in the fact that it’s the only all-professional major. There are no amateurs. Instead, you’ll find the top twenty club professionals from the previous PGA Professional Championship. These club professionals and teachers from the PGA of America are from the same group of professionals that run your local course and provide lessons to you and your family.

Michael Block, a club professional at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, California, gained entry into this year’s PGA Championship by finishing runner-up in the 2023 PGA Professional Championship. He went on to make history. Not only was he the only club professional to make the cut, his final score of one over par was good enough for a tie for 15th place and a check for $288,000. His final round included an on-the-fly hole-in-one on the 151 yard par 3 15th hole. It was the best finish at the PGA Championship by a PGA club professional in the last 35 years.

Michael Block made the most of the opportunity with his consistent play, shooting even par 70 the first three rounds and one over par 71 the last round. His scramble for par on the last hole secured his 15th place finish, earning him a spot in next years’ PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. He also received a sponsor’s exemption for this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, and an exemption for the RBC Canadian Open in June. 

In Galatians, Paul tells us as Christians to make the most of every opportunity doing good for our fellow man.

Galatians 6:10
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 So then, as we have opportunity, let’s do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith. 

Most the most of your opportunities today and every day to serve others in the ways of Jesus.

Categories
PGA Tour

Perseverance

By Scott Messner

This Week on the PGA Tour – 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson

Byron Nelson is widely considered one of the all-time great golfers. He won 52 times on the PGA Tour, 64 times as a professional, including an incredible 11 straight wins in 1945. He won the Masters twice (1937, 1942), the PGA Championship twice (1940, 1945), and the U.S. Open once in 1939.

One of Byron Nelson’s wins was the Texas Victory Open in 1944, a tournament he won by 10 strokes. The tournament would go by multiple names over the years, until 1968 when it became the Byron Nelson Classic. The tournament has had many different sponsors over the years and has been played on many different courses, but the name Byron Nelson is still attached to it to this day and is currently known as the AT&T Byron Nelson.

The Salesmanship Club of Dallas is the tournament host and 100% of the tournament proceeds go to the Momentous Institute, an organization founded by the Salesmanship Club of Dallas which provides mental health services, education, and professional training supporting children and families.

The AT&T Byron Nelson is the most financially successful charity fundraiser on the PGA Tour, raising $180 million dollars for mental health since 1968. Check out the volunteer opportunities and make a difference at the 2024 AT&T Byron Nelson!

Like many long-running tournaments, the AT&T Byron Nelson has been won by many of golf’s greats, including Tom Watson, the only 4-time winner and the only player to three-peat. Lee Kyoung-hoon had a chance to three-peat this year but this year’s champion was Jason Day.

Jason’s Sunday 62 tied for the low final round of the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson, propelling him to a final score of -23 and a one-shot victory over runner-up finishers Si Woo Kim and Austin Eckroat. It was Jason’s 13th win on the PGA Tour. His first win was at the same tournament, the 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship.

It was also Jason Day’s first win in over five years. Back issues forced him to change the swing that won a major championship and catapulted him to number one in the world in 2015. Swing changes are difficult and take time, but you could see by his play in many tournaments this year that he was on the verge of winning again.

Jason Day persevered through this while continuing to serve others. Jason and his wife Ellie started the Brighter Days Foundation in 2015. Its beneficiaries include many impactful organizations serving children and families in central Ohio, where the Days call home.

Hebrews tells us that we should all persevere in confident trust in the Lord.

Hebrews 10:36
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 For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise. 
Categories
PGA Tour

The Green Mile

By Scott Messner

This Week on the PGA Tour – 2023 Wells Fargo Championship

Wyndham Clark lost his overnight two-shot lead two holes into the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, falling into a tie with Xander Schauffele. From there, Wyndham carded 5 birdies and all pars until a meaningless bogey on the 18th hole, for a four-shot victory over runner-up Xander. It was Wyndham’s first professional victory of any kind, and his first PGA Tour win in 134 starts.

The Wells Fargo Championship was first played in 2003. The Champions for Education foundation was founded to operate the tournament and be its charitable arm. The foundation has raised over $27 million for charities making a positive impact on education. Please consider volunteering at the Wells Fargo Championship in 2024 if you are near the Charlotte, North Carolina area.

Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte has hosted the tournament every year except 2017, 2020, and 2022. The tournament was played at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 2017 as Quail Hollow hosted the PGA Championship that year. The tournament was canceled in 2020 due to Covid. Quail Hollow had the privilege of hosting the President’s Cup in 2002, so the Wells Fargo Championship was played at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in Potomac, Maryland.

The 16th through 18th holes at Quail Hollow Club are referred to as The Green Mile. Sunday’s CBS telecast stated that the 17th hole was playing the hardest on the course, the 18th hole the 2nd hardest, and the 16th hole the 6th hardest.

The Green Mile is in reference to the Stephen King book and subsequent movie starring Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan. It takes place in the death row of a Louisiana prison in 1935. The Green Mile refers to an inmate’s last walk to their execution. As Tom Hanks’ character Paul Edgecomb, a supervisor of the prison’s death row cell block E, puts it, “They usually call Death Row the Last Mile, but we called ours the Green Mile because the floor was the color of faded limes.”

I do not read Stephen King and I’m not a big movie watcher, so I never watched The Green Mile until this Sunday night after the Wells Fargo Championship. I had of course heard of the film but didn’t realize its supernatural aspect. Michael Clarke Duncan’s character John Coffey is a gentle giant on death row after being charged with the rape and murder of two girls. He has Christlike abilities such as healing and knowing what is in people’s hearts.

