2023 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions (Jan 19 - 22)

[ChronicSlicer]

6 minutes ago, Stooch said:

 

I will say Nelly is a slight disadvantage with also playing a brand-new ball, Brooke switched last season (which makes me think she decide to leave Ping last season).  Brooke played well finished second here last season and had a slew of top 10's to start the season.  For about 3 months she seemed uncomfortable about exactly what the ball would do.  Again, these girls are pro's so they figure it out, but I do believe a ball change adds a little more difficulty to the process,

In my very unprofessional opinion, I'd rather swap clubs over balls.

But like you said, they are Pro's, they figure it out pretty quickly.

[bcjim]

Sorry if this has been asked, but how did AJ get in this tournament?

[woahnelly]

8 minutes ago, bcjim said:

Sorry if this has been asked, but how did AJ get in this tournament?

 

AJ and Mo won the 2021 Team Event. 

[Dazgore]

I think swapping balls would be easy as a pro.

During practice etc every shot comes of the middle of the club face, so you should be able to figure it out fairly quickly. Me, with maybe 10% centre face and the rest a lottery would not be able to dial things in at all.

 

Changing clubs and ball a bit harder, as initially you may not be getting centre club face hits.

[bcjim]

26 minutes ago, woahnelly said:

 

AJ and Mo won the 2021 Team Event. 

OK, then, since I'm still not understanding something, who is eligible for this event?

[Argonne69]

2 minutes ago, bcjim said:

OK, then, since I'm still not understanding something, who is eligible for this event?

 

Winners in 2021 and 2022. 

 

[JungleJimbo]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by JungleJimbo

[AKL Kiwi]

Good win by Brooke. It was hard to go past the two highest RR players to win this. I should have stuck with their CME placings though and put Brooke ahead of Nelly and I'm not putting any emphasis on equipment changes since then.....to me Brooke still wins had she used her Ping clubs. It's going to be far more interesting when we get to the next LPGA tournament where we will see a top field competing.  

[18majors]

1 hour ago, AKL Kiwi said:

we get to the next LPGA tournament

 

 

Hello Thailand and hello Lydia!

 

Brooke was the best player all week, no doubt about it.  Her 13 wins moved her to T40 in LPGA history, and her 15 "Hall of Fame" points moved her to within 10 points of Lydia.

 

Can't wait for Thailand, 4 weeks is a long time!

[Titleist_PT23]

2 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

Hate to bring it up, but what on Earth is going on with Ariya? She finished 18 strokes behind Andrea Lee. Oy. 

 

Patty's +14 wasn't a whole lot better. 

 

Maybe they got new clubs and we just don't know about it?😝

[OnTheBag]

3 hours ago, Stooch said:

Again, these girls are pro's so they figure it out, but I do believe a ball change adds a little more difficulty to the process,

A ball change is more traumatic than a club change to all the players I worked with.  Give them any stick with the same setup (lie, loft. face angle, grip, etc...) and they can hit their shot.  Everyone of them can tell a slight ball difference quickly.  

 

Story from the past....I'm bagging for a well known lady.  Get on the first tee and open up a fresh sleeve.  She hits the first two shots and looks at me with a puzzled look.  Change balls on the 2nd tee box.  Same expression on her face.  Third tee box she asks me to get a ball from the second sleeve.  All is well with that one.  Somewhere around the turn, she sees the ball company rep in the gallery and asks for the balls from that first sleeve.  She walks over to give them to him and whispered something in his ear.  Something was wrong with that batch and she could tell by how it performed or felt or something.  It wasn't something that I noticed by the flight of the ball, but she could.  

 

Nowadays, all of the balls are tested before the reps pass them out.  Back then (balata era), not so much. 

 

Professional golfers are a funny group of people.  

[bcjim]

3 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

 

Winners in 2021 and 2022. 

 

Thanks, I actually tried to look it up but the lpga website was not making it obvious.  Or, I'm blind, which is also possible.

