New driver law comes into play
A new rule on driver length (for elite players only!) came into play on January 1st to limit such beasts to a maximum of 46 inches, which is seen as a move by golf’s powers-that-be to counteract a plan by Bryson DeChambeau to go even longer in his quest for greatness.
In actual fact, very few of the game’s leading players actually use driver shafts that extend to 46 inches as it is.
Funnily enough, Pádraig Harrington posted a tweet over the festive season highlighting how the rule change would potentially impact him.
The Dubliner - still competitive on the circuit heading into his 28th year as a professional and with the US Masters in April among those events on his hit list - posted a photograph of two drivers he uses, explaining: “Driver length limited to 46 inches. I might just cut the rubber butt off the end. The longer one is actually within the limits but if I change the driver setting to make it more upright it becomes 1/16(th) of an inch too long.”
On the PGA Tour, DeChambeau’s power game has seen him lead the driver length category for the past two season, averaging 322.1 yards in 2020 and 323.7 in 2021, which in each case became new records.
Interestingly, though, and unlike the longest drives that most of us are familiar with in club or charity outings, there is no requirement for those drives to be on the fairway.
Under the PGA Tour criteria, “the average number of yards per measure drive . . . are measured on two holes per round. Care is taken to select two holes which face in opposite directions to counteract the effect of wind. Drives are measured to the point at which they come to rest regardless of whether they are in the fairway or not.”
Schauffele’s caddie gets in golden reward
As if to re-affirm the special relationship that exists between player and caddie, Olympic gold medallist Xander Schauffele ensured that his bagman Austin Kaiser was left with more than memories of their Tokyo achievement.
Although Schauffle earned a gold medal for his winning performance - joining Justin Rose as the men to have claimed that honour since golf’s return to the Games in Rio ‘16 - there was no such reward for Kaiser, who had walked every step of the way to victory.
In recognition of his caddie’s contribution, Schauffle commissioned a specially made Olympic gold ring for Kaiser over the Christmas period.
Word of Mouth
"2022 is going to be a record breaking year for the LET with the largest total purse and number of events in history." - Tour's chief executive Alexandra Armas on a circuit that will have a total of €24.5 million in total prizemoney with 31 tournaments, including the return of the Irish Open at a venue yet to be decided. The prize fund represents an increase of €4.5m on last year.
By the Numbers
1-1-? - Viktor Hovland - who starts the year ranked seventh in the world - is aiming to carry a winning streak from 2021 into 2022. In his last two tournaments of last year, the Norwegian won the Mayakoba Classic and completed his work with a win in the Hero World Challenge. In heading to Hawaii, Hovland will also be looking for a fourth PGA Tour career win with his three previous successes all coming outside of mainland USA (one in Puerto Rico, two in Mexico) while the Hero was an unofficial event in the Bahamas.
On this day
January 4th 1967 - David Toms - born on this day - proved to be a serial winner on the PGA Tour, amassing 13 titles on the circuit. His highlight? That was of course his one and only Major win, which came in the 2001 US PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club where he showed great cool and calmness in fending off Phil Mickelson down the stretch.
A native of Louisiana, Toms turned professional in 1989 after graduating from Louisiana State University and worked his way on the PGA Tour through the Web.com Tour. His breakthrough win came in the 1997 Quad City Classic (beating Brandel Chamblee by three shots) and he claimed a further three wins on the tour in the 2000 season, which was to be the precursor to his standout year of 2001.
Toms won three times in 2001, including the Compaq Classic of New Orleans and the Michelob Championship . But sandwiched in the middle was that only Major success, where he compiled rounds of 66-65-65-69 for a then record low 72 holes aggregate of 265 in a Major.
Twitter Twaddle
I'd like to thank all the crazies (and real supporters too) for……………..Helping me win the PiP!! To get the 2nd half of the money I have to add an event I haven't played in a while. See you in Kapalua. P.S. I'll try and find another hoe controversial topic soon - Phil Mickelson (apparently having jackpotted the $8m social media impact bonus, yet TBC!) on adding more greenbacks to his bank account and also adding this week's Tournament of Champions onto his schedule.
Honoured to be the most engaged social media on Tour, @PhilMickelson I will let you win the $8m whilst I win a donut - Ian Poulter being Ian Poulter after failing to make the top-10 in the player impact whilst managing to be the most engaged (with followers)….go figure!
*not looking for sympathy or a debate about feeder tours, just thought interesting to share - Without sponsorship or other income, my total profit loss for 2021 would have been a loss of £23k ($31k). 18th on money list, VERY unselfish coaches and next to no caddie all year - English professional Meghan MacLaren, who has an LET card, highlighting how costly life on tour can be and also how prize funds at women's tournaments need to grow, despite the increase announced for the 2022 season.
Know the Rules
Q - During a round, Player A is having one of those days when nothing seems to go his way. For starters, he has failed to put enough balls into his bag and, by the time he reaches the 15th tee, with some shots lost out-of-bounds and other balls consigned to watery graves, he has run out of balls. Is he allowed to borrow balls from one of the players in his group?
A - The ruling is quite straightforward actually. Player A may get a conforming ball from anyone else, including another player on the course. This is covered under Rule 4.2a(1) in the rulebook.
