How much money each PGA Tour player won at the Farmers Insurance Open

How much money each PGA Tour player won at the Farmers Insurance Open https://ift.tt/3iWR7Fu

It pays to play well on the PGA Tour, folks. Just ask this week’s winner, Patrick Reed.

After another entanglement with the Rules of Golf during Saturday’s third round, Reed bounced back to win the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines’ South Course. The 30-year-old will leave San Diego with a ninth win on Tour and the first-place prize of $1,350,000.

Tony Finau, Henrik Norlander, Ryan Palmer, Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland all finished in a five-way tie for second at 9 under, earning $456,375 each.

Check out how much money each player earned this week at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open.

Farmers Insurance Open: Leaderboard | Photos | Winner’s bag
More: Xander Schauffele calls out Reed, PGA Tour

Farmers Insurance Open prize money

Position Player Score Earnings
1 Patrick Reed -14 $1,350,000
T2 Tony Finau -9 $456,375
T2 Henrik Norlander -9 $456,375
T2 Ryan Palmer -9 $456,375
T2 Xander Schauffele -9 $456,375
T2 Viktor Hovland -9 $456,375
T7 Will Zalatoris -8 $235,625
T7 Lanto Griffin -8 $235,625
T7 Jon Rahm -8 $235,625
T10 Luke List -7 $168,125
T10 Francesco Molinari -7 $168,125
T10 Rory Sabbatini -7 $168,125
T10 Peter Malnati -7 $168,125
T10 Sam Ryder -7 $168,125
T10 Adam Scott -7 $168,125
T16 Robby Shelton -6 $125,625
T16 Rory McIlroy -6 $125,625
T18 Charl Schwartzel -5 $80,761
T18 J.T. Poston -5 $80,761
T18 Joseph Bramlett -5 $80,761
T18 Marc Leishman -5 $80,761
T18 Cameron Tringale -5 $80,761
T18 Adam Hadwin -5 $80,761
T18 Ted Potter Jr. -5 $80,761
T18 Bo Hoag -5 $80,761
T18 Kyle Stanley -5 $80,761
T18 Max Homa -5 $80,761
T18 Sam Burns -5 $80,761
T29 Louis Oosthuizen -4 $51,375
T29 Jason Kokrak -4 $51,375
T29 Carlos Ortiz -4 $51,375
T32 Brandt Snedeker -3 $42,825
T32 Wyndham Clark -3 $42,825
T32 Sungjae Im -3 $42,825
T32 Cameron Davis -3 $42,825
T32 Sepp Straka -3 $42,825
T37 Kevin Streelman -2 $34,125
T37 Doug Ghim -2 $34,125
T37 Justin Suh -2 $34,125
T37 Alexander Noren -2 $34,125
T37 Corey Conners -2 $34,125
T42 Lucas Glover -1 $25,875
T42 Tom Lewis -1 $25,875
T42 Brandon Hagy -1 $25,875
T42 Bill Haas -1 $25,875
T42 Will Gordon -1 $25,875
T42 Bronson Burgoon -1 $25,875
T48 Cameron Percy E $19,455
T48 Matt Jones E $19,455
T48 Talor Gooch E $19,455
T48 Gary Woodland E $19,455
T48 Matthew NeSmith E $19,455
T53 Rhein Gibson 1 $17,496
T53 Hideki Matsuyama 1 $17,496
T53 Dylan Frittelli 1 $17,496
T53 Rickie Fowler 1 $17,496
T53 Phil Mickelson 1 $17,496
T53 Michael Kim 1 $17,496
T53 Roger Sloan 1 $17,496
T60 Chase Seiffert 2 $16,575
T60 Xinjun Zhang 2 $16,575
T60 Richy Werenski 2 $16,575
T60 Steve Stricker 2 $16,575
T60 Kelly Kraft 2 $16,575
T65 Harry Higgs 3 $15,900
T65 John Huh 3 $15,900
T65 Danny Lee 3 $15,900
T65 Kyle Mendoza 3 $15,900
T69 Pat Perez 4 $15,375
T69 Tain Lee 4 $15,375
T69 K.J. Choi 4 $15,375
72 Troy Merritt 5 $15,075
T73 Denny McCarthy 6 $14,850
T73 Tim Wilkinson 6 $14,850
T75 Byeong-Hun An 8 $14,550
T75 Tyler McCumber 8 $14,550
T77 Kevin Stadler 9 $14,250
T77 Jason Dufner 9 $14,250
79 Grayson Murray 10 $14,025

Farmers Insurance Open photos

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Xander Schauffele says Patrick Reed is 'protected by the (PGA) Tour' after latest rules situation

Xander Schauffele says Patrick Reed is 'protected by the (PGA) Tour' after latest rules situation https://ift.tt/3iWR7Fu

A lot of times fans will get frustrated with athletes for giving the same old, same old answers in interviews or press conferences after competition.

That wasn’t the case with Xander Schauffele after Sunday’s final round of the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

The talk of the weekend at the PGA Tour’s annual stop in San Diego surrounded Patrick Reed (and later Rory McIlroy) and a situation with an embedded ball during Saturday’s round.

“I mean, he did everything by the book according to the official and everyone stood by there,” said Schauffele, who didn’t search for video of Reed’s situation but heard players talking about it. “Obviously the talk amongst the boys isn’t great, I guess, but he’s protected by the Tour and that’s all that matters, I guess.”

Farmers Insurance Open: Leaderboard | Photos | Winner’s bag

When asked if he’d ever ran into a similar situation on the course, Schauffele’s response was direct and to the point: “I would not put myself and create a situation like that.

