THE FLATS – Andy Ogletree clinched the Order of Merit title on The Asian Tour International Series, securing 2024 LIV Golf spot … Stewart Cink, Vincent Whaley score top-10 finishes in Bermuda … Roberto Castro involved in bringing new TGL golf league to market … More details below in this week’s Georgia Tech #ProJackets Report.
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OGLETREE CONFIRMED AS INTERNATIONAL SERIES ORDER OF MERIT CHAMPION
Andy Ogletree has been confirmed as The International Series Order of Merit champion for the 2023 season, after his final round at the Hong Kong Open secured the finish needed to wrap up the season-long race with one event to play, and claim that coveted place on next season’s LIV Golf League.
The impressive American golfer held a significant lead over nearest challengers David Puig of Spain and Zimbabwe’s Kieran Vincent going into the Hong Kong Open, and the 25-year-old knew the title would be secured barring any disasters, with one of his rivals realistically having to win outright at the Hong Kong Golf Club to stand any chance.
In the end, Ogletree carded a final-round 69 for a -12 total, level with International Series Singapore champion Puig who shot a final round 68, while Vincent ultimately finished five strokes further back on seven under after a five-under round of 65.
Ogletree, a winner of The International Series events in Qatar and England this season, has now secured a spot on the lucrative LIV Golf League next season as Order of Merit champion, following in the footsteps of Scott Vincent, last year’s overall champion.
He said: “It’s awesome! I am so excited to win the Order of Merit. It’s been a lot of hard work this year and a lot of great golf has gone into this. I just want to thank everyone that’s gotten me to this point: the Asian Tour for all that they’ve done, and my team back home for allowing me to play the way I’ve played this year. I couldn’t be more excited, and I can’t wait to play LIV next year.
“I’ll definitely play a few events on The International Series along with all the LIV events that I’m going to play, so next year should be a great year and I just can’t wait to get started.”
Andy Ogletree is the International Series order of merit champion! 🏆
He qualifies for LIV Golf in 2024 👏#LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/p3HtBVGIAy
— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) November 12, 2023
It’s official!📢@andy_ogletree is the 2023 International Series Order of Merit champion!👏
He earns a full-time spot in the 2024 @livgolf_league season. 🙌🤩
Read more 👇#LIVGolf #InternationalSeries #whereitsAT
— Asian Tour (@asiantourgolf) November 12, 2023
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CINK, WHALEY EARN TOP-10 FINISHES IN BERMUDA
Needing to make significant moves to retain PGA Tour playing privileges for 2024, former Yellow Jackets Stewart Cink and Vincent Whaley each earned top-10 finishes last weekend at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. But they have still have plenty of ground to make up when they tee it up at the Tour’s final event this weekend, The RSM Classic in Sea Island, Ga.
Whaley started out by posting the lowest round of his PGA Tour career, a 63, while Cink shot 64 on Thursday, but while they continued to play well over the weekend, they were unable to keep pace with eventual winner Camilo Villegas, who shot 24-under-par to win. Cink finished in seventh place at 18-under-par 266, while Whaley tied for seventh at 17-under-par 267. Richy Werenski made the cut but tied for 69th at 6-under-par 278.
Entering the final event, Cink is No. 152 in the FedEx Cup points list, while Werenski is No. 155 and Whaley is No. 160. Paul Haley II, who missed the cut, is No. 148. The top 125 after The RSM Classic will have full status on the PGA Tour for 2024.
Chesson Hadley, who rose to No. 104 with a strong performance at the Worldwide Technology Championship two weeks ago, did not play in Bermuda but will tee it up this weekend along with Matt Kuchar (No. 52) and the other four.
Butterfield Bermuda Championship leaderboard
#PROJACKETS
Big day for @Vincewhaley at the @ButterfieldBdaChamp – Opening-round 63 including this birdie.https://t.co/gYjWEPzXlS— Georgia Tech Golf (@GTGolf) November 9, 2023
From one shot outside the cutline to one shot inside of it.@WerenskiR holes it for eagle from the bunker to possibly secure a weekend tee time @Bermuda_Champ. pic.twitter.com/YwTFAFvbxn
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 10, 2023
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OGLETREE DISCUSSES RETURN TO LIV GOLF
Andy Ogletree has revealed he has held conversations with a group of LIV Golf teams, with the American star set to make his permanent return after initially being dumped from the circuit after just one event.
