The Shank Show - Issue #51

John Deere serves up a birdie fest, Micheluzzi on the up

In this Issue

  1. 🏆 Results Recap

    • PGAT: John Deere serves up a birdie fest

    • DPWT: Micheluzzi on the up

  2.  đźŤ´Quick Bites

    • Sergio fails to qualify for The Open

    • Asian Tour Qualifier event coming to Australia

    • Golf rankings made simple

  3.  đź“… Schedule for the Week

Alright everyone - here is your quick-fire golf newsletter with the essential “must-knows” from the world of golf. Enjoy!!! ⛳💥

Also, don’t forget to download and listen to the Beyond The Tour podcast. You can find it on Apple, Spotify and YouTube.

🏆 Results Recap

Davis Thompson gets it done at TPC Deer Run

PGAT: John Deere serves up a birdie fest

Everything you need to know from the John Deere Classic:

  • Davis Thompson has claimed his first PGAT title, cruising his way to a 4-shot win in what was a complete birdie fest at the Jonh Deere Classic. Thompson had a 2-shot lead going into the final round over Eric Cole (a complete stud who’s still chasing his 1st tour win) and “2-gloves” Aaron Rai (who was contending for the 2nd week in a row). Thompson shot a final round 64 (-8) to snuff out all contenders and set a new tournament record in the process.

  • Hayden Springer sprung (sorry!) out of the gates to add another name to the 59 club. His opening round of 12-under included 2 eagles and 8 birdies. This was off the back of having missed 7 of his last 8 cuts, but he seems to have reached a turning point after a Top 10 finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last week.

  • Luke Clanton finished T2 and is now the first amateur since 1958 to claim Top 10 finishes in back-to-back tournaments. Certainly someone to keep an eye on.

  • Thompson’s win completed a 3-Peat for the Air BnB house he was staying in. The property has been the residence for the winner of the John Deere now 3 years straight, with Sepp Straka and JT Poston having stayed in this particular house for their wins in the 2 preceding years. Straka left the house this year as he has a 9-month-old baby and didn’t want to disrupt the other players sharing the house during the tournament. Something tells us he might be back there next year!

  • The tournament has raised more questions about whether technology in golf has gone too far and if a rollback of the ball/driver is needed. For example, in Thompson’s final round, he had hit 1 of 8 fairways to open, yet he was still 5-under through those 8 holes. Proponents of a rollback pointed to this as more evidence that things in the professional game have gone too far. We think it’s probably a mix of better tech, poor course set ups (too soft, too much TIO) and the depth of player fields now.

DPWT: Micheluzzi on the up

Everything you need to know from the BMW International Open:

  • Aussie David Micheluzzi has been able to turn things around after some lackluster form on the DPWT recently. After giving himself a public roast on Instagram a few weeks ago, Micheluzzi came out guns blazing to take the first-round lead with a 6-under round of 66. He went on to finish T2 (2-shots behind the winner). This is good form for the Aussie going into The Scottish Open this week and The Open Championship next week. Things are on the up!

  • Scotsman Ewan Ferguson claimed his 3rd DPWT title shooting a final round of 4-under (68) to win by 2. He battled it out with overnight co-leader Jordan Smith, but in the end was able to have a comfortable tap in par on the last to seal the victory and secure his spot in The Open.

  • There were 3 LIV players in the field getting some reps in ahead of LIV Andalucia this coming week. Thomas Pieters was the best of them finishing T9, followed by Patrick Reed (T13) and Martin Kaymer (T27 playing before his home crowd in Germany).

  • Apart from Michelluzi’s improved form, it was a sad tale for the remaining Aussies in the field. In fact, it was a bloodbath with missed cuts for Sam Jones, Andrew Martin, Thomas Power-Horan, Jason Scrivner and Haydn Barron.

🍴Quick Bites

Here are some golf quick bites for you to snack on:

  • Sergio fails to qualify for The Open - playing in a qualifying event at Liverpool's West Lancashire Golf Club, Sergio came up 2 shots short of taking one of the 4 qualifying spots from the event. Things got a little heated when Sergio was put on the clock for slow play, and video footage emerged of him complaining to officials that inadequate crowd control was slowing him down. Following the round, Sergio issued a statement on social media (see below) thanking the fans for their support.

  • Asian Tour Qualifier event coming to Australia - The Asian Tour’s Q School will be coming to Australia in September, with a qualifying event to be played Mt Derrimut Golf and Country Club in Victoria. This is great news for Aussie hopefuls. In addition to the Australian Q School event, there will be 2 events in the USA and another 5 in Thailand.

  • Golf rankings made simple - We all know that the OWGR is bordering on irrelevant as it has been unable to accurately account for LIV golf players in its ranking system. This vacuum has allowed other ranking systems (such as TUGR and Data Golf) to attract attention. But wouldn’t it be good to have all these rankings in the one place for ease of reference? Well, our trusty co-host of Beyond The Tour, Jake Hower, has delivered just this with his new Rank Eagle website. Check it out!

đź“… Schedule for the Week

A big week of golf ahead as LIV returns to the schedule, the PGAT and DPWT host a co-sanctioned event in Scotland with an A-grade field, and the women head to France for another ladies’ Major.

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

  • PGAT/DPWT (Co-sanctioned): The Scottish Open - The Renaissance Club (North Berwick), $9.0m purse, Thursday 11/7 to Sunday 14/7 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, Main Coverage starts 10pm AEST Thursday, Featured Groups from 5.30pm.

  • LIV: Andalucia - Real Club Valdarama (Spain), $25m purse, Friday 12/7 to Sunday 14/7, Coverage on 7+ starts 9.15pm AEST Friday.

  • Ladies Major: Evian Championship - Evian Resort Golf Club (France), $9.0m purse, Thursday 11/7 to Sunday 14/7 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, Coverage starts 8pm AEST Thursday.

Liked this Newsletter?

If you enjoyed this read or other issues of The Shank Show, can we ask for your help in growing our community of Shankers. Please pass on this issue to your golfing mates and encourage them to subscribe using the button below. That would help us greatly.

Thanks again for your support and readership. We’ll be back next week and leave you with our Shank of the Week …

Reply

or to participate.