“If my ball’s embedded, I usually will wait and call someone and kind of wait until everyone’s on the same page, wait to look at video,” he continued. “So I try to avoid situations like that just for that reason.”

The San Diego native finished in a five-way tie for second at 9 under, five strokes behind Reed.

Lanto Griffin, who finished T-7 alongside Jon Rahm and Will Zalatoris, was also asked about Reed’s embedded ball situation, saying “it’s tough to see, it’s sad, kind of pisses us off, but it’s the way it is. Hopefully something changes and come to a conclusion.”

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Winner's Bag: Patrick Reed, Farmers Insurance Open

Winner's Bag: Patrick Reed, Farmers Insurance Open https://ift.tt/3iWR7Fu

A complete list of the golf equipment Patrick Reed used to win the PGA Tour’s 2021 Farmers Insurance Open:

DRIVER: Titleist TSi3 (9 degrees), with Aldila Rogue Silver 70 X shaft

FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade SIM (15 degrees), with Aldila Rogue Black 70 X shaft

HYBRID: Callaway Apex (20 degrees), with Aldila Rogue Black 105 TX shaft

IRONS: Grindworks Patrick Reed Forged prototype (4-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts

WEDGES: Artisan (52 degrees), Titleist Vokey Design SM8 Raw (56 degrees), Titleist Vokey Design SM6 (62 degrees), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts

PUTTER: Scotty Cameron for Titleist Tour Rat prototype

BALL: Titleist Pro V1

GRIPS: Golf Pride MCC

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Patrick Reed bounces back to win Farmers Insurance Open after hectic weekend

Patrick Reed bounces back to win Farmers Insurance Open after hectic weekend https://ift.tt/3iWR7Fu

Watching Patrick Reed on Sunday, you’d never know that just 24 hours earlier he was at the center of another entanglement with the Rules of Golf (later joined by Rory McIlroy).

Following a situation with an embedded ball in the third round, Reed shared a lead with Carlos Ortiz entering the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego, but he was alone atop the leaderboard when all was said and done. The 30-year-old fired a 4-under 68 on Sunday to win the Farmers at 14 under for his ninth victory on the PGA Tour. Since earning his Tour card in 2013, Reed has won every year except 2017.

Farmers Insurance Open: Leaderboard | Photos | Winner’s bag

In his previous two starts so far this year, Reed finished T-21 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and missed the cut at last week’s American Express.

Tony Finau, Henrik Norlander, Ryan Palmer, Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland finished in a five-way tie for second at 9 under.

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College golf is gearing up, but with an added COVID wrinkle: attestation forms

College golf is gearing up, but with an added COVID wrinkle: attestation forms https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

By the time a college golf coach gets his or her entire lineup to the first tee of a tournament this spring, a major hurdle will have been cleared. Central Florida head women’s golf coach Emily Marron will be among several coaches breathing a sigh of relief at that point.

“I think the most stressful part now for us is testing,” Marron said in talking about the COVID protocols that are allowing college golf to go forward this spring. “It’s a little bit of anxiety for (student-athletes) too. They all feel healthy, we’re doing symptom tests, but you just never know, and it’s just a whole new thing.”

Marron is hosting the UCF Challenge at Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando this week. It’s one of the first women’s college tournaments of the spring. For the 17 teams in the field, the previous Wednesday was a big day. Many conferences have COVID testing protocols in place that require student-athletes to undergo a PCR test 72 hours before the start of competition – which, in college golf, means the practice round.

That’s where attestation forms come in. In many cases, schools or conferences require that every other team in the field attest that every individual in its travel party has achieved a specified level of COVID testing. That’s verified by an attestation form, which must be received from each individual school or conference in the field.

“We got a form back in December from our conference saying if you play anybody outside of our conference, you’re going to have to have them sign this form,” said Marron, who coaches in the American Athletic Conference. “All of the conferences, it’s all the same.”

Seven conferences are represented in the 17-team UCF Challenge field, which makes for quite a bit of paper trading when it comes to COVID attestation forms. There’s no real guidebook to this, and so Marron has worked to learn the process and streamline it. That involves email threads to each conference instead of each school.

College golf blog: The road to Grayhawk 

Some aspects of attestation forms suit other sports better than golf. For example, golf teams don’t often travel with a trainer and in some cases, Marron said, verbiage on the form indicates it should be exchanged among schools three hours prior to competition. That might work for a soccer or volleyball game, but not a three-day golf tournament.

Much of the responsibility for the paperwork falls on a university’s trainer or medical staff as opposed to the coach, as Marron noted. The coach, of course, has a vested interest in making sure it all gets done.

Establishing a system

Teams in the SEC got to play three conference-only tournaments in the fall, which made COVID attestation forms a non-issue. When Golda Borst, head women’s golf coach at Kentucky, realized how many forms would need to be traded back and forth in order for her team to play in the UCF Challenge, she decided to divide and conquer with another SEC coach in the field.

“The SEC, the Big 12 and the ACC, those three conferences got together and said if we play each other, our COVID testing guidelines are the same,” she said. “We don’t need forms from each other because we’re all good, but everybody else, we have to have signed forms from.”

Ultimately, some schools will be at the mercy of other schools to return the necessary forms or they might not be able to compete.

“It’s a little stressful but I also know every school we’re playing against here, I can call up the head coach and they’re going to get it signed,” Borst said.

It’s not just the forms that makes this year look different. Teams eating out in restaurants are a thing of the past. Borst said she is required to create a more detailed travel plan, for instance charting where student-athletes will sit in the team van or bus and restricting hotel room assignments to less than three individuals. After the fall season, the SEC determined that quick meals or snacks in the team van are a way the virus spreads, so those are out, too.

