List takes home a cock

Luke List is no longer on the list of one-hit wonders on the PGA Tour. He claimed his second title in style by winning a five-man playoff at the Sanderson Farms Championship. List, who is noted as a brilliant ball striker but poor putter, drained a 45-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to seal the deal. He beat four other contenders, including Euro Ryder Cup rookie Ludvig Aberg, who recorded his best PGA Tour finish (T2) in Mississippi.

List had started the final round one shot behind Ben Griffin, who looked like he had it in the bag until he stumbled late in the final round missing an 8-foot par putt on 18 to close it out. That opened the door for List, Scott Stallings, Henrik Norlander and Aberg to join him at 18 under par. List had shot a steady 70 with four birdies and two bogeys, while Aberg had fired a 68 with four birdies and an eagle. Stallings and Norlander both carded 70s to make the playoff.

List said he had been overthinking things at the start of the day, but he let it rip when it mattered most. He praised his wife for keeping him positive and level-headed going into the playoff. The win means List earns a spot in The Sentry at Kapalua and more importantly a trip to the Masters at Augusta. In the meantime, he’ll have to decide where to put that abomination of a trophy when he gets home!

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Fitzy wins at The Old Course

Matt Fitzpatrick had a sensational week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, where he won both the individual and team titles with his mother Susan as his partner. The Englishman shot a brilliant 66 at the Old Course at St Andrews on Monday to finish at 19-under par, three strokes ahead of his nearest rivals. He also became the second player after Pádraig Harrington to do the double at this event. Fitzpatrick's victory came just a week after he was part of Europe's triumphant Ryder Cup team in Rome, where he earned his first point in golf's biggest show. He said winning at St Andrews, the home of golf, was a very special experience and applauded his mum for playing fantastic golf.

The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is a unique pro-am event that is played across three iconic Scottish courses: St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. The tournament was reduced to 54 holes and pushed to a Monday finish after heavy rain flooded the courses over the weekend. Fitzpatrick had been leading for two days after shooting 67 at Carnoustie and 64 at Kingsbarns. He held off the challenge of Marcus Armitage, Matthew Southgate and Ryan Fox, who all shot 66 in the final round.

The event was not immune from some LIV Golf intrigue as it was revealed Yasir Al-Rumayyan (Chairman in the Public Investment Fund which owns LIV Golf) entered the team event of tournament via the use of the pseudonym “Andrew Waterman”. His professional partner was Peter Uhlein, current LIV Golf tour player and member of the 4 Aces. Interestingly, Yasir teed the ball up with R&A head, Marty Slumbers - why is this important? The R&A is a vital stakeholder in deciding which tours and events are given official world golf ranking (OWGR) points and Slumbers has a seat on the OWGR Governance Board. LIV Golf has been desperate to have its events receive OWGR points, but to this point, has been unsuccessful. It will be very interesting to see if things change post this event.

The Shank Show on tour

The Shank Show has returned from 4 magnificent days of golf on the Mornington Peninsular in south-east Victoria. We played four rounds of golf and had three nights’ accommodation at two different facilities on the Mornington Peninsula which included two nights at Peninsula Kingswood Golf and Country Club and one night at the The Dunes Links.

The Accommodation

The Peninsula Kingswood clubhouse is first class. The facility is modern sleek and high-end. The staff were very accommodating and friendly, and we had full use of the facilities including games room (fully stocked with pool table, shuffleboard and TV's to watch the AFL grand final), tennis courts, pool, gym, lawn bowls green, large locker room and practice facilities.

At the Dunes, the newly finished rooms are perched atop the highest point of the property, allowing guests magnificent views of the course and the surrounding Monington Peninsula landscape. Whilst quite not at the high standard of Peninsula Kingswood, the accommodation was very nicely appointed and comfortable. Use of the old clubhouse for the NRL grand final was a standout, and the Club and organised for a BBQ dinner and fully stocked bar fridge to be available for the boys on tour.

The Golf

In terms of the golf, let's start with Peninsula Kingswood. The club is a private members course but does allow Interstate and international visitors to play. We played both the North Course and the South Course. The courses were in top shelf conditioned and provided sand belt style architecture, so you better have your A Bunker Game when you come to Peninsula Kingswood. The greens were a little slow as they were still recovering from the spring renovation, but they certainly would be very slick when fully recovered. The layout was challenging with many interesting holes including reachable par 5s and drivable par 4s. You will be punished if you are not accurate off the tee. Whilst the fairways are reasonably open, the rough and scrub immediately off the fairways is thick and a lost ball is very likely. Overall, both courses posed tough challenges that were very enjoyable. We highly recommend Peninsula Kingswood both to stay and play.

Next was St Andrews Beach Golf Couse. The Tom Doak designed course is exposed near the coastline of one of the most southern parts of the Mornington Peninsula, backing onto the Tasman Sea and Bass Strait. We played in very windy conditions off the back markers, so it was a tough day out. The course poses a challenging design and layout with long Par 3s (many over 200m). The condition of the course was average and certainly not at the level we saw at Peninsular Kingswood. On the 2nd hole there is a massive cave bunker in the middle of the fairway which is a signature feature of the course. Green fees were $105 per player. Overall, we were happy to have applied St Andrews Beach, but given the large number of quality courses in the vicinity, we wouldn't be rushing back there without exploring other options first.

Finally, we played The Dunes Links golf course, which is the number one public access course in Victoria. The Dunes certainly did not disappoint. The course is a fantastic design and layout, with blind tee shots, long and short par 4s, and lots of contours on the greens allowing for a variety of shots to get the ball close. There are also reachable par 5s which provide opportunity to go low with eagles up for grabs. The course was certainly windy in parts but was somewhat further inland compared to St Andrews Beach, so not as blown out and exposed to the wind. The green fees were also on par with St Andrews Beach at $105 for weekend play. The Dunes was a really enjoyable golf experience that we highly recommend. It's a fun course, a great layout and was in well maintained condition. Also, don't forget to have a chipping and putting comp with your mates on the very large practice green in front of the clubhouse - a great way finish the day and just a final added feature to what is a great facility at The Dunes.

Quick bites…

• Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas hit back at Alan Shipnuck for shit stirring by releasing extracts from his forthcoming book “LIV and let die”.

• Max Homa declares “Hat-Gate” was a bunch of BS on No Laying Up podcast, saying there was no truth to the rumour sprouted by Jamie Weir during the Ryder Cup that the US team was divided.

• Lexi Thompson will play against the men in the PGAT event this weekend at The Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas. Defending champion, Tom Kim, said that the only way she makes the cut is if she is allowed to play from the Red tees.

Schedule for the Week

Your golfing schedule for the week, and how to watch is below:

• PGAT: Shriners Children’s Open - TPC Summerlin (Las Vegas), $8m purse, Friday 13/10 to Monday 16/10 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 7am Friday.

• LIV: LIV Golf Jeddah - Royal Greens Golf & Country Club (Saudi Arabia), $25m purse, Friday 13/10 to Sunday 15/10 - Coverage on 7+, starts 7.15pm Friday.

• DPWT: Spanish Open - Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, (Spain), $3.25m purse, Thursday 12/10 to Sunday 15/10 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 10pm Thursday.

• LPGA: Buik LPGA Shanghai- Qizhong Garden Golf Club, Shanghai (China), $2.1m purse, Thursday 12/10 to Sunday 15/10 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 1pm Thursday.

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