Len Ziehm On Golf

SKY VALLEY, Georgia – This is not a report on your traditional golf travel destinations.  Sky Valley Country Club is in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  At an elevation of 3,297 feet it’s the highest and northern- most course in Georgia. The location is a plus for this Georgia Golf Trail layout, which justifiably bills itself as ...

  I can’t say I really know Bryson DeChambeau, but it certainly felt like it after he won the U.S. Open on Sunday at Pinehurst in such dramatic fashion. DeChambeau was just a kid out of Southern Methodist University when he won the U.S. Amateur at Olympia Fields in 2015.  Chicago rarely gets an event of that ...

OCALA, FL. – My starting point as a golf writer came at the 1968 Western Open at Olympia Fields.  Jack Nicklaus won it. Over the next 56 years I’ve reported, commented and interviewed many people in the golf industry. Many times I’ve been asked who is the best interview in the golf world, and my response ...

  OCALA, FL. – Who would have thunk it? There’s some developments over the last two weeks in the pro golf world that defy the imagination – at least mine. These are changing times in golf, and that’s been the case for a while – but I never would have imagined the following series of events in ...

  OCALA, FL. – Unfortunately all the noise impacting the men’s pro golf tours has detracted from what is a huge story in the sport overall this season. The extraordinary accomplishments of Nelly Korda haven’t received nearly the attention they’ve merited. This week should change that. The 79th U.S. Women’s Open tees off on Thursday at Lancaster ...

Bizarre. I’d say that was the best way to sum up the 106th PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville, Ky. No question the golf was great.  So was the drama. Xander Schauffle was 21-under-par in finally winning a major championship on Sunday. You couldn’t beat the drama, either.  Bryson DeChambeau renewed the PGA Tour vs. LIV ...

  Andy Svoboda, the new head professional at Butler National in Oak Brook, has made a big impression since arriving on the Chicago golf scene in March, and this week he could make an even bigger one. Svoboda is one of two Illinois PGA members to qualify for the PGA Championship, which tees off Thursday at Valhalla, ...

  OCALA, FL. – No, I wasn’t at LIV GOLF/Adelaide. Last week’s tournament was played in Australia. This was also one of the few LIV events that I didn’t watch on television. Still, from all I can gather, it provided an opportunity for the fledgling circuit to celebrate. Australia Golf Digest reported a crowd of 35,000 for the ...

  OCALA, FL. – Yes, I know that there has been some monumental golf news  the last few weeks – Nelly Korda winning five LPGA tournaments in a row and Scottie Scheffler getting four wins and a runner-up finish in his last five starts, and both winning major titles during those hot streaks. Those are huge developments, ...

  OCALA, Florida – The 87th Masters in 2023 was a big boost for the LIV Golf League.  This year’s 88th, not so much. It’s inevitable, given the ongoing rivalry between LIV and the PGA Tour, that there are player comparisons any time both circuits have players in the same tournament.  A year ago, in what surprised ...

    MIAMI, FL. – Last year’s Masters was the first tournament where PGA Tour players competed against those who defected to the LIV Golf League.  The LIV guys got the better of that one. Four current LIV players finished  one -two-three and a tie for fourth.   That spoke well for the Saudi-financed circuit that is now in ...

    In the last few years I’ve developed a side writing project.  Being a fairly voracious reader, I’ve been contributing book reviews to my social media outlets. By no means have these been limited to golf. I’ve written about books that I’ve enjoyed on a variety of subjects but have stayed away from reviewing the political ...

Dustin Johnson and Scottie Scheffler don’t play on the same pro golf tour any more, but their play will be intertwined over the next three weeks. Scheffler needed a week’s rest during the Florida Swing’s conclusion at the Valspar Championship last week, but – being a Texas native – he’s playing this week in the Texas ...

PALM HARBOR, Florida — “Cinderella Story’’ is a term used way too much in the sports world. Peter Malnati certainly fit that description when he won the Valspar Championship on Sunday, however. Here was a 10-year member of the PGA Tour getting his second victory nine years after capturing his first. In seven previous Valspars he ...

PALM HARBOR, Florida – The story lines in the first three tournaments of the Florida Swing were certainly different than the one developing in the last one. The most notable things in the Cognizant Classic of the Palm Beaches, which opened four PGA Tour events in March, was a name change for the tournament (it has ...

  ORLANDO, Florida — The Arnold Palmer Invitational was a wonderfully competitive event through 54 holes, but not during Sunday’s final round at Bay Hill. In fact, this latest Signature Event on the PGA Tour was downright boring, and you can blame Scottie Scheffler for that. Scheffler was just too good on a beautiful day, carding the ...

