THE STARTER SHACK
That's it. It's done. Golf is over as we know it... for a week! We've got a full week to coddle our livers before we settle into that sunken impression in our couch to watch the battle between DeChambeau and Brooks at the Ryder Cup. USA vs USA!
🎯 Stricks picks...Team USA
🧐 Will Zalatoris up for PGA Award even though he's not a PGA Member
💰 A golf ball you can afford
⛳️ Leader of every major stat
🎶 We’re Movin’ On Up 🎶...Maybe 🤞
There is now some clarity on who moves up to the PGA Tour vs. those who will continue to grind it out on their Kanisch-esque leather asses.
Golf’s “minor league” season concluded this weekend with the Korn Ferry Tour (KFT) Finals. No cup involved per se...much like a bad experience we had when playing hockey in our youth.
So, how exactly does an otherwise non-exempt player get the chance to peg it up with the world’s best? It used to be simple, you went to PGA Qualifying School (aka Q-School), the last being contested in 2012.
As Alice Cooper once said - (Q)-School’s. Out. For. Ever!
The “easiest” way to be fully exempt for the PGA Tour (ability to pick when/where you play):
- PGA wins (regular events - 2 years, Invitationals/WGCs - 3 years, Majors - 5 years)
- finish top 125 on the previous year’s FedEx Cup (i.e. qualify for the first playoff event)
After this, there is being partially exempt, which relies on KFT season success (complete with the Q-School level trunk slams and parking lot tantrums no doubt):
- Finish top 25 on the KFT regular season money list (aka “The 25”)
- Existing PGA Tour members - medical exemptions, career money list exemptions, etc.
It gets even more confusing when discussing the season-ending KFT Finals events:
- Field - combination of #126-200 on FedEx Cup points list, top 75 KFT Regular Season
- “The 25” also play (basically trying to move up their own list, they can’t lose their cards)
- The remainder of the contestants participate for another different set of 25 Tour cards
- Medallist of “The 25” after the KFT Finals gets full tour membership and a Players invite
- Medallist of KFT Finals also receives a full tour exemption and a spot in the Players
- higher finish gives better options for PGA Tour scheduling
What about Q-School? Yeah, it still exists...although it is to get onto the KFT, and not directly to the PGA Tour:
- Summary - pre-qualify (54 holes), 1st/2nd stages (72 holes), final stage (108 holes)
- Costs: $2950, $5250, $4750, $4250, respectively
- Fields littered with former PGA Tour members, KFT players, Mackenzie Tour players
Good luck getting through this qualifying process only to be left with years of chasing the urethane-covered dream grinding through the above noted gauntlet on the KFT.
And that folks is why we’ve peaked at our Thursday Night Men’s League.
GIMME
- Meet Team USA: here are the 12 pros playing for Team USA including the 6 Captains Picks. Absent from that list is Patrick Reed and apparently, Stricker lost sleep due to that decision. Pretty sure he'll sleep like a baby knowing he's not going to get dragged through the mud by Patrick's wife 🙄.
- Meet Team Europe: sort of. Here are the five players that qualified for the team based on points. Harrington says that he has his six picks ready to go but will have a keen eye on the talent at Wentworth this weekend. We notice that he doesn't have an eye on our Men's League Thursday Night. It's disappointing but it at least takes the pressure off.
- Zalatoris is a Wonderkid: only five players had more top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour this season than Zalatoris and yet he still didn't qualify for the playoffs because he wasn't a full PGA Tour member. BUUUUUUT he might do what hasn't been done in 20 years...win the Rookie of the Year Award without, you know, being a member.
- McIlroy investing in golf: Rory is putting on his big-boy pants and pulling out his fat wallet to invest $10,000,000 in Drive Shack's mini-putt venture, Puttery. The first course in Dallas has a rooftop bar and four 9-hole courses, each offering a different theme.
- Golf Balls for everyone!: want to hit it 300 yards but don't have $300 to spend on magic distance golf balls? Well, here is a list of golf balls for anyone and everyone with high handicaps and empty wallets.
- Who was the best: here is a list of every major stat and who the leaders were. I'm sure you'll notice as we did that there is no "drinks per hole" stat.
- Club Sandwiches: we love a good club sandwich. Not the ones with the Kraft Single cheese slices, slimy deli turkey, and bread that falls apart like a wet cardboard box. We like a bulky, hardy club that will scrub our small intestine out. Here's how to make it.
PIC OF THE DAY
When Tommy Fleetwood found out Vidal Sasson wanted to sponsor him he nearly shat split his pants.
WITB
Patrick Cantlay has been playing clubs that are old and wise. Maybe he'll upgrade from his Titleist 915F fairway wood from 2014 to some new tech with his $15,000,000. Or he could keep it and continue to dominate the competition.
Here's a list of all the clubs that won the FedEx Cup for Cantlay.
INSIDE THE ROPES
Here are all the best aces from the 2020-2021 Season.
Can you imagine playing a hole and only taking one swing? That's usually how we play 16 through 17 if we shank it off the tee...which we do on the regular.
"I'll wait in the cart!"
GOLF GEAR
WHOOP there it is. Where is it? Oh, it's in your shirt.
WHOOP's new smaller device can be worn in your apparel. What next, it's going to measure our skin temperature. Actually, the new version will...and we find that strange.
*not a sponsored post
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We thank you in advance!
Today's email was brought to you by: Nolan Filipenko & Colby Johannson
