As the temperatures start to dip and winter approaches in Michigan, it can be easy to put your golf game on the back burner. However, avid golfers know that there are still ways to stay sharp and make the most of your time on the course during the colder months.The most important way to keep your game sharp during the winter is to practice regularly. It may not be possible to play full rounds of golf, but you can still practice your swing and make improvements to your game. Finding an indoor golf facility with a simulator or a driving range that is open year-round is a great way to get in some practice time. It’s also important to focus on your short game. Working on your chip shots, putting and bunker play can make a big difference in your game.Another way to stay sharp is to take advantage of golf instruction. Many golf pros offer winter lessons or clinics that can help you refine your technique and learn new skills. Working with a pro can be especially helpful if you’re looking to make a big change to your game, like switching to a different club or adjusting your swing.Finally, it’s important to stay in shape during the winter months. Stretching and strength trainingcan help you stay flexible and maintain the power and endurance you need to keep your game sharp. Taking the time to focus on your physical fitness will pay off when you’re ready to hit the course again come spring.With a little bit of effort, you can keep your golf game sharp during the winter in Michigan. Practice regularly, take lessons and focus on your physical fitness and you’ll be ready to hit the links when the weather gets warmer.
A Herculean Effort
Rahm went on a heater in the final round at at Kapalua to overtake Collin Morikawa
The 2023 Tournament of Champions looked to be Collin Morikawa’s to lose for the first 67 holes. In complete control of his game and holding a six-stroke lead heading into Sunday, the rest of the field was simply playing for second place. Everyone except for Jon Rahm, that is. Seeing his name drop as many as nine strokes behind Morikawa’s, the Spaniard kept his head down and went to work. The result? He totaled 27 under and was rewarded with a two-stroke victory at the Plantation Course at Kapalua.
Beginning his final round with a bogey, the former world No. 1 fell to 16 under and appeared to be on the cusp of nice finish, but certainly not a memorable one. A birdie on his second hole immediately put Rahm back to even par on the day, and four additional par breakers on his outward half saw him reach 21 under for the tournament.
“If you told me at the beginning of the round after that bogey that I was going to do what I did and have a three-shot lead after finishing, I don’t know if I would’ve believed you,” said Rahm.” But at that point, it’s not like winning is really in mind. You just have to get to work and start making birdies and that’s what I did. That stretch of four through six, making those three birdies, birdieing nine allowed me to get into a rhythm and the stretch of 12 through 15 was very important as well.”
A birdie on the 12th put Rahm within five of Morikawa and in with a chance to pull off a stunner. Two more birdies on 13 and 14 put him within three. With Morikawa still needing to play the more accessible holes on the back nine, on paper, this Herculean effort from Rahm was another performance at Kapalua which would come up short.
Coming into the week with five top-10 finishes in as many starts at the Tournament of Champions, Rahm has experienced his fair share of close calls at this event. Shooting 33 under at this tournament a year ago, a record-setting performance from Cameron Smith was the only thing that stood in between Rahm and his first victory at Kapalua.
There would be none of that this season as an emphatic eagle on the par-5 15th propelled Rahm to 26 under. At that same time, Morikawa began to show cracks with his newly revamped chipping and putting reverting back to their troubled selves. A bladed bunker shot on the drivable par-4 14th led to his first bogey of the championship before more short-game woes occurred on 15 and 16 with bogeys following.
“So 15 is when it truly became a reality when I had that putt to get within one shot and knowing how good I was playing 16 and 18 are good birdie options,” said Rahm. “When that putt went in and then on 17 I couldn’t believe it when I missed the green right we had a one-shot lead and everything changed. It took quite an effort to settle myself down and change my mindset … it was a bit of a rollercoaster five minutes there.”
A birdie on the closing hole put the finishing touches on a stellar 10-under 63 in which Rahm played his final 17 holes in 11 under. Going 27 under on the week and now 60 under at the Plantation Course over his last eight rounds, the consistent greatness from the former world No. 1 was finally enough to bag him a much deserved, and perhaps overdue, trophy in Hawaii.
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The 2022 Presidents Cup has made us Realize Some Things...
Team dynamics, emerging stars and what's next for the U.S. team: Takeaways from the 2022 Presidents Cup
The U.S. team captured the Presidents Cup again, taking down the International team 17½ to 12½ at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday. It was the Americans' ninth straight victory and 12th in 14 editions of the event.
Over four days, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas emerged as the face of American team golf, now that Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed are competing on the LIV Golf circuit. South Korea's Tom Kim became a household name, and the International team showed a lot of heart in competing better than expected.
Here are five things we learned this week at Quail Hollow:
These guys like each other
Everyone needs someone to love them like JT loves Jordan, and vice versa.
There's no question the International team has inherent hurdles the Americans don't have to deal with, starting with language barriers, cultural differences and unfamiliarity with each other.
International team captain Trevor Immelman wasn't exaggerating (that much) when he called this U.S. team the greatest ever assembled. The 12-man U.S. squad included five of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking. Each of them was in the top 25.
And when U.S. team captain Davis Love III can roll out the tandems of Thomas-Spieth and Xander Schauffele-Patrick Cantlay each session, it's like having Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander in a five-game series.
