THE FLATS – Chesson Hadley led four Yellow Jackets at the WM Phoenix Open with his best finish since the fall … Andy Ogletree has two top-10 finishes in two 2023 events on the Asian Tour … Stewart Cink proves prophetic … More details below in this week’s Georgia Tech #ProJackets Report.
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HADLEY PACES JACKETS AT PHOENIX
Posting his highest finish since a T17 in Bermuda at the end of October, Chesson Hadley outpaced the other four Yellow Jackets in the field at last weekend’s WM Phoenix Open, tying for 23rd place at 6-under-par 278. The finish lifted him to No. 125 on the FedEx Cup points list.
Hadley has made $299,832 this season despite missing seven cuts in the 10 events he has played. He also has a T17 at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and a T37 at the Shriners Childrens Open from the fall.
Matt Kuchar, who tied for 32nd, and Stewart Cink, who finished 65th, also made the cut in Phoenix, while Richy Werenski did not. Kuchar is No. 75 on the FedEx Cup points list, while Cink is No. 144.
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OGLETREE RALLIES TO PLAY AFTER FOOD POISONING
Move over, Michael Jordan, there’s a new flu game in sports. Or, rather, an impressive food-poisoning round in golf.
Andy Ogletree is among the leaders after Day 1 of the Asian Tour’s International Series Oman event, but it’s kind of amazing he even made it to the first tee. In an interview after his opening round of four-under-par 68, the 2019 U.S. Amateur champ revealed he spent all of Wednesday night in his hotel bathroom after getting “super sick” from dinner.
According to Ogletree, he came very close to withdrawing, but after receiving medical attention on Thursday morning he was able to make his afternoon tee time. Ogletree said he hoped to eat dinner, but had only consumed four bananas—the only food he could keep down—to that point.
Ogletree went on to shoot 68-75-75-68 for a 2-under-par total of 286 and a tie for seventh place, his second top-10 finish in as many events in 2023. He is No. 7 on the tour’s order of merit.
BREAKING NEWS ….
With @andy_ogletree close to w/drawing after being sick & spent the night sleeping in hotel bathroom
Ate today just four 🍌
Great effort to go out & shoot 6⃣8⃣ @asiantourgolf @AlmoujGolfOman #iglgolf #newsouthford #southernpipeandsupply 👏
✅ @TourMiss pic.twitter.com/t0bwHpi92I
— Golf & Science News (@TOURMISS) February 9, 2023
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CINK ROCKS DURANT SUNS JERSEY AT WM PHOENIX OPEN
The day after the Phoenix Suns pulled off a blockbuster trade for Kevin Durant, Stewart Cink played to the crowd at the 2023 WM Phoenix Open.
Cink, who went to Georgia Tech, lives in Atlanta and is a self-described die-hard Hawks fan, managed to get his hands on a No. 35 Suns jersey with DURANT across the back and wore it while playing the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale.
So how did he manage to get his hands on that, just hours after the trade went down?
“I didn’t know anything about the trade until I woke up. And I’m a Hawks fan, die-hard. So I’ve been paid attention to trade deadline, every couple hours, first thing I do is check to see what the Hawks have done,” he said. “And I read that [Durant trade] and then it just kind of occurs to me that it’s a pretty good opportunity.
“Here we are, the first day the Waste Management Phoenix Open, and Kevin Durant just got traded to the Suns. I wonder if I could get my hands on Kevin Durant?
First off, I’m a huge @ATLHawks fan, but I’m also a @WMPhoenixOpen fans fan!!! Big shoutout to Patsy @BigTimeJerseys for indulging my long-shot idea this morning before my 1st round. Good luck @Suns and @KDTrey5!! https://t.co/igN0TjvfaS
— Stewart Cink (@stewartcink) February 10, 2023
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CINK CORRECTLY PREDICTS SUPER BOWL WINNER AND SCORE
Greg Auman of FoxSports.com asked several PGA Tour golfers who played in the WM Phoenix Open for their predictions on the Super Bowl. One of them picked the correct score, winner and how the game would be won.
Swami Sez….. https://t.co/J5tLOcrtRA
— Stewart Cink (@stewartcink) February 13, 2023
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ELSEWHERE LAST WEEKEND
After experiencing successful weekends in Panama the week before, neither Chris Petefish nor Seth Reeves were able to put together back-to-back high finishes, both missing the cut at the Astara Golf Championship in Bogota, Colombia … Will Dickson finished 27th (209, -7) at the St. Simons Open in his 2023 debut on the GPro Tour.
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RYMER CONTINUES PROMOTION OF MYRTLE BEACH GOLF DESPITE CANCER BATTLE
If Charlie Rymer was to watch some early episodes of the 2022 Charlie Rymer Golf Show that aired on ESPN2, he’d be as unfamiliar with some segments as a first-time viewer.
Rymer doesn’t recall a lot of the filming of a few episodes.
He was in the midst of aggressive treatment for colon cancer in late spring when several episodes were shot.
Surgery to remove about a foot of his colon and serious complications that followed had Rymer hospitalized for nine days, and that was followed by heavy doses of chemotherapy.
Rymer dutifully soldiered on to promote the Myrtle Beach golf market on his show throughout the sometimes debilitating treatment.
“While I was going through the chemo I was also taping a lot of those shows, so I’ve got to tell you, there were some days I just don’t remember very well,” he said. “I was happy to get through them and happy with the way the shows turned out. I really had some neat guests.
“But if you asked me to do the recap of every one of the shows I’d have to go look a few things up on my calendar.”
It’s been a rough few years health-wise for @CharlieRymerPGA, the affable Murrells Inlet resident and former @GolfChannel staple who is promoting @MyrtleBeachGolf for the 5th straight year #MyrtleBeach #MBGolf #GrandStrand https://t.co/XjkpvC81jL via @onthegreenmag #golfmagazine
— alan blondin (@alanblondin) February 9, 2023