“It’s very dependent on the school,” Borst said of such guidelines. “We have our SEC guidelines but then also UK might have their guidelines.”

Marron may be navigating the attestation process first through her host duties, but many other coaches will face it eventually. Houston head women’s golf coach Gerrod Chadwell, whose team is also competing in this week’s UCF Challenge, is already receiving blank attestation forms for his Houston-hosted Icon Invitational in three weeks. Chadwell, also in the American Athletic Conference, would like to see the attestation process become less redundant.

“I think this could all be resolved by the tournament has its own attestation form and that’s it,” Chadwell said. “You sign it, and if you need to, send yours to somewhere else. We’re all abiding by the same protocol.”

Chadwell also wonders why coaches can’t attest on-site to the COVID testing their teams have undergone rather than require university medical staff to complete the forms. He raises a valid question: “We can keep our whole team’s score if we play in a group of five, but I can’t attest that my kids have tested negative to play in a tournament?”

Language is key

When Ryan Blagg’s Louisville men’s golf team was invited to fill a last-minute spot in last week’s Southwestern Invitational (one left vacant when UCLA pulled out because of COVID protocols), Blagg’s first question was about testing protocols. He knew his team couldn’t compete unless every team already in the field was abiding by the ACC’s protocol of 72-hour PCR testing. Tournament host Michael Beard, head men’s golf coach at Pepperdine, made it a priority.

“I had our guy send the form to him and he sent it out to all the coaches saying get this to your administrators,” Blagg said. “And we got it done in about 12 hours, which was pretty fast.”

Blagg has learned that it all boils to the language and the level of testing. The key is that all schools must abide by the 72-hour PCR test if they’re in a field with a conference school that requires one, even if their conference doesn’t require that level of testing. Many smaller schools and conferences are testing at that level anyway.

At the University of Alabama Birmingham, players tested once a week from the time they arrived on campus in the fall to the time they went home for the holidays.

“There aren’t very many schools in the country that test golfers like we do,” said Mike Wilson, head men’s golf coach at UAB. The Blazers, undefeated in three fall starts, never encountered a Power 5 school in the fall. UAB competes in Conference USA, and Wilson ended the fall by hosting the Graeme McDowell Invitational in Birmingham, Alabama. He doesn’t remember filling out attestation forms.

“We made it pretty simple on our end, even when we hosted, you basically just had to provide (evidence) the team that was traveling to the tournament had tested negative 72 hours before the start of the practice round,” he said.

In college golf, connection is achieved through common opponents. The validity of the rankings depends on it, and a postseason field that’s truly made up of the best teams depends on valid rankings. Attestation forms will be the price to achieve that.

Scott Schroeder, head men’s golf coach at the University of North Florida, co-hosted the Timuquana Intercollegiate last week – which included a 11-team field made up of four conferences, including the ACC and SEC. UNF competes in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

“For our event at Timuquana, we had four different conferences – so we had the ACC, SEC and Big 12 – and then UNF also had a form,” he said. “Six schools had to sign four forms and then there were five schools that only had to sign one form.”

Schroeder collected the forms himself and sent them on to the conferences. Otherwise, he said, he wouldn’t know whether every school had truly completed the necessary forms. He views it as more of a pain for university administrators than for coaches and hopes to see the process more streamlined.

“This needs to be viewed as a small sacrifice for the student-athletes to play. We haven’t played in over 10 months for some of us,” he said. “It’s not great, but it’s better than not playing.”

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Rory McIlroy involved in similar embedded ball situation to Patrick Reed in Farmers Insurance Open third round

Rory McIlroy involved in similar embedded ball situation to Patrick Reed in Farmers Insurance Open third round https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

SAN DIEGO – Turns out there was another embedded ball incident during Saturday’s third round of the Farmers Insurance Open.

The golf world knows of the first one – when Patrick Reed was cleared of any rules violation when he took relief for an embedded ball on the 10th hole.

Replays of the incident caused a firestorm on social media, with some saying Reed took liberty with the rules, while others were much harsher. Especially seeing as Reed was involved in a rules fiasco in the 2019 Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. He took two practice swings that scraped the sand and improved his lie on both occasions on the 11th hole. Cameras caught the infraction. After the round, Reed pleaded his case, bringing up the angle of the cameras, but was assessed a two-stroke penalty.

Well, a few hours after Reed’s episode in the third round at Torrey Pines, Rory McIlroy was involved in a similar incident.

On the par-5 18th, McIlroy’s second shot wound up in the rough right of the fairway. McIlroy said after the round he asked a marshal if the ball bounced and was told they had not seen it bounce. McIlroy alerted his playing partner Rory Sabbatini that he was going to check if the ball was embedded. He determined it was, took free relief, and wound up making a par.

On Sunday morning, the PGA Tour released a statement concerning McIlroy’s drop.

“John Mutch, Ken Tackett and Gary Young have reviewed the Rory McIlroy videos from No. 18 yesterday and determined that it was virtually the same situation that Patrick Reed faced on No. 10 during the third round,” the statement read. “It was reasonable for both players to conclude – based on the fact that they did not see the ball land but given the lie of the ball in soft course conditions – that they proceed as the Rule allows for a potential embedded ball.

“They marked, lifted and assessed the situation to determine if the ball was embedded. Patrick went one step further and called in a Rules Official to be sure his assessment would not be questioned (although this step is not required). Both players took proper relief under the Rule 16/3. The Committee is comfortable with how both players proceeded given the fact that they used the evidence they had at the time.”

