- Thoughts go out to former PGA Tour professional and current Golf Channel analyst Notah Begay III, who is home resting following a heart attack suffered earlier this week. Begay's family has a history of heart disease, but the positive news is that the stint was put in place quickly and Begay is expected to make a full recovery and return within a few weeks. Great to hear.
- I hope you're used to seeing Donald Trump in the golf world, because he's going to be around a lot more incredibly soon. I was announced this week that the Trump National Bedminster located in New Jersey will be host to the 2022 PGA Championship. Not only that, but it was also announced that Trump has purchased Turnberry, host to four Open Championships. I don't know what this means for Trump, Turnberry, or the PGA Tour. I have my own personal opinions of Trump in regards to his business practices and his politics, but Trump seems intent on keeping Turnberry as it is. Say what you will, but Trump seems to love golf and believes in the traditions of the game, so I am going to remain optimistic about this until I have a reason to be otherwise.
- Jason Day announced that he will not be playing in The Players next week, and that he was "a few weeks away" from returning from a thumb injury. Hopefully he is taking all the rest he needs. Day is a charismatic players who would be great for the Tour if he was playing at his full potential.
- Talk about a reversal of fortune! On Thursday, Brendon de Jonge shot an 80, which made him an almost certainty to miss the cut, but followed that up with a Friday round of 62, an 18 shot turn around. It is the second best turnaround in 20 years - only Kevin Stadler's rounds of 81-61 in 2008 was bigger. De Jonge improved his positioning by 125 spots. De Jonge is -2 going into the weekend - the last player to win a PGA Tour event after failing to break 80 in one of the rounds was Kenny Knox in 1986.
- Anyone know about a little known rule called the "88 Rule" on the LPGA Tour? It is a rule, put in place in the early 90's, that stated that any non-exempt LPGA pro who fails to break 88 in a round is banned for a year from the Tour. It was put in place because, at the time, local pros used to tee it up with LPGA professionals in tournaments when they honestly didn't have the game to compete, and many of them had a hard time breaking 90, which was causing pace of play issues and frustration at the hands of the LPGA pros. Honestly, I think it's an outdated rule that needs to be wiped off the books. Only twice in recent history has the rule been mentioned, and they happened to come in the same tournament - 2007 Ginn Tribute. A pre-exempt Michelle Wie was close to that number when she withdrew with two holes remaining, and MacKenzie Kline, who was 15 years old and had a heart defect which forced her to ride in a cart and breath through oxygen tubes throughout the round. Why do I bring this up? Because LPGA pro Christine Song, after shooting a 90 in the first round last week, went on to shoot an 88 in the first round this week. Had Song been a KLPGA or JLPGA pro playing this week on a sponsor exemption, or a Monday qualifier, or someone notched a top 10 last week and got into the field that way, she would have been banned from competition, but because she is exempt on Tour this season, the rule does not apply to her. Basically, what I am saying is that Hyo Joo Kim, who is number 2 on the KLPGA money list and recorded two top 10's this season, would have been banned, but Song, who hasn't made a cut all season, gets a pass. Perhaps it's time to do one of two things - apply the 88 rule to all players, regardless of exempt status, or get rid of the rule all together. My vote would be for the latter.
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