Get Equipped: New Vokey Wedge, PXG beginner set
Get Equipped: New Vokey Wedge, PXG beginner set
There are two signs the golf equipment industry is healthy and vibrant as the 2025 season begins. One is that prices are holding firm. Lower prices on drivers, irons, putters and golf balls at the start of the season is a signal equipment makers are not confident golfers are ready to buy new gear, but right now, prices are staying at 2024 levels, and in a few cases, they have gone up in 2025. The other signal arrived in my inbox Monday when a note revealed last week's PGA Merchandise Show attracted more than 33,000 golf industry professionals from 94 countries and all 50 U.S. states, along with more than 1,100 participating brands. That made the 2025 PGA Merchandise Show the most attended since 2009.
Sure, some large brands opt not to attend, but as someone who battled the crowds and walked every aisle in the Orange County Convention Center last week, I can attest the place felt packed Wednesday and Thursday. Booths were busy, and everyone seemed eager to get the year rolling.
If you missed it last week, check out Golfweek's archived "Live Updates: 2025 PGA Show" to get a feel for what it was like in Orlando.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
U.S. Open 2025 live updates: Leaderboard, best pairings for the second round at Oakmont
USA TODAY and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article. Pricing and availability subject to change. How's that for an opener? The U.S. Open 2025 is underway with 18 holes in the books after Thursday's first round at Oakmont Country Club, the highest-ranked private course on the Golfweek's Best state-by-state list. Now it's on to Round 2. If you want leaderboard updates, scores, tee times, highlights and more from the first round, you've come to the right spot. U.S. Open 2025 leaderboard Keep tabs on the U.S. leaderboard, scores and tee times here. Here's what the top of the leaderboard looked like after the first round. These are the only golfers under par after 18 holes. Pos. Golfer Score 1 J.J. Spaun -4 2 Thriston Lawrence -3 T3 Si Woo Kim -2 T3 Brooks Koepka -2 T3 Sungjae Im -2 T6 Ben Griffin -1 T6 Thomas Detry -1 T6 Jon Rahm -1 T6 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen -1 T6 James Nicholas -1 A view of a golf club on the second tee box during a practice round ahead of the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. Where and how to watch the U.S. Open Second round, 6:30 a.m. ET to 5 p.m. ET, Peacock Second round featured groups, 7 a.m. ET to 1 p.m., USGA App, DirecTV, YouTube TV Second round, 1 p.m. ET to 7 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock Second round, 7 p.m. ET to 8 p.m. ET, Peacock Second round, 3 p.m. ET to 8 p.m., Sirius XM Radio Live from the U.S. Open, 8 p.m. ET to 10 p.m. ET, Golf Channel Advertisement See the complete TV and streaming lineup for the entire week here. What's the projected cutline at the U.S. Open? The USGA, which runs the championship, set the cut for the low 60 and ties. After Thursday's first round, that would make the projected cutline 3 over. That would put these guys in jeopardy with 18 holes to play Friday. Pos. Golfer Score T49 Hideki Matsuyama 4 over T49 Matt Fitzpatrick 4 over T49 Wyndham Clark 4 over T49 Rory McIlroy 4 over T79 Joaquin Niemann 5 over T98 Patrick Cantlay 6 over T98 Justin Thomas 6 over T98 Jason Day 6 over T119 Justin Rose 7 over T133 Shane Lowry 9 over Who won the U.S. Open the last time it was at Oakmont? That would be Dustin Johnson in 2016. This is the 10th U.S. Open at Oakmont, the most of any golf course. This article originally appeared on Golfweek: US Open leaderboard live updates: Tee times, TV channel today, odds
USA Today
16 hours ago
- USA Today
Gritty Bryan Hoops wins Golfweek Senior National Championship by eight shots
Gritty Bryan Hoops wins Golfweek Senior National Championship by eight shots Bryan Hoops is navigating his way around the senior circuit largely by word of mouth. Hoops, a gritty competitor, has long tested his game against national competition, it's just that for the past year, the 56-year-old has found himself in a new realm: senior amateur golf. Hoops, of Tempe, Arizona, added to his win column on June 11 with an eight-shot victory at the Golfweek Senior National Championship at Grandover Resort in Greensboro, North Carolina. He piggy-backed this start on top of last week's National Senior Hall of Fame Tournament at High Point (North Carolina) Country Club. 