40-yard kickoffs, coaching changes, backlash from former LIV stars

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My favorite golf items

Shortcuts and 40 yard drives.

From a visual standpoint, probably my favorite hole on the PGA Tour calendar is No. 18 at Waiale Country Club. The finisher of the Sony Open is a dogleg left par 5 with a distance listed on the card of 551 yards. But what if you took a more direct route? It suddenly plays much shorter.

Enter Charlie Hoffmanwho’s goals so far left throughout the week you can [make your own political joke here, I’m staying out of it]playing the 10th hole instead. His reward? The yardage on the second shot was ridiculously short. His second attempt went just 120 yards on Thursday, 118 yards on Friday and 116 yards on Saturday. In the process, he made three birdies in four days.

So how did he do it? Tom Hogg On Friday, he hit the 10th hole 326 yards for eagle with less than 150 yards to play and posted a photo on Twitter explaining the route.

“Hole 10,” he wrote in a subsequent reply. “The fairway. Perfect.

Other success stories involve taking the far left route, e.g. Camilo Villegas Start at 150 for an easy birdie.

But there are also nightmares.

Part of the charm of this hole—and we mean delightful chaos here, not some awesome architectural spirit—is how bad things can get if you don’t hit the tee shot.

By my count, there were four drives that failed to clear 160 yards—extremely rare for a PGA Tour par 5—and each of those drives likely hit a tree near the tee. (We’re trusting ShotLink here and guessing at the tree issue.)

Ryan Gerrard In the fourth round, he aimed left and hit the ball just 158 ​​yards to the left, resulting in a 330-yard gain from the wrong hole. He ended up bogeying and dropped to a tie for 37th, and a birdie would have put him in a tie for 21st.

Thasi Sigala The third round had only a 107-yard kickoff, and the second round had a kickoff distance of nearly 370 yards. He shot par and finished tied for 37th.

Steven Yeager Shot the shortest shot of the second round, traveling only 119 yards, leaving 360 yards. The German pro ended up tied for third, just shy of the playoffs.

And then there are Barton KeizerThe former winner at Sony Fields, who played No. 18 in this week’s first round, hit the ball just 40 yards from the start and almost over the end of the tee.

Kizir actually stayed out of trouble, hitting his third shot from just seven feet, which set up a great view for birdie. But he missed the opportunity, finishing with a par and opening-round 69, 1-under. We don’t like this – in Monday’s final we’d like to see just about everyone hit every chip – but it reminds us of roulette-style final tee shots and humbling golf holes . Shortcuts and 40-yard drives? This is the game of golf I love.

winner

Who wins this week?

Nick Taylor Finished in ridiculous fashion, eagled the 72nd hole, then birdied the first two holes in the playoff to win Nico Echavarria. Taylor currently has five PGA Tour wins, including the 2023 RBC Canadian Open, the 2024 WM Phoenix Open and now the 2025 Sony Open. He also had an impressive 3-0 record in the playoffs.

“We need some way to slow down the brain, and that’s where the breathing work starts. From that day on, I did breathing exercises twice a day, yoga, meditation, anything to slow down my amygdala, slow this thing down. Speed. I think it was over 150 days ago and I started to see signs, which was exciting.

We support you, Gary.

bunt hitter

In short, there are 5 player actions.

1. Victor Hovland Found working with a swing coach TJ Eaton At Dubai Desert Classic after split with confirmed Joe Mayo.

2. While Hovland did not work with Mayo, another expert is: Webb Simpson! The long-time Tour pro admitted this week that he “didn’t know” how much longer he wanted to “struggle” after a poor spell of form. He has been consulting with Mayo and continues to work with his longtime caddy Paul Tesorialso. (Tesori is now Tom King’s caddy.)

3. Harry Hall is working with legendary swing coach Butch Harmon, which he says has given him more confidence in creating square club faces. We just have to take their word for it, but as often happens when visiting Butch – things get simpler.

“I approached him [last year]he contacted me a few months later and said it was nice to meet you. I started working with him and I played really well from that point on,” Hall said. He finished T10 in Hawaii.

Guess what? It works. McCarthy finished tied for 16th at Sony, thanks in part to a 5.5-stroke gain in putts, and finished eighth there. We suspect a wizard, not a wand.

a big problem

Can LIV create its own young star?

Eugenio Lopez-Chakara He caused a stir over the weekend when he announced his intention to pursue a PGA Tour card after leaving LIV.

In comments to Flushing It Golf, Chakara said he was grateful for his experience at LIV (and his experience as a member), but said the experience was unsatisfactory.

“I saw what it was like to win on the PGA Tour and how your life changes. How you get prime access and ranking points. On LIV, nothing changes, just the money. Whether you finish 30th or 30th It’s not the name that matters, it’s the money. I’m not a guy who wants more money. What changed my life was playing in Hawaii, qualifying for the Masters, qualifying for the Ryder Cup,” Chakara said. .

“When I joined LIV, they promised me OWGR and majors. But it didn’t happen. I trusted them. I was the first youngster and others came after I took the decision. But OWGR and Major still hasn’t happened.

“It’s frustrating, but I’m excited to have new opportunities and see where my game takes me.”

Considering that Chacarra’s breakup with LIV may have been mutual, it’s worth considering the source and taking Chacarra’s comments with a grain of salt. But what’s the sentiment behind these comments? Quite jarring. While we’re used to hearing PGA Tour players criticize their leagues, commissioners, policies, etc., LIV essentially prohibits this practice. From the outside, there’s been a lot of criticism of LIV’s actions, saying it all makes no sense, but we rarely hear players express anything that sounds bad. regret.

The next question is whether LIV has a way to address Chacarra’s objections. Can the Tour develop its own young stars? Chakara parlayed his early success into Ludwig Aberg on the PGA Tour. The two were rivals in college and both have gone on to win since turning pro, but Aberg’s stature has soared, while Chakara believes LIV’s focus remains on its established characters, such as Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mixon, Koepka and more. There is no doubt that LIV already has talented young players (such as David Puig and Caleb Surratt) and continues to recruit more players (including the 22-year-old Korean Tour Player of the Year) Zhang Yubin), but what’s less clear is whether it had the influence to turn them into famous athletes. Will the new season (and the upcoming new TV deal) change that?

Something worth paying attention to

Seen and heard from TGL.

our Sean Zucker TGL was in the building when it launched — and so were ours Claire Rogers, who serves as a digital reporter for the New Alliance. We’ve produced a lot of behind-the-scenes style “What You See” videos over the past few years and this is our first video of 2025.

Find out what they found on their first night at SoFi.

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News from Seattle

Headquarters completed on Monday.

I lost my first golf match of 2025, a nine-hole match at the Interbay Golf Center that ended when my buddy Russell hit a 30-foot birdie last time out. I dreamed of revenge. And the temperature is higher than 44 degrees.

See you next week.

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Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.