There are many memorable lines in the film, including John Coffey telling Paul Edgecomb that “You can’t hide what’s in your heart.”

John Coffey is a Hollywood Jesus. Our true redeemer, our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, tells us in the gospel of Luke that there is nothing hidden that is not known.

Luke 12:2-3
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 But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. 
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 Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light. What you have spoken in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. 

God knows what is in our hearts. Live your life with a pure heart.

Categories
PGA Tour

This Week on the PGA Tour – 2023 Mexico Open

By Scott Messner

Tony Finau won the 2023 Mexico Open at Vidanta this past Sunday with a winning score of -24, three shots better than runner-up and defending champion Jon Rahm. On Saturday, Jon tied his career low round and set the Vidanta course record with a 61 to get him into contention for the final round. It wasn’t enough as Tony played superbly all week, recording only three bogies the whole week and none in the final round.

The Vidanta Vallarta Course in Vallarta, Mexico is hosting the Mexico Open from 2022 through 2024. The course was designed by Greg Norman and plays as a “bomber’s paradise” for the tournament, with wide open landing areas and forgiving rough.

Though the Mexico Open has only been an official PGA Tour event since 2022, it has a long history. First played in 1944, the list of past champions contains many big names including Ben Crenshaw and Lee Trevino.

It is one of six national open tournaments featured on the PGA Tour. The other five are the Puerto Rico Open, RBC Canadian Open, U.S. Open, Open Championship, and the Genesis Scottish Open.

An open golf tournament by definition is open to anyone. You or I could enter a U.S. Open qualifying tournament, provided we work hard to get our handicap index down to 1.4 or less and pay the required fee. The closest 2023 U.S. Open qualifier to me took place on yesterday, Tuesday, May 2nd at Bishops Bay Country Club in Middleton, Wisconsin. Four golfers qualified from the field.

National open golf tournaments stir up a lot of interest for golf in their country. The Mexico Open has been a big part of growing golf in Mexico. Top Mexican professional and collegiate golfers receive sponsor exemptions. We enjoy cheering on our country’s representatives in sporting competitions. Imagine the feeling of being able to qualify for your national open golf tournament. We may never play golf well enough to be eligible to play in our country’s open, but we can immerse ourselves in the tournament by becoming a volunteer. Check out volunteer opportunities at the Mexico Open.

There is nothing wrong with identifying with your country, applauding its virtues and recognizing its shortcomings, but we should seek Jesus first. Paul reminds us in Acts that God made all nations, and they are His.

Acts 17:26-27
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 He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwellings, 
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 that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 

Nations will rise and fall. Love and support your country, love and support one another in your community, remembering we serve our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.

Categories
Golf Round Review

2023 Opening Round

By Scott Messner

Our winter wasn’t bitterly cold, and we didn’t get a massive amount of snow. The problem is it doesn’t want to leave.

So, this past Saturday, I did the logical thing and traveled one and a half hours south. I met my son, and we enjoyed playing 18 holes together at Pine Valley Golf Course in Marathon, Wisconsin. Below is a picture I snapped of the picturesque par 3 17th hole. I need to return in the summer or fall to get the full beauty of this course.

During spring in northern Wisconsin, if you hope to enjoy any activity outdoors, you need to be willing to survive the elements if needed. Saturday was one of those days. The temperature was 39 degrees Fahrenheit with on and off again light rain showers turning to steady light rain on the finishing four holes. The weather was not a surprise as it had been forecasted all week, we were prepared and enjoyed the round.

Even with all the rain, carts were still allowed on the course, but we decided to walk. Saturday, we walked for the sole reason of staying warmer. We’ve previously talked about the benefits of walking.

I didn’t record any stats. This season I’m switching over to tracking strokes gained instead of traditional stats. Not having an app or system to track strokes gained for me is going to make it a manual process for the time being. I also want to tie my strokes gained into better course management. The best place to do that is on my home course. I plan to play a lot of rounds at St Germain Golf Club this season, so I’m going to only tracks stats there.

I set almost no expectations for this round. Why do high handicap or beginner golfers put so much pressure on themselves? This was my first outside golf in over six months and the weather was closing in on the worst I would play in. I wanted to shoot close to ninety but would have been happy with anything under a hundred.

There was a lot of good things to take away from this round. I played the whole round with one ball and didn’t have any penalty strokes. The easiest way for high handicap golfers to lower their scores is to get the penalty strokes per round as near zero as possible. I only mishit a few shots. My swing felt good, and contact was good on most of my shots.

Birdie looks were few. My distance control wasn’t the best, but the rain and cold weather played a factor, forcing me to club up on many shots. Missing the fairway off the tee on many holes either forced me to do a recovery shot or gave me a poor angle into the green.

Putting has been the weak spot of my game for a while now. I worked this past winter on putting stance and it feels pretty good on the course. With their early season condition and the weather, the greens were slow on Saturday. I struggled a lot with distance control. Improving my distance control is my highest priority when I can get out on a practice green.

Every year at this time, I am filled with excitement and anticipation for the new golf season.

In Genesis, God tells Noah he will not send another flood. Every new season, every new day, is a new beginning.

Genesis 8:22
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 “While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.” 

I was happy with my round on Saturday, even with shooting a 99. I was happy spending time with my son.