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John Daly was two under and near the top of the leaderboard to start the PGA Championship. Ended at an impressive +2. It would be quite the story for him to make the cut.
 



stocker08 said:
Played Northfork for the first time about a month and half ago for a friends cancer charity tournament. Nice course. Definitely like courses with cheap replay rates. Like I said....I typically like to play 36 on a weekend day. Wild Marsh is great for a full day because of that too. Believe I was charged $20 or so earlier this year to do another full 18.
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Have you ever made it up to Giants Ridge and played their 37 hole special? Legends and Quarry golf courses plus lunch. It isn't the cheapest 36 holes but it's the best combo in Minnesota, in my opinion.
 

golfing18now said:
Have you ever made it up to Giants Ridge and played their 37 hole special? Legends and Quarry golf courses plus lunch. It isn't the cheapest 36 holes but it's the best combo in Minnesota, in my opinion.
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Not yet. But I'm hoping to do that sometime this year.
 

stocker08 said:
Not yet. But I'm hoping to do that sometime this year.
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If you have a little extra time, stay overnight at Fortune Bay Casino and play The Wilderness too. (good pizza place nearby also) Some people actually prefer The Wilderness over Giants Ridge. I don't but many do. They are about 30 minutes apart from each other. All three are in superb condition.

Later this summer, we have a group of six playing these three courses along with Superior National in Lutsen and the Black Bear Casino course. This will be the seventh or eighth time I've done a similar combo. It's absolutely the highlight of my summer.
 

Did the Giants Ridge 37 hole deal a few years ago. Did The Wilderness the day before. Probably the best golf trip you can do in MN and probably a top 10 option for the cost in the whole upper midwest.

I will say that I'm one of those that preferred the Wilderness although you're splitting hairs in that situation.
 



tmvander said:
Did the Giants Ridge 37 hole deal a few years ago. Did The Wilderness the day before. Probably the best golf trip you can do in MN and probably a top 10 option for the cost in the whole upper midwest.

I will say that I'm one of those that preferred the Wilderness although you're splitting hairs in that situation.
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No doubt it is splitting hairs. There are maybe two holes on the front nine that I find a little bit gimmicky. But I'm reaching. I've also never played a solid round on The Wilderness (hard course). But great practice facility, good drinks/burgers at the turn, great scenery, definitely has casino money behind it so always in great shape.

As you said, number one golfing destination in Minnesota.
 

golfing18now said:
No doubt it is splitting hairs. There are maybe two holes on the front nine that I find a little bit gimmicky. But I'm reaching. I've also never played a solid round on The Wilderness (hard course). But great practice facility, good drinks/burgers at the turn, great scenery, definitely has casino money behind it so always in great shape.

As you said, number one golfing destination in Minnesota.
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Absolutely...

I'd say course wise for me it would go Wilderness, Quarry, Legend. The Legend was just sort of forgettable for me on a lot of holes, however at the same time it also has the most memorable in that par 3 on the back 9.
 

tmvander said:
Absolutely...

I'd say course wise for me it would go Wilderness, Quarry, Legend. The Legend was just sort of forgettable for me on a lot of holes, however at the same time it also has the most memorable in that par 3 on the back 9.
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It would be Quarry (if I had one round to play on a course in Minnesota I'm allowed to play it would be Quarry), Legends, Wilderness for me.

I understand what you are saying about Legends. A few holes on the front are pretty ordinary. Also, the 18th hole is probably the weakest on the course which is unfortunate as you should always have a good finishing hole. The 17th is a postcard. Unbelievable.

The Wilderness has two greens (#3 and #5) which are too undulated. The ravine on #5 is ridiculous, in my opinion. Mini golf. But as I said before, I'm reaching. I really like the back nine.
 
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tmvander said:
Absolutely...

I'd say course wise for me it would go Wilderness, Quarry, Legend. The Legend was just sort of forgettable for me on a lot of holes, however at the same time it also has the most memorable in that par 3 on the back 9.
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Three really, really good golf courses. Never got to play the Wilderness nearly as much as I played the two Ridge courses but I love them all. I always thought the Legend was the easiest to score on, but grew to like the Quarry much more than the Legend. I don't think I played the Wilderness more than 2-3 times total.

Gotta make sure you're playing the right time of year when it comes to the bugs. Holy shit, I remember playing the Legend one time and the mosquitoes and gnats were so bad, I was running from the cart to the tee box and teeing off as fast as I could to keep moving. Almost carried me off the golf course.
 




Ope3 said:
Willinger's is the sister course to Legends, same designer/owners just a bit further south. Much sterner test but not as pricey. Pretty good deal there on Tuesday for the budget conscious. 2 really distinct 9s, front is almost links style that circles around a huge marsh. Back is quite wooded (built on a tree farm) similar to what you see on the Brainard Trail.

