⛳️ Jake Knapp Wins In Mexico

Plus: $500 Million for golf acquisitions, Jon Rahm quotes, and more.

Author

Josey Orr
February 26, 2024

Good Morning! Welcome to Shanks. The Match is on tonight featuring Max Homa, Rory McIlroy, Rose Zhang, and Lexi Thompson. You can find it on TNT at 7pm and apparently they’ll even have DJ Khaled doing some commentary.

BLESS UP.

Survey Update: Thanks to the couple hundred of you that filled out the survey last week. Congrats to Joe from West Virginia on winning the new putter of his choice.

Here's what we've got for ya today:

  • Quick Recap: Mexico Open

  • $500 Million For Golf?

  • 3 Quotes From Jon Rahm ESPN Interview

  • Shots Heard Round The World

  • Eamon Lynch vs. Greg Norman

  • Thing We’d Buy If We Weren’t Broke

Quick Recap: Mexico Open

Jake Knapp Hangs On For First Win

Pull left.

Pull left.

Push right.

And just like that Jake Knapp lost a four stroke lead.

Twice within the final round, Sami Valimaki from Finland tied Knapp, but he was never able to grab the outright lead for himself. Knapp was able to steady himself and hold on for his maiden tour victory.

Knapp became the first golfer in PGAT history to hit two or fewer fairways in the final round of an event and go on to win.

Right now, he’s got a stranglehold on PGAT rookie of the year. His win qualifies him for The Masters, The Players, and The PGA Championship. Plus, he’s now in all the five remaining signature events on the PGAT schedule. Not bad!

People Are Highly Critical Of This Event

There was a lot of chatter on social media about The Mexico Open being lame because of the weaker quality of the field, it being played on an easy resort course, etc.

Basically, a bunch of people think events like The Mexico Open are glorified KFT tournaments.

They aren’t completely off base in those assessments - it wasn’t the best, but it still gave us the most important thing that sports, and golf, have to offer - a great story.

Jake Knapp’s story, is that of a young man with 190+ ball speed who was working as a bouncer last year. He needed money while pursuing his dream of becoming a full PGAT member.

Then, his biggest supporter, his grandfather, passed away from colon cancer in April. Jake dedicated his performance to him said he still sends his grandfather a text after every round. That’s the kind of story worth cheering for, isn’t it?

Shanks Picks Recap 2024

Still up on the year baby! We had Jake Knapp top-twenty and the MTCP hit this week.

Outright Picks: 0-8

Top Five: 1-7

Top Ten: 3-4

Top Twenty: 2-6

Longshot: 1-7

MTCP: 2-2

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$500 Million For Golf?

Here’s everything we know so far…

Who is Centroid Investment Partners?

A South Korean Based Private Equity Firm with over $2 billion in assets run by Jinhyeok Jeong.

Wait, when did they buy Taylormade?

Back in 2021 for a cool $1.7 billion.

What else do they own in golf?

They own the fanciest country club in South Korea, and they also purchased Concert Golf, which operates over 30 clubs according to their website.

Anything else?

Yes, actually. We believe that TaylorMade has secretly acquired putter manufacturer Olson MFG, according to these Trademark Filings.

That would explain why Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda, who are both TM players, have been using Olson MFG putters.

Seems like TM wants to compete with Scotty Cameron (owned by Acushnet) head on.

3 Quotes From The Jon Rahm ESPN Interview

ESPN released the first part of their new interview with Jon Rahm this weekend.

There were a few interesting quotes from Jon to marinate on:

The move to LIV was about the money.

“This is a new change, a big change and I don’t want to skip through this point because there’s no point – a big change in the way the golfers get compensated. I’d be lying if I said it (the money) wasn’t a big part of it.”

On his relationship with Tiger and Rory.

“Rory has been supportive publicly of my decision and he was privately as well. Tiger – no, not really. I texted him and the people that tried to reach out throughout the process of when I signed and I just let him know, ‘Hey, this is a personal decision, I have nothing against anybody’.”

He still wants to play in PGAT events.

“I want to make one thing clear. If allowed, I will still support the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. I’m not giving up and there are still some events I would absolutely love to play, no doubt about it. If my schedule allows, I would go and play.”

Shots Heard Round The World

Eamon Lynch vs. Greg Norman

We just had to link to this piece Eamon Lynch wrote about Greg Norman and OWGR last week. It’s safe to say that Lynch isn’t the biggest fan. The commentary is just… too funny.

This paragraph alone gives you the gist:

“Gaslightin’ Greg says it’s “laughable” that LIV would feature just two of the world’s top 50 golfers if not for recent signings. The insinuation is obvious: the OWGR is discriminating against LIV, and the ranking is obsolete — charges dutifully repeated by his lunkhead loyalists, who probably think critical faculty refers to the frustrated high school teachers who couldn’t help them to a passing grade.”

Thing We'd Buy If We Weren't Broke

New drop alert!

Puma has just released their new Avant golf shoe - and they look classy!

They have two styles The Men’s Avant and the Men’s Avant Wingtip.

Now, can anyone tell us how to keep white golf shoes clean for more than two rounds? No, keeping the ball in play is not a feasible solution for us.

That’s all folks! See you Wednesday with some picks for the Cognizant Classic, formerly known as the Honda Classic. 19 of the top 50 in OWGR will be competing.