Spieth and Thomas, who have known each other since they were kids, went 4-0 in foursomes and four-ball matches. Cantlay and Schauffele, who are friends, both hail from California and won the PGA Tour team event in New Orleans this past season, went 2-1. The players went a combined 3-1 in singles.
"It's really fun, right?" Spieth said earlier this week. "He's my best friend in the whole world. We've played a lot of golf together. We've played a lot of golf against each other. Now we've played quite a bit with each other. There's nothing more fun than these team events, playing alongside JT."
When it looked like the Presidents Cup might turn into another rout on Friday, one of the most exciting things to watch was Spieth and Thomas feeding off each other, fist bumping, chest bumping and screaming at each other along the way.
"Having the opportunity to not only win a point for your team but win a point with one of your best friends, it's just one of those things," Thomas said. "We know each other's games. We know how to feed off each other. We know how to help each other. We know how to stay out of each other's way."
And that's what makes the core of U.S. stars so dangerous in team events going forward. LIV Golf might have actually done the Americans a favor by luring away Reed, who was popularly known as "Captain America" by fans but wasn't so popular in the team locker room. Reed infamously complained of captain Jim Furyk's "buddy system" in choosing pairings at the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris, which the Americans lost, 17½ to 10½.
The 12 players who competed for the U.S. this week genuinely seemed to like each other. There wasn't an elephant in the room because of Bryson DeChambeau's ongoing beef with Brooks Koepka, or because Reed was unhappy about having to play with Tiger Woods instead of Spieth.
A few times this past week, Presidents Cup rookie Max Homa, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour, mentioned that he wasn't particularly close to anyone else on the U.S. team. But when Homa said it again during a news conference after Sunday's victory, Sam Burns quipped, "Love you, Max."
"Love you, Sam," Homa replied.
"Sam's a perfect example of somebody I've always gotten along with great and somebody I was looking forward to getting to spend real time with," Homa said.
Tom Kim is a superstar
The South Korean phenom's name is Joohyung Kim, but he prefers Tom, a childhood nickname given to him because of his fondness for Thomas the Tank Engine. These days the 20-year-old has as much steam building as his namesake.
After winning the Wyndham Championship for his first PGA Tour victory a month ago, Kim's pro debut in a team event was a coming-out party. He was the youngest player on either team and the third youngest to ever compete in the Presidents Cup, behind only Ryo Ishikawa and Jordan Spieth.
Kim went 2-3 in matches this week, and he was the pulse of the International Team and a crowd favorite at Quail Hollow Club because of his exuberant celebrations. On Sunday, Kim showed up at the first tee wearing sunglasses and egging the crowd to cheer. He was a rock star.
After losing his first two matches, Kim and his partners at least gave the International Team a glimmer of hope on Saturday.
In the Saturday morning foursomes, Kim paired with South Korea's K.H. Lee to take down world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns. That afternoon, Kim and Si Woo Kim stunned the seemingly unbeatable tandem of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele in four-ball competition. Kim had an eagle on the par-4 11th hole and then made a 10-footer for birdie on the 18th to defeat Cantlay and Schauffele.
"I think the sky's the limit," said Kim's caddie, Joe Skovron, who was on Rickie Fowler's bag until recently. "When you're 20 years old and you've already won as much as he has around the world and to respond in this environment like he did, you know, and he seems to have a work ethic to go with it and a plan. "
Homa isn't bad, either
It's difficult to imagine that not long ago Homa didn't have much confidence in his game. He was one of the funniest pro golfers on Twitter (and still is), but he didn't have much to show for his work in terms of results. At the end of the 2020 season, he was 70th in the FedEx Cup standings.
Since February 2021, however, Homa has won four times on tour. He won the Genesis Invitational in 2021, the Fortinet Championship and Wells Fargo Championship this past season and then defended his Fortinet Championship title in Napa, California, last week. He didn't arrive in Charlotte for his Presidents Cup debut until early Monday morning.
Homa, 31, delivered a signature moment of the Presidents Cup on Friday. Playing with Billy Horschel, their match against Canada's Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners was tied after 16 holes. Homa made a 12-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to go 1 up. Then, after Pendrith made a clutch 15-footer for birdie on the 18th, Homa made another 12-footer to win the match.
After defeating Tom Kim on Sunday, Homa improved to 4-0 in his Presidents Cup debut. He is only the fourth Presidents Cup rookie to go 4-0-0 or better in his debut.
"I've said it a million times, but last year, at Kiawah [Island], doing the fitting for the Ryder Cup, knowing I didn't really have much of a chance anymore was tough," Homa said. "Looking at yourself in the mirror and all the USA gear, it was hard. But I've got a thing seared into my brain, and my main focus this season was to make this team, to play with these guys.
"A lot went into that. And to be here was one thing, and then to come out and play some great golf was another. And this week has been beyond special, validating, meaningful, all of the above. It meant a lot."
The PGA Tour needs more superstars, especially after so many big names like Dustin Johnson, DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and others defected to LIV Golf. The tour should embrace Homa's personality more than ever before.