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Paul Casey wins 15th European Tour title at Omega Dubai Desert Classic

Paul Casey wins 15th European Tour title at Omega Dubai Desert Classic https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Paul Casey reached a European Tour milestone on Sunday, winning for the 15th time on that circuit at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Casey, who won his first Euro Tour title 20 years at the Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship, is the 18th golfer to reach win No. 15.

“Fifteen wins is pretty cool,” said Casey after his round. “I’m all emotional with wins, but with this one. … this one is such a prestigious event, the history which is behind you, and I can see it from here with amazing winners, is basically a Who’s Who in world golf. Dubai have given so much to golf, European Tour golf in general and across the globe.”

It was his first time playing the Dubai Desert Classic in seven years. The victory should vault him back into the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Omega Dubai Desert Classic: Leaderboard

Casey shot a third-round 64 to vault up the leaderboard and take a one-shot lead into the final round. He shot a final-round 70 to get to 17 under and won the event by four shots. Brandon Stone finished in second at 13 under. Robert Macintyre shot a 74 and finished third at 12 under. Laurie Cantor and Kalle Samooja finished tied for fifth at 10 under.

Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia and Bernd Wiesberger finished T-6 at 9 under. Tyrrell Hatton, who won the Euro Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship a week ago, finished T-22 at 5 under.

Next week is the third straight event in the Middle East for the Euro Tour at the Saudi International at Royal Greens G&CC in Saudi Arabia.

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Angela Stanford doesn’t mind being a late bloomer. She’s still unrelenting in her quest to get better.

Angela Stanford doesn’t mind being a late bloomer. She’s still unrelenting in her quest to get better. https://ift.tt/2YyGFe5

Angela Stanford stayed with her family across the street from Champions Golf Club during the 75th U.S. Women’s Open. When she walked in the door after a gut-wrenching opening round of 80, her parents were sitting on the couch and her dad, Steve, had already opened up a Coors Original.

“You want one of these?” he asked, offering up a beer.

“Yeah,” Stanford replied.

Such a fickle game. Four days prior, the trio had been on top of the proverbial mountain in suburban Dallas, with Angela winning on the LPGA for the first time in front of her parents at the Volunteers of America Classic. Now, with expectations and emotions running as high as the clouds, Stanford hit the opening tee shot in her home state of Texas – “God’s country,” as she calls it – and proceeded to play the first four holes in six over par.

Double, bogey, bogey, double.

The heart that once swelled so big it could bust was ripped out in about an hour.

“Standing over a par putt on the fifth hole, I’m just praying and begging for this 3-footer to go in,” said Stanford. “I’m like, I’ve got to make a par.”

2020 U.S. Women's Open

Angela Stanford watches her tee shot on the first hole during the first round at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open at Champions Golf Club (Cypress Creek Course) in Houston, Texas on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)

In a way, the fact that it was so bad almost made it easier to get over. A missed put on Friday to miss the weekend by one might have stung even harder.

Still, learning how to deal with moments that run high on emotion remains something of an enigma to Stanford. And at 43, she’s perfectly fine with having questions about her game that remained unanswered. The fact that there’s still so much left to unlock is what drives her to want more after two decades on tour.

“I love that I’ve been a late bloomer,” she said. “I love that it takes me a little bit longer than most. I tell people I’m slow at everything, except when I get behind the wheel.”

After the 2020 season came to an end – she’s still vexed that she hasn’t figured out how to play Tiburon Golf Club, site of the CME Group Tour Championship – Stanford put her clubs away and headed north to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where she has a little place and likes to ski at Wolf Creek. She also spent time on the slopes with friends in Vail and then flew to Montana to ski some more.

Stanford has skied for a long as she can remember, taking road trips with her family to Red River, New Mexico. Skiing, she said, is the only thing she can do that truly gets her away from golf.

“There’s something about being on a ski lift, the quiet and the peace,” she said. “For me it’s a spiritual thing.”

Friends gave her a hard time for having the shortest skis. She might be the best skier in the group, but the seven-time LPGA winner knows her limitations and she stays within them.

Going into the season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, Stanford hit fewer than a dozen balls into a net. She has a putting mat and a weighted club at her home in Colorado, and she poured through statistics, looking for new goals for the 2021 season.

But for the most part, she went into the TOC with zero expectations and finished tied for fifth. The real work on her game gets started in offseason No. 2, as the tour takes a month off before returning to Orlando in late February. (Stanford does have one more ski trip to Park City planned.)

For 2021, Stanford told instructor Todd Kolb that she wanted to go about her goals differently this time around.

“If you look at my history,” she said, “I’ll win and then I’ll play bad … disappear for months. I’ve got to figure out what’s going on there.”

While Stanford has long prided herself on being a consistent player, it frustrates her that she has never come close to winning the Vare Trophy for low scoring average.

“You can be consistently average,” she concluded.

The fact that Stanford isn’t afraid to look in the mirror at this stage in her career and honestly assess what needs to improve makes Kolb’s job that much easier. He’s not one to sugarcoat either.

“Let’s just get after it,” said Kolb, who points to two specific stats that draw a direct line to Stanford’s success.

The first: average length of her first putt after a missed green.

“I always tell people chipping differentiates,” said Kolb.

The second: tracking her conversion rate on birdie putts from 9 to 15 feet.

“That’s the range that great players are hitting it when they’re hitting the ball well,” he said.

Stanford, a Solheim Cup assistant captain who might end up playing, has greatly enjoyed her weekly Zoom chats with fellow assistant Michelle Wie and captain Pat Hurst. She downplays whether or not she’ll be hitting shots in Toledo.

Angela Stanford tees off at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions (courtesy Diamond Resorts).

