Well hello there! This is another edition of Kaitlyn’s Corner, and this week, I’m recapping the ever-so-exciting, ever-so-encapsulating, ever-so-iconic 2023 Masters Tournament. Between the crappy weather, tree collapses, shocking injuries, and triumphant comebacks, I’d say this was one of the more exciting golf tournaments of the year thus far.
It’s no secret that ASU’s own Jon Rahm was the winner of this year’s tournament (sorry not sorry to shout out ASU) – and what a whirlwind it was. He ended up shooting a -12, which is crazy considering he was not the leader going into Sunday morning–but hey, that’s the beauty of golf, right? I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Rahm a few times, and boy was it exciting to see someone you’ve actually interacted with win a tournament as big as The Masters. I will admit, however, I did have my money on someone else, but I’ll keep that one to myself. Photo via CNNIt was really cool for me, personally, as both a big Rahm and Brooks Koepka fan. Look, I know what you’re thinking but let me explain! I think I’ve mentioned before that I grew up in Florida, specifically West Palm Beach. You know who else grew up in WPB? Brooks. In fact, he went to my rival high school–so ever since then, I’ve been a huge fan. So you could imagine my excitement, and anxiousness, going into Sunday knowing it could be anyone’s game. After coming off his first big win the week before, Brooks was looking like his old self all week, but he wasn’t able to keep the mojo going on Sunday afternoon. Maybe the Easter bunny forgot to visit him the night before? Either way, he didn’t make one birdie until the 13th hole and by that time, it was game over; Rahm had already taken the lead and there was no turning back. If you remember in his “Full Swing” feature, he had mentioned that he forgot who won The Masters the year prior–it was Scottie Scheffler of course–but I couldn’t help but think about that meme that was definitely going to be circulating the internet. Spoiler: it totally did. Circling back to the play itself, there were a lot of surprise spotlight players, like Mr. Phil Mickelson himself–another ASU guy. Sheesh, there must be something in the water out here, huh? Anyway, despite all of the LIV drama, it was kind of exciting seeing the 52-year-old, three time Masters winning champ come back to Augusta and play his best golf in the past year. I saw somewhere people were calling him “vintage Phil,” which seemed pretty fitting. And how about the amateur Sam Bennett? The guy is 23–the same age as me–and was in contention to win The Masters in the beginning rounds?? I was extremely impressed. Despite him ending up T16 at -2, he totally showed up and proved to everyone that he’s the real deal. Other players with notable finishes included Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, who both were tied at -7, Cameron Young and Viktor Hovland both tied at -6, and defending Masters champ Scottie Scheffler was tied with three other players at -4. Overall I’d say The 2023 Masters lived up to the hype, as the expectations are extremely high each year. Even though I didn’t win any money on my anonymous player, I had a blast watching every minute of it (even the early mornings thanks to the suspended rounds). Let me know your thoughts on The 2023 Masters!
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Welcome back to Kaitlyn’s Corner. This week, I decided to break down the oh-so-controversial “rollback” situation that recently took over the golf world. As I said in my previous blog, I grew up playing golf, but never super seriously—and in terms of what golf balls I use, I really just use whatever is put in front of me. Truth be told, I can’t tell a difference. Is that bad? Oh well, I still manage to hit the ball 175 yards or so off the tee, and we go from there.
Anyway, let’s get into this, shall we? So, the question (in question): what is the new rollback situation, and why does it have everyone’s attention? Well, the USGA and R&A—otherwise known as golf’s governing bodies—worked together to propose a new way for golf pros to essentially not hit the ball as far as they have been. In layman’s terms, the pros—or elites as many are calling them–are simply too good for the current layout and setup of most golf courses they play on. These days, golf technology has gotten a lot better, which in turn helps the pros hit a lot farther than they ever have before. Farther drives mean a lot more golf course maintenance… which means a lot more money. So, basically, the head golf associations don’t want to have to keep expanding the courses, thus implementing this new rule. So, why is this so controversial? I was thinking the same thing until I watched the interview with Justin Thomas and saw his thoughts. One kind of cool thing about golf is that everyone can use the same equipment. The same golf ball that the pros use, you or I could go out and buy them too. If this rollback rule is implemented, that would change and really change that principle. In all of the interviews I’ve read and watched, I don’t think anyone is in favor of this ruling. The good thing, however, is that the PGA doesn’t necessarily have to listen to the USGA. It’s more of a “hey, you should do this” instead of a “hey, you have to do this.” Granted, this wouldn’t be implemented until 2026, so a solid three years away, but it’s still an interesting concept to consider now. I don’t really think anyone has a firm grasp on the concept quite yet, so I guess we’ll see how it plays out in the next few years. Ok regular rick’s, what are your thoughts? Let me know! Hey, I’m Kaitlyn and I am Golfshot’s social media intern, and this is the first of “Kaitlyn’s Corner” (wonderfully corny, I know), and I’m here to bring you all breaking news related to the golf world. Little about me, I grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida, and played golf a bit growing up. I came out to Arizona for school and recently graduated with a degree in Sports Journalism. Fast forward a few months, I found myself with this internship back in October, and I couldn’t think of a better internship. So, with all that being said, here’s my take on Netflix’s new documentary taking the world by storm, “Full Swing.”
What a year for Netflix to start following golf—I mean 2022 had to have been the craziest year in golf, probably ever. I don’t really need to go into the details about why, as I’d say it’s painfully obvious, but “Full Swing” does an incredibly informative job and takes you on an in-depth journey into the lives of golf’s greatest players. This behind-the-scenes style type of documentary shows the good, the bad, and the ugly of more well-known players like Justin Thomas, Jordan Speith, Brooks Koepka, and more. But it also shows the lives of some lesser-known players, like Joel Dahmen and rookies Sahith Theegala and Mito Pereria. The series also goes into detail about the crazy power struggle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, something I think everyone was itching to see. I’m not going to break down every single episode because I don’t think anyone wants to read all of that. However, here are my overall thoughts and highlights about the series as a whole. Pro Golfers and Us Regular Folks Are Not That Different!
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What is this?This is directly taken off of Golfshot's website. I write these blogs every two weeks or so, about whatever is happening within the golf world. Golfshot Blog |