Ogletree has been the man to catch on the Asian Tour’s International Series so far this year, and this is set to earn him a spot back on the LIV setup in 2024. The American heads to the Hong Kong Open this week having all-but confirmed his Saudi league comeback, and ahead of the event talked up his future.
Revealing he has already been in contact with some of LIV Golf’s 12 teams, Ogletree said: “I’ve been in conversations with a couple of different teams, so, I’m trying to figure out which team fits best for me.
“And my conversations have been more about which team I’m going to be on, not so much of the movement of everything. You know, it’s a really exciting time for me, and it’s going to be a really big decision for me going forward of which team that I want to be on.
“Hopefully, I’ll be on that team for a long time. I look at it like a college golf choice. Which team do you want to be on? Which team do you see yourself with and which team gives you the best chance of playing the best golf? It’s super exciting. I’ve definitely been pretty busy the last couple of weeks, even though I’m trying to win a golf tournament.”
Andy Ogletree on earning his way back onto LIV for the 2024 season via the Asian Tour:
“I can’t wait, you know, getting a taste of it early on in the first tournament, I kind of thought going into LIV London that it wouldn’t be my only event last year and I would play at least… pic.twitter.com/PMS6zDZS9K
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) November 12, 2023
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KUCHAR MASTERING THE FLAT STICK
Everyone hates to three putt. For some people, avoiding a hat-trick of putts on one hole for their entire round can be as pleasing as making a single birdie.
But however healthy your relationship with the putter is, you know the less you use it, the better you score. And in the professional game, scoring low via a lack of putter use can make you a whole lot of money. Just ask Matt Kuchar, who has made almost $60 million across his long career.
The PGA Tour’s leading money winner in 2010, Kuchar has just risen to the top of the pile in a key stat with the flat stick. According to PGA Tour records, Kuchar has now gone 212 consecutive holes without three-putting – up to and including the recent World Wide Technology Championship where the American carded a round-wrecking quadruple bogey.
Despite allowing a six-shot lead to slip through his fingers during the penultimate round at the Tiger Woods designed El Cardonal Golf Course at Diamante, Kuchar maintained his composure with the shortest club in his bag and finished just two shots behind emotional winner, Erik van Rooyen in Los Cabos, Mexico.
Regardless of that hiccup, Kuchar moved ahead of LIV Golfer Cameron Smith – who has long been known as one of the best putters in the world – in the no-three-putts table. Rather extraordinarily, Smith had been leading that particular category with a mammoth 205 holes in a row – a sequence that had kept him top on the PGA Tour’s list despite having last played a sanctioned event there in August 2022.
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HOW IS ROBERTO CASTRO INVOLVED IN NEW TGL GOLF LEAGUE?
Cameron Young slides a driver from his bag. He stares at a hole referred to as Texas Hill Country. It’s new to him—a par 4 with sand hazards and rough to avoid. The 26-year-old is in the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking, but he’s not sure how to proceed. He turns to his companion, former pro Roberto Castro. “What’s going on here?” Young asks.
Castro consults with their caddie and reports, “It’s 312 to that bunker there.”
Young makes clean contact. The ball lofts skyward.
But there’s no sky above him. On this steamy day in late October, Young is in an air-conditioned soundstage on the back lot of Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. The building once hosted Nickelodeon TV shows. The “caddie” Castro consulted is virtual—it lives on a 15-inch tablet. The tee is on a patch of natural grass the width of a large mattress. It sits atop wooden pallets on a concrete floor.
Great read. Cool to be a small part of the CapTech team working on a BIG project. @CapTech_Tweets @TGL https://t.co/TrcwmleNnV
— Roberto Castro (@cicioCASTRO) November 9, 2023