'A bunch of the guys that were in Florida stated that one of the events on the East Coast that they do make it to is either the Hall of Fame or this event. It happened to be back-to-back, it worked for me,' he said of this cross-country trip. Hoops finished one shot out of a playoff at High Point but he resumed his winning ways – he has won five other tournaments since the start of April – at Grandover. As always, there's more to the story than simply the score. Hoops came right from High Point and because of a rain-out weekend, didn't get a chance to play a practice round at Grandover. Normally, that would be a methodical day for Hoops as he carefully constructed a plan of attack for the golf course. Instead, he went into the first round on June 9 blind. Add rainy, muddy conditions and Hoops' uncharacteristic opening 75 . Hoops guesses the conditions added seven to eight shots to competitors' scores across the board. He ended the day three shots off the pace. Rain continued to fall throughout the week and the lift, clean and replace rules went into effect for the final two rounds. 'Everybody had it, I'm just lucky to stay close enough to the lead with all the things that happened,' said Hoops, who was pleased with his ballstriking all three days. Hoops closed with rounds of 66-68 – making a total of nine birdies in those final 36 holes and an eagle in each round – and at 7 under for the tournament, ultimately put eight shots between himself and runner-up Kevin VandenBerg, the two-time reigning Golfweek Senior Player of the Year. The battle between Hoops and VandenBerg for the title over the last two days could become a familiar storyline in senior golf for the next few years. VandenBerg is famous for teeing it up nearly every week – something for which he draws respect from Hoops and other competitors. Hoops' previous two victories came at the Huddleston Cup and the Trans-Mississippi Senior Championship. In April, he won three consecutive senior events – two Golfweek and one Society of Seniors – in the California desert. As the summer amateur calendar intensifies, here's a mind-blowing stat to consider: In more than 100 competitive rounds since December, Hoops has only posted two rounds over par. That makes him a very intriguing character to watch as the summer schedule plays out. Hoops said an email mix-up regarding an exemption into the second round of U.S. Senior Open qualifying will leave him on the outside looking in when that tournament is played at the end of the month, but in July, he will play the British Senior Amateur at Walton Heath Golf Club in England. While there, he will also try to qualify for the British Senior Open. Hoops has a competitive leg up in the latter department because of relationships he has built with pros on various tours who also play at his home course, Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. 'Ken Tanigawa is a real close friend of mine and he goes over two weeks early, plays a bunch of the old places and gets into a lot of stuff,' Hoops said. 'Brings some friends of his – whether it's Tim Herron, whether it's Scott McCarron – all these guys that they play with every week and I'll jump in with those guys and enjoy a week of golf over there, relaxing.' Back home in the U.S., Hoops has several other starts lined up between exemptions, invitationals and USGA qualifiers. 'I filled out a lot of paperwork and I might have tournaments overlapping each other because of late confirmations and so forth so now I have to make a decision – whether I'm going to L.A. or whether I'm going to Seattle,' he said. 'I have to pick and withdraw from one, so the schedule gets a little crazy and it's really a full-time job just to keep up on the schedule.' Once he gets there, Hoops nearly always takes care of business. Super Senior division The Super Senior division was a much tighter race at Grandover than the Senior division. Randy King of Horseshoe Bay, Texas and Greg Goode of Salina, Kansas, both finished 54 holes at 9 over and returned to the course for a playoff. King won on the first extra hole. King finished in the top 5 at the Society of Seniors Senior Masters in April. Goode, meanwhile, is the top super senior player in Golfweek's National Senior Amateur Rankings. Legends division Stephen Fox of Pinehurst, North Carolina, won the Legends title at 2 over. That was five shots better than Bob MacWhinnie of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Super Legends division Pete Allen of Southport, North Carolina, pulled off a runaway victory in the Super Legends division, finishing at 5 over and eight shots ahead of runners-up Frank Polizzi of Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, and John Blank of Frostburg, Maryland.