If you haven't played it, you should try to check it out in fall just as the leaves are changing.
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Rent a cart. Make sure you rent a cart.
 


One would think that Justin Thomas winning his second Major/PGA Championship in a playoff against Will Zalatoris would be exciting and riveting theater.

One would be wrong. The majority of the day the Leaderboard felt like it was the John Deere Classic. Actually the John Deere would have been more fun to watch, they at least make some birdies there.

2 things will be memorable. The guy from Chile imploding on the 18th hole a la Phil at Winged Foot. JT driving #17 par 4 in the playoff with a 3 wood.
 

Ope3 said:
One would think that Justin Thomas winning his second Major/PGA Championship in a playoff against Will Zalatoris would be exciting and riveting theater.

One would be wrong. The majority of the day the Leaderboard felt like it was the John Deere Classic. Actually the John Deere would have been more fun to watch, they at least make some birdies there.

2 things will be memorable. The guy from Chile imploding on the 18th hole a la Phil at Winged Foot. JT driving #17 par 4 in the playoff with a 3 wood.
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I respectfully disagree with your preference. The PGA tour already has a number of tournaments where the winner's scoring exceeds twenty under par, including the week prior at the Byron Nelson (-26 was the winner). I find it much more interesting to watch golf that isn't one birdie after another.

Even within the playoff yesterday, you had a driver and mid-iron to the par five 13th (essentially a par four). Then you had a three wood or even five wood to the 17th which stupidly was called a par four (essentially a very difficult par three). Then in my view a much more interesting and tough 18th hole which required really difficult shot-making under extreme pressure.

I'll take the 18th hole and a tough scoring week over a birdie fest at the John Deer Classic every time.
 

golfing18now said:
I respectfully disagree with your preference. The PGA tour already has a number of tournaments where the winner's scoring exceeds twenty under par, including the week prior at the Byron Nelson (-26 was the winner). I find it much more interesting to watch golf that isn't one birdie after another.

Even within the playoff yesterday, you had a driver and mid-iron to the par five 13th (essentially a par four). Then you had a three wood or even five wood to the 17th which stupidly was called a par four (essentially a very difficult par three). Then in my view a much more interesting and tough 18th hole which required really difficult shot-making under extreme pressure.

I'll take the 18th hole and a tough scoring week over a birdie fest at the John Deer Classic every time.
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I do agree when the victor is minus 20s it's silly.

However when all 4 golfers in the final 2 groups coming into the final round, who were mostly no-names to begin with, shoot above par, just not any excitement there. For me.

There's a happy medium in there somewhere between yesterday and the John Deere, like -10 or high single digits.
 
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Ope3 said:
I do agree when when the victor is minus 20s it's silly.

However when all 4 golfers in the final 2 groups coming into the final round, who were mostly no-names to begin with, shoot above par, just not any excitement there. For me.

There's a happy medium in there somewhere between yesterday and the John Deere, like -10 or high single digits.
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I understand what you are saying. I'm sure CBS probably wasn't too excited when they saw how things shook out after the third round either. For the casual golf fan, the pairings in the last few groups wouldn't have generated much excitement. We didn't see a late charge like we do in other tournaments either. But golf is unique in its week to week results, weather, venue, etc. and I for one appreciate a tournament from time to time where the course wins.
 

golfing18now said:
I understand what you are saying. I'm sure CBS probably wasn't too excited when they saw how things shook out after the third round either. For the casual golf fan, the pairings in the last few groups wouldn't have generated much excitement. We didn't see a late charge like we do in other tournaments either. But golf is unique in its week to week results, weather, venue, etc. and I for one appreciate a tournament from time to time where the course wins.
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Yeah, the rest of the pack came back to JT, he didn't run them down. Still all credit to him, 7 shots back coming in to the round.

Apropos of nothing, I liked the PGA much better on the calendar in August.
 

I don't want these guys to play in impossible conditions or have impossible shots every week, but having them be tested should certainly be the norm as they are pro's. Scoring is exciting but so is watching guys have incredible save shots/holes.
 

Ope3 said:
Yeah, the rest of the pack came back to JT, he didn't run them down. Still all credit to him, 7 shots back coming in to the round.

Apropos of nothing, I liked the PGA much better on the calendar in August.
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I had JT at 15 to 1 so maybe that is why the tournament was more exciting to me? :unsure:
 

Interesting development here with DJ joining the Saudi Tour.

www.startribune.com

Dustin Johnson defies PGA Tour and joins Saudi-funded series

Three months after declaring he was "fully committed" to the PGA Tour, Dustin Johnson is among 42 players in the field for next week's LIV Golf Invitational, which offers a $25 million in prize money that's backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Your move, PGA Tour.
 