For someone who isn’t really into stats, Stanford has found that being aware of where she stands with certain numbers helps her to maintain focus during rounds. Keeping a running count of total putts and fairways hit at the TOC, for example, kept her in the present with mini-goals.

There is one goal, however, that’s so big that she hasn’t even put it down on paper.

“If you talk to anybody this year and they don’t mention playing the Olympics,” said Stanford, “then they’re lying. So I don’t want to lie to you. Playing in the Olympics is a dream for every athlete … that’s probably the long shot.”

She won he first major at age 40. Why not?

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Former LSU star wins APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open Invitational at Torrey Pines

Former LSU star wins APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open Invitational at Torrey Pines https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

While the Farmers Insurance Open completed its third round on the South Course Saturday at Torrey Pines, the APGA Tour made use of the North Course.

Former LSU star Landon Lyons won the APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open Invitational Saturday after carding two sets of consecutive birdies over his final dozen holes to win the Torrey Pines 27-hole event at 5 under.

Reigning champion Tim O’Neal finished three shots back at 2 under to earn second place. Kevin Hall, the APGA’s 2016 Player of the Year who led early Saturday, finished third at 1 under. Lyons pulled ahead of Hall after the opening 18 holes after carding birdies on 16 and 17.

The remainder of the leaderboard finished under par in La Jolla, California.

Lyons earned $16,750 for his first-place finish out of the total purse of $60,000.

The APGA is a non-profit organization aimed at helping Black golfers and other minorities in the sport compete on the highest levels of professional golf, both on the course and in the industry itself.

Next on the APGA schedule is the APGATour Classic, Feb. 20-21 at PGA Golf Club’s Dye Course in Port St Lucie, Florida.

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Carlos Ortiz gets best of South Course, shares 54-hole lead at Farmers Insurance Open

Carlos Ortiz gets best of South Course, shares 54-hole lead at Farmers Insurance Open https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

SAN DIEGO – Carlos Ortiz played the South Course at Torrey Pines during Saturday’s third round of the Farmers Insurance Open.

No, really, he did. Seriously, no fooling.

While most others were having their fair share of troubles on the brutal layout despite warm temperatures, little wind and plenty of sunshine, Ortiz got the best of the brute en route to a 6-under-par 66 and shot up the leaderboard into a share of the 54-hole lead with Patrick Reed.

His 66 was the day’s best round by two shots. The field averaged 73.57.

So, yes, Ortiz was entitled to flash a huge smile when asked after the round exactly what course he had played on Saturday.

Farmers Insurance OpenLeaderboard | Photos

“Today was a beautiful day, I don’t think it gets any better than this anywhere. I took advantage of that, I hit the ball great and made a couple putts and when you do that it normally is a good outcome,” Ortiz said. “It doesn’t really matter pretty much until the last nine holes. My goal is to be in contention going into the last round, last nine holes, and I think I’m going to have a good chance tomorrow.”

His lone bogey came on the 11th and he birdied four of his last six holes. He also wasn’t bothered by an adventurous ninth hole when he chipped in for par.

“Oh, my God, I don’t want to walk you through that. I mean, it was one of those holes that I hit it five times and I made 5,” he said. “I feel like I played three holes in one hole, it was just exhausting hitting out of the rough.

“I was really aggravated and I was really energized after making that chip. I don’t know how to react. I was mad and at the same time, happy I made it. I don’t know, it was just one of those holes that I’m glad I made 5.”

Ortiz broke through for his first PGA Tour title in last year’s Vivant Houston Open. He has risen to No. 54 in the world.

MORE: Patrick Reed involved in rules controversy at Torrey Pines

“I’m having a different perspective on the way I’m playing,” he said. “I’m taking it easier, I’m trying to see the good things in everything, not only on the golf course. I just want to come out here, give my best. If my best is 78 or 66, that’s OK, but as long as I give my best, that’s all I’m trying to do here right now.”

Ortiz shares the lead with Reed, who was involved in a rules controversy and overcame four bogeys on the back nine to birdie his final hole for a 72. The two are at 10 under.

Five players are tied for third – 2017 Farmers champion Jon Rahm (72), Sam Burns (70), Lanto Griffin (72), Viktor Hovland (73) and Adam Scott (72).

Scott had one of the wildest rounds one has ever posted. He didn’t make his first par until the fifth – and he had to get up-and-down from 50 yards to make that par. In all, he had five birdies, five bogeys, an eagle and a double bogey.

“I had 72; it felt like 80 at one point and it felt like it was going to be 67 at one point,” Scott said. “It’s a hard golf course and I got a little out of sorts coming in there, which is disappointing, but I’m a couple back and got a chance tomorrow.

“If you’re not on top of your game on these tough courses, you know it’s a pretty demanding golf course in that wind today, a lot of holes into the wind on the back nine. You miss the fairway, it’s hard to hit a green you’re so far back. So really it was a combination of those two things coming in, leaving yourself work around the greens. It was tough putting the last nine holes today.

“If I can just kind of find about 16 really good holes tomorrow and limit the damage out here, I think I’ve got a good shot at it. It can turn around quick, there’s opportunities if you hit good shots and you get penalized if you hit bad ones. I’ve got to find a bag full of good ones tomorrow.”

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Lynch: Angry about Patrick Reed's rules interpretation? Imagine if you had a bet on it.

Lynch: Angry about Patrick Reed's rules interpretation? Imagine if you had a bet on it. https://ift.tt/3pDaplR

It’s almost awe-inspiring how Patrick Reed can slough off rules controversies with the unruffled disdain that one imagines Uday and Qusay greeted parking tickets in once-upon-a-time Baghdad.