USA Today
17 hours ago
- USA Today
At Oakmont, Mike Whan doubles down on golf ball rollback: 'We're full-speed ahead'
At Oakmont, Mike Whan doubles down on golf ball rollback: 'We're full-speed ahead' Mike Whan made it clear that despite resistance from the PGA Tour and equipment manufacturers, the governing body is moving forward. With the U.S. Open returning to Oakmont Country Club this week, USGA CEO Mike Whan made it clear that despite resistance from the PGA Tour and equipment manufacturers, the governing body is moving forward with its plans to roll back golf ball performance beginning in 2028. Speaking Wednesday during a pre-tournament press conference, Whan acknowledged the anxiety and controversy surrounding the USGA and R&A's distance-reducing protocols — but he also emphasized the industry needs to take a long-term view. 'We're full-speed ahead on what we've announced,' Whan said. 'Those decisions have been made.' The goal, Whan reiterated, is not to take anything away from the game now but to slow the pace of distance gains that have steadily reshaped men's professional and elite amateur golf over the past decades. 'I get this isn't easy, and everybody has got their own constituents.' What said. 'As an industry, we have to be able to make small adjustments that are in the best interest of the game long-term, that we all know would be better 40 years from now if we were smart enough to make them today.' What's actually changing — and why it matters Starting in January 2028, golf ball manufacturers will have to design their balls to comply with new testing parameters under the Overall Distance Standard (ODS). Instead of testing at a clubhead speed of 120 mph, with a launch angle of 10 degrees and spin rate around 2,520 rpm, the new protocol, the test robot will swing a titanium test club at 125 mph, create an 11-degree launch angle and 2,200 rpm of spin. Under the 2028 testing guidelines, nearly all of today's premium golf balls would be non-conforming, so manufacturers will need to create new balls before 2028 that are slower or produce less distance in order to be deemed conforming and legal for play. To ease the transition, amateur golfers won't be held to the new rules until January 2030, allowing manufacturers and retailers time to adjust stock. Pushback from the pros Since the plan was announced in December, 2023, the idea of changing how golf balls are tested and mandating the use of reduced-distance golf balls has drawn criticism from several corners of the golf world. The PGA Tour, which initially supported a previous version of the rollback under a Model Local Rule, has seemed to reverse course and has not publicly endorsed the finalized rule. Golfweek's Adam Schupak spoke in March with PGA Tour player Brian Harman, who is a member of the tour's Player Advisory Board, and he said, 'I think it's a bad idea. I can't get on board. There are so many more steps we can take to mitigate distance with golf course setup, driver set up before you force companies to R&D a bunch of things.' Whan, who previously served as commissioner of the LPGA Tour and who was an executive vice president with TaylorMade, didn't downplay the tensions involved. But he said discussions between governing bodies and stakeholders have been productive. 'I'm encouraged by the collaborative nature of the discussions,' he said. 'Not everybody will like it. It'll be high anxiety until we get there. But nobody is going to die. The game is going to be great.' A move for the future Whan was asked directly whether the USGA would move ahead with the rollback even if professional tours and ball manufacturers don't support it. His answer left little room for ambiguity. 'This is our job as governance,' Whan said. 'We don't have the same conflicts and contracts and biases. And it's not a fun one.' Whan referenced conversations he's had with Jack Nicklaus, a longtime proponent of rolling back distance in golf. While Nicklaus recently said he'd be willing to 'freeze' current performance levels rather than roll them back, Whan suggested the USGA's plan essentially accomplishes that — just over a longer time frame. 'If you want to keep the distance where it is today, this action that we're talking about is essentially that,' Whan said. 'Maybe in 10 or 15 years, it will feel like the growth of that curve is pretty slow as opposed to the pace we're dealing with today.' Holding the line At its core, Whan said, the USGA's motivation isn't about nostalgia or pleasing any one constituency. It's about taking the long view, even if the benefits won't be obvious for a decade or more. 'We'll be handing [future generations] something we could have made small adjustments on,' Whan said. 'And we will.' The first U.S. Open where the rollback would take effect is expected to be in 2028 — at Pebble Beach, one of the shortest courses on the current major championship rotation. For Whan, the message is clear: The rollback is coming, and the USGA isn't waiting for everyone to agree.