[Lobby]

Is Brooke playing with a Taylormade putter?

[Bad9]

8 minutes ago, Lobby said:

Is Brooke playing with a Taylormade putter?

Yes. She’s a TM staffer now. As is Nelly

[JungleJimbo]

 

 

 

 

[JungleJimbo]

On 1/18/2023 at 5:47 PM, Stooch said:

The era of the Taylormade putter begins, let's see what the Spider GT center shaft can do lol

Here what they say she's playing

From Ball to All | Brooke Henderson Becomes Full Member of Team TaylorMade | TaylorMade Golf

 

33 minutes ago, Lobby said:

Is Brooke playing with a Taylormade putter?

 

https://www.taylormadegolf.com/clubhouse/471721-from-ball-to-all-brooke-henderson-becomes-full-member-of-team-taylormade.html?lang=en_US 

(credit: @Stooch for finding this Link

... @Lobby fyi...  more info in the "Brooke switches to Taylormade" thread).

 

WITB FOR BROOKE

• Stealth 2 Plus 9.0° Driver
• Stealth 2 Plus 15.0° 3-wood
• Stealth 2 Plus 19.0° 5-wood
• Stealth 2 Plus 26.0° Rescue
• P·790 5-PW
• Milled Grind 3 52° and 60° wedges
• Spider GT Center Shaft Putter
• TP5x Golf Ball

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by JungleJimbo

[Lobby]

I don’t think the TM putter deserves all the credit for Brooke’s on the green success, as her putting stroke was much improved. 
 

but, many will credit the putter regardless 

[AKL Kiwi]

4 hours ago, 18majors said:

Can't wait for Thailand, 4 weeks is a long time!

The LET field for the Saudi Ladies International the week before should be interesting with a much stronger field than this one. Hopefully we get some good live coverage although the playing hours might be a problem.

[grm24]

4 hours ago, JungleJimbo said:

 

 

https://www.taylormadegolf.com/clubhouse/471721-from-ball-to-all-brooke-henderson-becomes-full-member-of-team-taylormade.html?lang=en_US 

(credit: @Stooch for finding this Link

... @Lobby fyi...  more info in the "Brooke switches to Taylormade" thread).

 

WITB FOR BROOKE

• Stealth 2 Plus 9.0° Driver
• Stealth 2 Plus 15.0° 3-wood
• Stealth 2 Plus 19.0° 5-wood
• Stealth 2 Plus 26.0° Rescue
• P·790 5-PW
• Milled Grind 3 52° and 60° wedges
• Spider GT Center Shaft Putter
• TP5x Golf Ball

 

 

This WITB article shows her playing 3 TM wedges.

 

https://golf.com/gear/winners-bag-brooke-henderson-taylormade-lpga-toc/

 

Wedges: TaylorMade Milled Grind 3 (50/54/60-degrees) SB grinds, (Nippon Modus 105-Stiff)

[elwhippy]

Superb performance. I can see Brooke adding to her major hall this season. 

[grm24]

11 hours ago, woahnelly said:

 

AJ and Mo won the 2021 Team Event. 

Ariya also won the Thailand in 2021 before the team event. She's my favorite LPGA player. Hope she can get her game back. Interesting article on her from GC on Sunday.

 

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/ariya-jutanugarn-last-lpga-opener-she-remains-hopeful

[JungleJimbo]

32 minutes ago, grm24 said:

Ariya also won the Thailand in 2021 before the team event. She's my favorite LPGA player. Hope she can get her game back. Interesting article on her from GC on Sunday.

 

https://www.golfchannel.com/news/ariya-jutanugarn-last-lpga-opener-she-remains-hopeful

yes i recall Ariya got super-emotional after winning the LPGA Honda Thailand in 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by JungleJimbo

[Bad9]

7 hours ago, Lobby said:

I don’t think the TM putter deserves all the credit for Brooke’s on the green success, as her putting stroke was much improved. 
 

but, many will credit the putter regardless 

 

They said on the broadcast she had a back injury (I think they said back) that limited what/how much she could practice and ended up working a lot on her short game.