Perhaps a man develops bulletproof confidence in the face of firing squads when he knows others are paid to throw themselves in front of the fusillade. How else to explain the scale of self-assurance that permits a professional golfer to palm his own ball, poke around in the ball mark, declare it was embedded, after it bounced, in 3-inch rough, with only cursory input from playing partners and none from rules officials, on live television, while leading a PGA Tour event.

The incident on the 10th hole at Torrey Pines during Saturday’s CBS broadcast lacked the clarity of Reed’s brazen bunker misadventure in the Bahamas in 2019. The video is inconclusive: viewers couldn’t see if Reed’s ball was in fact embedded, and the rules official wasn’t presented a fair opportunity to make that determination since Reed had already moved it. Less ambiguous is the growing sentiment that Patrick Reed’s relationship to the rules of golf mirrors that of a courtesan to her clothes—as something to occasionally be cloaked in for respectability, but otherwise an impediment to the conduct of business.

Eamon Lynch

Reed comes under intense social media scrutiny every time he wanders off the short grass, and that’s a tough reputation to live with in golf. Just ask Vijay Singh, whose three major wins never quite erased the stigma of an alleged cheating incident in Asia in 1985. Reed’s reputation is both unsurprising and wholly deserved. More worrisome is the fact that in granting excessive latitude to players around the rules— in both wording and enforcement — the PGA Tour is creating a situation that is untenable with its new reality.

Like most majors sports leagues, the PGA Tour has announced several partnerships in the betting space, eager to secure its share of a lucrative revenue stream. It’s smart business. The scope for gambling on golf is almost limitless — on winners, on hole scores, on shot results. And the wealth of ShotLink performance data available on every player in every situation is a bettor’s dream.

But there are no ShotLink metrics for integrity, and just one seed of doubt can be corrosive in sports gambling. Folks who lose bets often cry foul, as an hour spent at any table in Vegas will illustrate, but the bedrock upon which betting in golf must stand is transparency, a firm belief among punters that everything is above board, that scores have standing, that rules are equitably applied. It’s difficult to reconcile that fundamental expectation with a longstanding rules culture that codifies generous out-clauses like “intent.”

The PGA Tour simply needs rules enforcement that is not considered overly deferential to players and not easily dismissed as too opaque to be squared with gambling. Patrick Reed is just a recurring symptom of a greater disease.

In his post-round interviews, Reed declared himself exonerated and said he acted appropriately. That’s a generous reading of the situation, and generosity isn’t often conferred on guys with a locker room reputation one notch above a card shark.

That’s really the crux of things: when the PGA Tour is perceived as bestowing the benefit of the doubt on a player manifestly undeserving of the privilege, the reputation ultimately bruised is that of the Tour, not the player.

In these early days of sports gambling, golf just can’t afford to have bettors turn away, convinced that the sport cannot be wagered on with complete confidence that the outcome will be fair. Acting decisively against players who seem indifferent to the rules is a pretty good strategy to avoid that.

 

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Patrick Reed in center of another storm of controversy at Farmers Insurance Open

Patrick Reed in center of another storm of controversy at Farmers Insurance Open https://ift.tt/2NSb2dp

SAN DIEGO – On a bright Saturday by the sea, Patrick Reed suddenly found himself in the epicenter of a storm of controversy.

After torching the front nine of the South Course in the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, Reed took to the 10th tee with a four-shot lead. His tee shot, however, found a bunker left of the fairway. From an awkward lie, Reed hit a 132-yard, 8-iron that landed left of the cart path left of the green.

And that’s when things got interesting.

As he neared the ball, Reed asked volunteers if the ball had bounced. They said they had not seen the ball bounce – although replay showed the ball did bounce before settling deep into the rough. Reed’s playing partners, Robby Shelton and Will Gordon, also said they had not seen the ball bounce.

Nor did the three caddies in the group.

Farmers Insurance OpenLeaderboard | Photos

Thus, Reed alerted his playing partners that he was going to check if the ball was embedded. He picked up the ball, put his finger into a hole in the ground, and decided the ball was embedded. Then he called for a rules official to make sure the ball had been embedded and the official, Brad Fabel, declared it was.

Reed was allowed to take a free drop due to the embedded ball and made par.

Many others took to social media to say Reed, who was involved in a rules controversy in the 2019 Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, took liberty with the rules. Some were moved to use the “C” word that ends in heater.

Reed met with rules official John Mutch after the round to review the incident.

Patrick Reed on the 14th hole as caddie Kessler Karain looks on during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. (Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)

“When we got up there, first thing you do is you obviously ask, did you see the ball bounce, and if they say no, at that point I marked it to check to see if it was embedded,” Reed said during his media interview. “It definitely broke the plane. So from that point, called the rules official over and the rules official comes over and he checks to make sure it’s broken the plane and he agreed.

“When you have three players, three caddies and the volunteer’s really close to the golf ball not seeing the ball bounce, then you have to go by what everyone sees and what everyone saw. When no one has seen that, then the rules official basically say whether it’s free relief or not, and the rules official agreed that the ball has broken the plane and it was relief.

“It’s an unfortunate situation obviously, but at the end of the day when you finish a round and the head rules official comes up to you and has the video and shows everything that went down to the whole group and says that you’ve done this perfectly, you did this the exact right way, the protocols you did were spot on, at that point, you know, I feel great about it.”

Mutch said Reed did nothing improper.

“I wanted to know if he saw the ball bounce and neither he nor his fellow competitors saw the ball bounce. It’s pretty clear watching the video that he got to within 10 yards of the ball and asked the volunteer who was standing right there, ‘Did it bounce?’ and the volunteer said it did not bounce. So it was reasonable for him to conclude that that was his ball, it did not bounce and he was then entitled to see if it was embedded.

