Lending a helping Hanse

Long time, no see! The holiday week brings back-to-back newsletters, but we don’t have any PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, LPGA Tour, or PGA Tour Champions action coming up. Don’t you worry, though—we have some fun stuff in store.

The ComMUNIty Project: Doak and Hanse

Some exciting news out of Washington D.C. leads off our newsletter today. Tom Doak and Gil Hanse have agreed to partner with the National Links Trust in an effort to restore and renovate D.C. municipal golf courses. Two of the best known modern golf architects, both Doak and Hanse have offered to waive their usual fees to assist the NLT.

If you aren’t caught up with Part 1 and Part 2 of our ComMUNIty series, the National Links Trust is attempting to win leases for the East Potomac and Rock Creek golf courses in D.C. Both are owned by the National Park Service, but the NPS is currently seeking proposals for long-term management of both layouts. Along with Doak and Hanse, the NLT has also financial backing from Mike Keiser, developer of Bandon Dunes and Sand Valley. The National Links Trust is committed to bringing affordable public golf to the D.C. area, and these new partnerships are a big step in the right direction.

Read Garrett Morrison’s full breakdown of the news, and follow along with our ComMUNIty series as we document the National Links Trust’s pursuit of this project.

Is it Porsh or Porsh-uh?

There is one big pro event on the schedule this week: the European Tour’s Porsche European Open. Taking place in Hamburg, Germany, this tournament has attracted some of the best players in the world. Xander Schauffele, Patrick Reed, and Matt Kuchar head up the American contingent while Paul Casey, Lucas Bjerregaard, Andy Sullivan, Jorge Campillo, and Thomas Pieters lead the Europeans. Young Australian stud Min Woo Lee and the Boy from Bratislava (Rory Sabbatini) are also in the field. Porsche European Open Tee Times

Prep tours

While the new crop of PGA Tour players has been determined, players on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica and the Mackenzie Tour are still looking to earn their way to the Korn Ferry Tour.

The Mackenzie Tour (formerly PGA Tour Canada) has just two events remaining on their schedule, but the PGA Tour Latinoamérica still has half of their season yet to play. The top five players on both orders of merit will earn Korn Ferry Tour cards. Here is how they currently stand.

Mackenzie Tour Order of Merit

1. Paul Barjon
2. Jake Knapp
3. Lorens Chan
4. Taylor Pendrith
5. Hayden Buckley

PGA Tour Latinoamérica Order of Merit

1. Tom Whitney
2. Jared Wolfe
3. Augusto Núñez
4. Mito Pereira
5. Ryan Ruffels

Quick Hooks

European Tour Q-School is underway over in the U.K. Amateur Ryan Lumsden leads the way after a first-round 62. Leaderboard

The NCAA season kicked off last week, and many more teams will have their first tournaments this weekend. Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine has a list of 25 players who could make a run at the Haskins Award this season. Full Article

The Walker Cup, one of the coolest tournaments in golf, is set to begin at Royal Liverpool on Saturday. But there won’t be any TV coverage of it in the U.S., which boggles the mind.

The Latest

Shotgun Start: The great Labor Day card shuffle, Walker Cup sans TV, and Pat Reed’s Masters Porsche

Brendan and Andy return from the long weekend to tidy up the place, doubling back to some of the action from across multiple Tours. Andy is disgusted with the LPGA not giving exemptions the next week to high finishers at an event, as we’ll see with Yealimi Noh following her near-win in Portland. Then they react to the Korn Ferry Tour Championship and enthusiastically welcome the son of the Swing Surgeon back to the PGA Tour. They run through some of the players who got their cards, why this event worked so well, and if it can be replicated on any other Tour. Then they move to this week’s schedule, which is mostly an excuse to rant about the lack of events when there are so many bottlenecks other weeks during the summer. They also discuss the lack of TV coverage for the event of the week, the Walker Cup. In news, they get to Pat Reed’s special Masters Porsche, Bob Koepka’s tweets at Brandel and steamrolling of Little Boy Dru, and a fun Stevie Fountains story from a listener. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, or Stitcher.

Pro Shop

Tiger has been hanging out with his backwards hats at the U.S. Open (tennis) this week. He may not know it, but Fried Egg trucker hats look really good turned around. Get yours today!