This week's Western Amateur begins tomorrow at Beverly CC in Chicago.
72 holes of stroke play, including 36 on Thursday.
Rounds of 16 and 8 on Friday.
Semifinals and final on Saturday.
Missing 5 of the top 10 in WAGR, including No. 1 Preston Stout, though we'll still have a much clearer Walker Cup picture come Saturday night.
Here are some of the notable Round 1 groupings with WAGR in parentheses:
• Tyler Watts (2), Ethan Fang (6), Miles Russell (7) (all three already on U.S. Walker Cup team along with Stout)
• Luke Poulter (4), Niall Sheils Donegan (19), Daniel Bennett (12)
• Stewart Hagestad (25), Bobby Massa (100), Max Herendeen (26)
• Josiah Gilbert (8), Kihei Akina (11), Jacob Modleski (16)
• Carson Bertagnole (29), Clark Van Gaalen (43), Dean Greyserman (53)
• Eric Lee (14), Jack Turner (17), Connor Williams (21)
• Luke Colton (39), Mason Howell (46), Jackson Herrington (85)
The Kouvin hype is deserved but if you ever want to understand why my generation of golf writers/podcasters can’t quit Spieth, just remember he went 1-1-4-2 in one year of majors when he was two years younger than Kouvin.
Absolutely fascinating era of golf we’re in. As Andy has mentioned before, all of the technological advances the “Class of ‘11” type players grew up with are no longer advantages - everyone has and utilizes them.
All about getting your ball in the hole, and experience shows
Crazy stat: heading into next year's Masters, there won't be a single Major Champion in men's professional golf under 30.
The youngest, Collin Morikawa, turns 30 in February.
After a decade-plus of young major winners, that run has stopped cold.
I talked with Trevor Immelman about it on @fried_egg_golf podcast yesterday. Any theories?