ORLANDO, Florida – The second and third rounds of the Arnold Palmer Invitational couldn’t have been more different. Six players – Shane Lowry, Hideki Matsuyama, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Scottie Scheffler and Wyndham Clark – were tied for the 36-hole lead, and that was the most co-leaders after 36 on the PGA Tour since the Valero ...

  For the record, I’d rather play golf than watch it.  If I need to just watch, I’d rather do it live at the course.  If I can’t do that I’d have to settle for TV or the  Internet.  The latter is what I had to do to see Anthony Kim ‘s return to professional golf ...

In these times of turmoil for professional golf tours it was almost shocking to learn about the upcoming Aramco Team Series. Its first event of 2024 is coming up fast — March 7-10 at Feather Sound Country Club in Clearwater, FL. Imagine an event that is part of the Ladies European Tour (LET) hosting an event ...

PALM HARBOR, FL. – The first two months of the PGA Tour season were marred by unusually bad weather in California and an overly exuberant crowd in Phoenix.  Now – as soon as the last putt drops at the Mexico Open — it’s time to welcome the Florida Swing. The Sunshine State takes over the month ...

With the LIV Golf League venturing outside of the United States for the first time this season, it’s a good time to reflect on what’s happening with this controversial circuit. LIV has had events in Mexico and Las Vegas.  Both certainly fared well going head-to-head with PGA Tour stops, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the ...

The controversial LIV Golf League has only 14 tournaments in its third season, but the first one of 2024 couldn’t have gone any better for the fledgling circuit. LIV’s debut in Mexico went head-to-head with the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which underwent a major format change, was elevated to a “signature’’ event for the ...

    OCALA, FL. – Bernhard Langer, appropriately enough, has always been the focal point of the upcoming Chubb Classic but now – due an unfortunate circumstance – it’s for the wrong reason. Langer tied Hale Irwin’s record for PGA Tour Champions wins with his 46th at last year’s Chubb event, a tournament he has won five times.  ...

ORLANDO, FL. – Every year it’s the same thing – only different. The 71st PGA Show again showcased the newest of the new in golf gear and attire. There were more than 1,000 companies and brands to entice the approximately 30,000 industry members who gathered at Orange County National Golf Center, for the traditional Demo Day, ...

ORLANDO, FL. – PGA Tour Champions opens its season in Hawaii and the PGA Tour has shifted its events to California, but — for the next couple weeks, at least — Orlando is where most of the action is in professional golf. The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions – first event of the Ladies PGA ...

The PGA Tour no longer starts its season with a Tournament of Champions.  The field at last week’s Sentry event in Hawaii, for better or worse, was dominated by players who got in by finishing in the top-50 finish in last year’s FedEx Cup. The LPGA, though, will again celebrate its recent winners at its season-opening ...

The first event on the pro golf tours teed off at The Sentry tournament in Hawaii, on Thursday. Formerly the PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions, it had a new format, with 35 winners on the PGA Tour in 2023 and the top 50 in the 2023 FedEx Cup Playoffs eligible to compete. It’s a good thing ...

  It’s most appropriate to wish all our golf enthusiasts a happy holiday season.  This is a season-ender is like no other, however. Only the much-debated “Framework Agreement,’’ that is to bring together the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Tour, is left among major golf developments in 2023.   The agreed upon deadline for this agreement ...

What? Jon Rahm has jumped to LIV?  Who woulda thunk it?’’ Certainly not me, at least not until the rumors of his signing dragged on long enough to make the actual event almost anticlimactic. This development made it emphatic that the Saudi-backed circuit is here to stay. So, how big was it? Too big for it to ...

  BRADENTON, Florida — Who says who can’t teach an old dog new tricks? In the case of the wonderful world of tournament golf the “old dog’’ is PGA Tour Champions, and the 50-and-over circuit has never been reluctant to try something new. This week, though, it may have gone overboard with its World Golf Champions Cup. It’s ...

  MYAKKA CITY, Florida – When you put Nick Price and David Leadbetter together on a golf project you most likely will have a winner. This week those two were in the spotlight at the ground-breaking for the Soleta Golf Club on the outskirts of Sarasota, FL.  Soleta’s expected opening is in late 2024 and will be ...

  LIV Tour’s second season is history.  The team championship at Doral created great drama and was an appropriate ending to the 2023 campaign. Now, however, the real fun begins. LIV chief executive officer Greg Norman took at least a brief look ahead during lulls in the action at Doral..  He started by confirming that he hasn’t been ...