“He operated the way the rules permit him to operate.”

Reed said he would not have done anything differently.

“It is an unfortunate thing that happened today, but at the same time it’s exactly what I would have done every time, exactly what every player should do,” Reed said. “You should ask your playing opponents if they’ve seen whether it’s a ball bounce or whether it crosses a hazard line, you always ask them first and then you ask the volunteer, and then from there you check to see and at that point you call a rules official.

“When you have the rules officials and everybody come up and say that you did it textbook and did it exactly how you’re supposed to do, then that’s all you can do. I mean, when we’re out there and we’re playing, we can’t see everything. That’s why you rely on the other players, other opponents, you rely on the volunteers as well as rely on the rules officials. When they all say what we’ve done is the right thing, then you move on and you go on.”

Reed didn’t go on very well. He made four bogeys on his next six holes, horseshoed a short putt for birdie on the 17th but finished with a birdie to shoot 70 and grab a share of the 54-hole lead with Carlos Ortiz.

“Great thing is I still have a chance to win a golf tournament,” Reed said. “Now have to go out tomorrow and put the foot down and try to make as many birdies as possible.”

Reed has been a lightning rod on the PGA Tour, a polarizing figure that some people love to hate; a villain if you will. In the 2019 Hero World Challenge, Reed took two practice swings that scraped the sand and improved his lie on both occasions. Cameras caught the infraction. After the round, Reed pleaded his case, bringing up the angle of the cameras, but was assessed a two-stroke penalty.

The following week in Australia in the Presidents Cup, Reed got an earful from the fans throughout the tournament. On the third day of action, Reed’s caddie and brother-in-law, Kessler Karain, was involved in an altercation with a fan and was not allowed to caddie in Sunday’s singles matches.

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Farmers Insurance Open: Sunday tee times, TV and streaming info

Farmers Insurance Open: Sunday tee times, TV and streaming info https://ift.tt/3iWR7Fu

The PGA Tour’s West Coast swing moves from the desert to the San Diego coast for this week’s 2021 Farmers Insurance Open.

The North Course and South Course at famed Torrey Pines play host once again to a loaded field of the PGA Tour’s best, including world No. 2 Jon Rahm and two-time Farmers winner Jason Day.

Headed into the event’s final 18 holes, Patrick Reed and Carlos Ortiz lead at 10 under. Reed, who fired a 2-under 70, was the center of yet another rules controversy on the 10th hole. Sam Burns, Lanto Griffin, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Adam Scott are T-3 at 8 under. Sam Ryder, Rory McIlroy, Will Zalatoris, and Ryan Palmer are T-8 at 7 under.

Check out Sunday’s tee times, TV and streaming info for the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open below.

All times are listed in Eastern.

Farmers: Leaderboard | Photos

Tee times

Hole 1 – South Course

Tee Time Players
11:10 a.m. Charl Schwartzel, Rhein Gibson, Lucas Glover
11:20 a.m. J.T. Poston, Tom Lewis, Denny McCarthy
11:30 a.m. Brandon Hagy, Doug Ghim, Dylan Frittelli
11:40 a.m. Alex Noren, Louis Oosthuizen, Bill Haas
11:50 a.m. Marc Leishman, Wyndham Clark, Jason Kokrak
12 p.m. Adam Hadwin, Will Gordon, Cameron Tringale
12:10 p.m. Bo Hoag, Ted Potter, Jr., Sungjae Im
12:20 p.m. Richy Werenski, Kyle Stanley, Cameron Davis
12:30 p.m. Tony Finau, Max Homa, Rory Sabbatini
12:40 p.m. Henrik Norlander, Peter Malnati, Robby Shelton
12:50 p.m. Will Zalatoris, Ryan Palmer, Xander Schauffele
1 p.m. Adam Scott, Sam Ryder, Rory McIlroy
1:10 p.m. Lanto Griffin, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm
1:20 p.m. Carlos Ortiz, Patrick Reed, Sam Burns

Hole 10 – South Course

 

Tee Time Players
11:10 a.m. Luke List, Francesco Molinari, Hideki Matsuyama
11:20 a.m. Joseph Bramlett, Chase Seiffert, Kevin Streelman
11:30 a.m. Justin Suh, Harry Higgs, Cameron Percy
11:40 a.m. Brandt Snedeker, Corey Conners, Rickie Fowler
11:50 a.m. Danny Lee, John Huh, Matt Jones
12 p.m. Talor Gooch, Xinjun Zhang, Bronson Burgoon
12:10 p.m. Phil Mickelson, Michael Kim, Pat Perez
12:20 p.m. Gary Woodland, Byeong Hun An, Tain Lee
12:30 p.m. K.J. Choi, Kyle Mendoza, Roger Sloan
12:40 p.m. Steve Stricker, Matthew NeSmith, Troy Merritt
12:50 p.m. Sepp Straka, Kevin Stadler, Kelly Kraft
1 p.m. Jason Dufner, Tyler McCumber,
1:10 p.m. Grayson Murray, Tim Wilkinson

TV, radio info

Sunday, Jan. 31

TV

Golf Channel (watch for free on fuboTV): 1-3 p.m.
NBC: 3-6 p.m.

STREAMING

PGA Tour Live: 11:15 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Twitter: 11:15-12:30 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 1-6:30 p.m.

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Patrick Reed on Farmers Insurance Open controversy: 'The rules officials said we did it absolutely perfectly'

Patrick Reed on Farmers Insurance Open controversy: 'The rules officials said we did it absolutely perfectly' https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Patrick Reed’s controversial move on the 10th hole at the Farmers Insurance Open to move his ball before consulting with a PGA Tour official had the sports world talking on Saturday.