[18majors]

@Stooch

 

It would be nice if Brooke can check that off from her To-Do list this year:

"Next number one" - Fans react to Brooke Henderson's win at the LPGA TOC

 

@AKL Kiwi

 

Maybe Brooke is the one who'll wrestle with Lydia in 2023!

 

[Stooch]

30 minutes ago, 18majors said:

@Stooch

 

It would be nice if Brooke can check that off from her To-Do list this year:

"Next number one" - Fans react to Brooke Henderson's win at the LPGA TOC

 

@AKL Kiwi

 

Maybe Brooke is the one who'll wrestle with Lydia in 2023!

 

 

IMO Brooke shot herself in the foot last season.  She was sick in Hawaii and had to withdraw she missed 2 cuts in Cali when her putter went really cold and then withdrew from the Pelican (back), that's 4 dead events in her season, plus 2 missed cuts in 2021, I believe.  These things aren't the end of the world to be in the Top 10 but kill ya if you wanna be #1 or #2.  She plays a lot which raises her divisor, and she doesn't care, if it's bad course for her she plays it anyways, when many others pick and choose better IMO.  So unless she goes on a real run of wins, it will be tough to get to the over 7 points needed to be one or two.

 

Example:  Brooke will have 3 wins (1 Major) in the last 12 played events (13 if you count the Pelican WD) and if she's lucky today she passes Lexi to be #6 in the  World.

Edited January 23, 2023 by Stooch

[18majors]

1 hour ago, Stooch said:

She plays a lot which raises her divisor,

 

 

Brooke's divisor as of today is 50, which is much better than the 60 she had during 2016 to 2018 period.

 

I'm hopeful that she will do it this year or sometime in her career even just for one or two weeks.  It would be nice to be addressed as a former No. 1 forever.

[Stooch]

6 minutes ago, 18majors said:

 

 

Brooke's divisor as of today is 50, which is much better than the 60 she had during 2016 to 2018 period.

 

I'm hopeful that she will do it this year or sometime in her career even just for one or two weeks.  It would be nice to be addressed as a former No. 1 forever.

Yeah, I think 50 is fine but prefer around 45.  While the old Kia was my favorite event it does do Brooke a favor not having it anymore.  The one in LA is bad for her also, she missed a couple cuts but she also won it, so she'll always show up.

[18majors]

 

Brooke leads in putts/GIR, everybody else played for second!  Charley and Maja did:

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by 18majors

[AKL Kiwi]

5 hours ago, 18majors said:

Maybe Brooke is the one who'll wrestle with Lydia in 2023!

I'm always a little anxious about predicting what a player might do week from week let alone for the year! but there's no reason to believe Lydia won't start back at the same level of play she finished last year so should certainly be in the mix for a rivalry to any player heading to RR #1. Brooke jumps 1 Rolex placing to #6 ahead of Lexi and gained 24 points for the win which was in the range @18majors predicted. I think Lydia was going to remain at #1 whoever won especially after JYK withdrew.

[postfold]

On 1/22/2023 at 4:40 PM, Argonne69 said:

 Putter was above average. Brooke missed a few birdie putts, but nothing really looked shaky. Could be a big season. 

 

On 1/22/2023 at 5:02 PM, Stooch said:

 

Somebody on twitter said "it's finally nice to see Brooke win a tournament because of her putter and not in spite of it" lol

 

19 hours ago, Lobby said:

I don’t think the TM putter deserves all the credit for Brooke’s on the green success, as her putting stroke was much improved. 
 

but, many will credit the putter regardless 

 

I haven't watched the final round yet, but what stood out to me is that Brooke could have been five or six shots better through Saturday.  She had quite a few putts that just slid by the edge.