Ope3 said:
Interesting development here with DJ joining the Saudi Tour.

www.startribune.com

Dustin Johnson defies PGA Tour and joins Saudi-funded series

Three months after declaring he was "fully committed" to the PGA Tour, Dustin Johnson is among 42 players in the field for next week's LIV Golf Invitational, which offers a $25 million in prize money that's backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Your move, PGA Tour.
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How do you mean? Old ass Mickleson and DJ jumping ship from the PGA to the LIV Tour does absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. Very few golf fans will choose to tune in over even the lower level PGA events. If the LIV organizers were smart....they would avoid putting their events up against the PGA by all means. Hell....toss them on Monday-Thursday and they might see some viewership.
 

stocker08 said:
How do you mean? Old ass Mickleson and DJ jumping ship from the PGA to the LIV Tour does absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. Very few golf fans will choose to tune in over even the lower level PGA events. If the LIV organizers were smart....they would avoid putting their events up against the PGA by all means. Hell....toss them on Monday-Thursday and they might see some viewership.
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I meant the anticipated forthcoming Lifetime Bans or will there be some lesser sanction, especially for the big names?

Even locally, not having Phil or DJ has an impact. I can say personally, I will be less likely to attend to the 3M without those guys in Blaine. Depends on how the field shakes out.

www.startribune.com

3M Open field will suffer high-profile losses to new Saudi-backed golf tour

The new Saudi-backed LIV Golf that debuts Thursday will impact next month's 3M Open in Blaine. The question will be: How much?
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com
 

Ope3 said:
I meant the anticipated forthcoming Lifetime Bans or will there be some lesser sanction, especially for the big names?

Even locally, not having Phil or DJ has an impact. I can say personally, I will be less likely to attend to the 3M without those guys in Blaine. Depends on how the field shakes out.

www.startribune.com

3M Open field will suffer high-profile losses to new Saudi-backed golf tour

The new Saudi-backed LIV Golf that debuts Thursday will impact next month's 3M Open in Blaine. The question will be: How much?
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com
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Oh. I got you. I mean....it would look petty to give lifetime bans to players who jump ship. But I could see them being uninvited to play in majors other than The Masters. Or do the other majors have auto qualifying bids for previous winners?
 

stocker08 said:
Oh. I got you. I mean....it would look petty to give lifetime bans to players who jump ship. But I could see them being uninvited to play in majors other than The Masters. Or do the other majors have auto qualifying bids for previous winners?
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The Majors are there own entity, they set their own rules and will set their field as they see fit. I don't anticipate any of the LIVers being banned from any of them. They could be persuaded by the PGA and Euro Tour to take some action, but I doubt it.

Any Major winner gets a 5 Year exemption to the other 3, so both DJ (2020 Masters) & Phil (2021 PGA) will be eligible for the next few years. For Phil that really only matters for the US Open. He's won the other 3 so as former Champion he's eligible for the Open until age 60 and the PGA and Masters for life. DJ won the US Open in 2016 which gets him a 10 year exemption through 2026 for that event.

Any non-Major winner could have difficulty though. For example the Majors usually save spots for the Top 30 of the PGA Tour from the previous year. If the players are no longer in good standing, they could cancel their invitation.

If they are not Major winners, starting next year, I suspect they will have to rely on the spots reserved based on World Ranking or for the US Open and Open, have to go the local/regional qualifying route.

Another impact to be seen is Ryder Cup eligibility. The Ryder Cup is not affiliated with the PGA Tour, but it uses results from those events to determine the squads. Could still be eligible as Captains picks though.
 
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Ope3 said:
The Majors are there own entity, they set their own rules and will set their field as they see fit. I don't anticipate any of the LIVers being banned from any of them. They could be persuaded by the PGA and Euro Tour to take some action, but I doubt it.

Any Major winner gets a 5 Year exemption to the other 3, so both DJ (2020 Masters) & Phil (2021 PGA) will be eligible for the next few years. Any non-Major winner could have difficulty though. For example the Majors usually save spots for the Top 30 of the PGA Tour from the previous year. If the players are no longer in good standing, they could cancel their invitation.

If they are not Major winners, I suspect they will have to rely on the spots reserved based on World Ranking or for the US Open and Open, have to go the local/regional qualifying route.

Another impact to be seen is Ryder Cup eligibility. The Ryder Cup is not affiliated with the PGA Tour, but it uses results from those events to determine the squads. Could still be eligible as Captains picks though.
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Great post, nailed it on most counts. The majors can do whatever they want, and they will.

Hard to say it's not a good move for DJ, Phil, or any of them really. Gotta do what's right for you and your family, if they're going to throw crazy stupid money at you, you take it. People like to watch great golf, and great golfers; if they can put together decent fields, people will watch.
 

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