Wormburner Weekly

It was the BMW championship and it had some special moments. From a shot all us laymen can relate to, to a steely finish and a tip to shed some strokes around the green, Issue #7 is jam packed with flavor this week. Let’s get into it.

PGA Recap

Wyndham Clark won the BMW Championship, but boy did he sweat for it first. He carried a five-shot lead into Sunday, then proceeded to bogey three of his first ten holes like he was trying to give the trophy away. Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay both smelled blood and closed the gap. And then, because apparently this is just who Wyndham Clark apparently is now, he calmly drained birdie putts on all three of the final holes to close it back out at 17 under. His third win of the year, sixth of his career, and a real strong case for the earning the moniker of Ice Man. Or is that Caleb Williams? Or George Gervin? Was it Val Kilmer in Top Gun? I digress…

Cantlay birdied the last three holes too, for what that's worth, and still finished second. Rory being Rory hung around all week without ever quite landing the knockout blow.

The real drama, though, was happening below the leaderboard. This tournament doubled as the last chance to make the Tour Championship field, and the bubble did not disappoint. Robert MacIntyre shot the round of the day, a 65, and vaulted from 36th to 25th in FedEx Cup points to sneak into East Lake. Gary Woodland climbed from 31st to 18th — despite one particular tee shot we'll be discussing at length in another section of this newsletter. Patrick Cantlay made the single biggest jump of the week, going from 43rd to 19th off his runner-up finish.

On the other side of that bubble: Kurt Kitayama slipped from 28th to 31st, Bud Cauley fell from 29th to 34th, and Rickie Fowler, who opened Sunday with a double bogey on his very first hole, dropped from 30th to 33rd and watched his season end from the outside looking in.

One tournament left. One trophy. And somehow Wyndham Clark kinda looks like the guy to beat.

Worm of the Week

I know this shot all too well. So do you. Stand over the ball, rear back and let ‘er rip, pull yourself up and miss half the ball, sending the ball skittering along the ground like a cockroach when the lights come on. Sound familiar? It's the single most democratic shot in golf. Rich, poor, scratch golfer, 30-handicap, doesn't matter. Everybody tops one (we wish it was just one).

This week, that everybody was Gary Woodland, on the par-4 9th at the BMW Championship, with a chance to tie for the lead.

Woodland had just birdied his way to within one shot of Wyndham Clark, riding real momentum on the back nine of a tournament with $3.6 million and with a spot to continue on at East Lake on the line. He stepped up to the tee, made his swing, and just plain topped it. A stinger. The ‘ole topperoo. He clipped the top of the ball and watched it bounce into the creek in front of the tee like a half-sauced hacker on the 17th hole of an outing sponsored by Rumpleminz. Double bogey. Just like that, he went from one shot off the lead to three shots back, and his tournament was functionally over.

Click here to witness the glorious top shot - volume on for full enjoyment

The beauty of this game is that any one of us clowns who show up every other weekend to swing the wrenches, any scrub who has ever topped a 3-wood off the first tee in front of a full group of strangers waiting on you to get a move on, felt a strange and powerful kinship with a man who has won a U.S. Open at that moment.

The good news for Woodland: he still climbed 13 spots in the FedEx Cup standings and locked up his trip to East Lake. The bad news: none of that erases the tape. Winston has watched the clip several times now, purely for research purposes. He could barely contain himself.

Mr. Woodland, a special thanks for making us all feel just a wee bit closer to you. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, the trophy is well deserved. Enjoy your Worm!

Chili Dip Golf Tip

How to Stop Chunking your Chips

If you've ever chili-dipped a chip shot (and let's be honest, you still do it on occasion, and that’s why this section of the newsletter is named after this exact tragedy), you already know the feeling, the club stops dead in the turf a full two inches behind the ball, and the ball travels somewhere between six inches and "please, God, no."

Here's a fix, and it's simpler than you think.

Weight forward, ball back. Most chunked chips happen because your weight is hanging back on your trail foot, which bottoms the swing out behind the ball instead of at it. Lean your weight toward your front foot — 60/40 at address, and keep it there through the shot. Position the ball slightly back in your stance, closer to your back foot than you'd think is normal. This alone fixes most chili dips before you even swing.

Hands ahead, and keep them there. Your hands should be slightly ahead of the clubhead at address and stay ahead of it all the way through impact. The moment your hands stop and the clubhead catches up (or passes them), that's when the club digs in early. Think "hands lead, clubhead follows" the whole way through. Simply address the ball normally, and then pitch your hands (in other words, lean your club) forward two inches and make your swing.

Let the bounce do its job. Modern wedges have bounce (the bottom part of the iron to oversimplify it) built into the sole for a reason. It's designed to skid through turf, not dig into it. If you're catching it fat, you might be trying to lift the ball instead of letting the club's design do the work. Trust the loft. Hit down and through, not up and under.

Practice swing, then commit. Take one practice swing brushing the grass where the ball actually is. Then step up and repeat that exact motion. Most chunks happen because the real swing looks nothing like the practice one.

Master this and the only thing left to dip around here is the chili. I’m gettin’ hungry just thinking about practicing this shot.

Today in Golf History

On what was almost this date in 1980 (August 24), Tom Watson won the World Series of Golf at Firestone Country Club by two shots over Raymond Floyd. That's the boring part. Here's the good part.

Jack Nicklaus needed this win. Watson and Nicklaus were battling for PGA Player of the Year, and Nicklaus knew a trophy here would keep the race alive. He opened with a 65. He was right in it. And then, on the driving range, he pulled a muscle in his lower back and had to withdraw from the tournament entirely.

One of the greatest golfers who ever lived hurt himself on the range. Not on the course. On the range warming up. The Golden Bear tweaked his back just like you did when trying to nail the guy in the ball retriever cart on the range when he’s 200 out.

Watson went on to win, becoming the first golfer in history to crack $500,000 in a single season. Nicklaus went home with a heating pad, some aspirin and a lesson every weekend hacker already knows in their much less talented bones. Sometimes your body simply says not today pal, and it does not care who you are or how many majors you've won.

Winston has personally never once injured himself on a driving range, but he’s had some close calls due to other golfers. He’ll only talk about those after a few rounds at the 19th.

The Degen Den

Whoa Momma! The Mush is back to form. A thousand apologies to several of the golfers on the card(s) this last week. Lineup # 1 in the 5 buck tourney : place # 47,905 of 65,398 entries. As you may have guessed, that’s good for exactly zero dollars and no change! The accidental second entry managed to be much, much worse. How so you say? Well, how’s place # 60,248 of 65,398? When I add that disclaimer at the end of this section, read it twice people!

Golf Joke of the Week

Two golfers are on the 11th tee when a hearse and funeral procession passes by. The first player stops, removes his cap and bows his head until the procession passes. His playing partner says "That was really a beautiful thing to do." The first golfer says "It was the least I could do. We were married 35 years."