Here is what Reed said to CBS Sports’ Amanda Balionis after his round:

REED: So the first thing we do is when we don’t see it bounce in the group doesn’t see a bounce, you ask the volunteer whoever’s closest to that golf ball where it was and, you know, the volunteer said no, the ball did not bounce and therefore I — when that happened — I looked at my group and said, guys, she didn’t see a bounce either so I’m gonna mark this ball and you know see if it’s embedded and you know, once I marked it the first thing I wanted to do was make sure got the ball out of my hand because you know, if you don’t want to clean it or anything because you don’t know if it’s embedded yet and when I put my finger down there, and I felt like it has broken ground, first thing you do is you call rules official because you know, you want the rules official to come over to make sure that it is.

When the rules official came over said it yes, no this … this ball has broken the plane and with no one seeing the ball bounce and that’s what we all saw and so because of that, you know, the rules official’s like well since no one else has seen it bounce, of seven people, therefore, you get a free drop and free relief and at that point, you know, we just go with what the rules officials said and also with what the volunteers and what we see because that’s one of those things I will out there, we can’t see everything and when that happens, you know, you have to go by with what the volunteers say with what the rules officials say and, you know, when all comes push and shove we felt like we did the right thing and the rules officials said we did it absolutely perfectly and with that being said you know we moved on just continue playing.

BALIONIS: Hindsight’s 20-20. If you had to go back do you pick up the ball before the rules official is there?

REED: Yes, because you sit there and when you have three players including yourself three caddies and a volunteer that’s within five yards of that golf ball and no one says it bounced, you’re gonna mark it in check see if the ball’s embedded, you know, that’s what every player does if the ball if no one sees a bounce they see that.

You know looks like it’s broken the plane, the ground you mark the ball and you pick it up first and then when you see that is embedded that’s when you always call rules official over no matter what you’re doing to take the drop to make sure you’re doing the drop correctly.

______________________________________

Later, Senior Tournament Director John Mutch was questioned by the media.

Q. John, when you went into the scoring truck to show him the video, what were you looking for, what were you trying to get out of that?

JOHN MUTCH: I wanted to know if he saw the ball bounce and neither he nor his fellow competitors saw the ball bounce. It’s pretty clear watching the video that he got to within 10 yards of the ball and asked the volunteer who was standing right there “did it bounce” and the volunteer said it did not bounce. So it was reasonable for him to conclude that that was his ball, it did not bounce and he was then entitled to see if it was embedded.

Q. Was there any concern that he might have cleaned his golf ball after he picked it up?

JOHN MUTCH: No, I didn’t see that. And once it was determined to be embedded, he would be allowed to clean it. And he also did mark it. He also let his fellow competitors know he was going to do that, so he operated the way the rules entitled him to operate.

Q. Would it be fair to say this happens almost every day on Tour in very similar situations?

JOHN MUTCH: Under soft conditions we do get a lot of rulings for embedded ball and we don’t always get called in on every one of them. It’s a fairly common ruling, yes.

Q. If he had not called a rules official in, that still would have been fine, correct?

JOHN MUTCH: Yeah, he operated the way the rules permit him to operate. It’s similar to virtual certainty, under embedded ball it’s called “reasonable to conclude,” but if you hit the ball into a penalty area and you’re playing with a couple of your buddies and you’re virtually certain that’s where the ball went and you operate under the penalty area rule and then later somebody in a group two groups behind you says, “Hey, I found your ball in the left rough,” well, you’re not under any penalty because you were virtually certain the ball’s in the penalty area and you proceeded according to the rules. So it’s similar in this regard. There was nothing under the rules that he did improperly.

______________________________________

Reed spoke with other media members on the incident:

Q. Sorry to make you repeat this, I know you’ve done it three times already, but can you just run us through what happened on 10?

PATRICK REED: All right. First off, I get on 10 and the tee shot ends up just in that left bunker and didn’t have the greatest of lies, so I tried to kind of get steep on a 6 steep on an 8 iron to try to get basically contact. Caught a hair heavy, ball launched vertical and left and it was going just left of the cart path. No one saw the ball bounce. The guys in my group didn’t see the ball bounce and the volunteer who was almost on top of the golf ball when it landed literally went and marked it right then and there. When we got up there, first thing you do is you obviously ask, did you see the ball bounce, and if they say no, at that point I marked it to check to see if it was embedded. It definitely broke looked like it broke the plane.

So from that point, called the rules official over and the rules official comes over and he checks to make sure it’s broken the plane and he agreed. At that point we go and we take a, you know, embedded ball rule relief, which is one club length from the embedded ball and dropped the ball from there. At that point, when you have three players, three caddies and the volunteer’s really close to the golf ball not seeing the ball bounce, then you have to go by what everyone sees and what everyone saw. When no one has seen that, then the rules official basically say whether it’s free relief or not, and the rules official agreed that the ball has broken the plane and it was relief.

It’s an unfortunate situation obviously, but at the end of the day when you finish a round and the head rules official comes up to you and has the video and shows everything that went down to the whole group and says that you’ve done this perfectly, you did this the exact right way, the protocols you did were spot on, at that point, you know, I feel great about it.

Q. Would you have done anything differently?

PATRICK REED: The only thing I would have done differently, if we saw the ball bounce or if someone said the ball bounced, then I never would have marked the golf ball. You would have just played as it lies. You know when the ball bounces it’s almost impossible for it to break the plane and so therefore, when that happens, anytime you see the ball bounce you just play it as it lies. But since you have three players, three caddies and a volunteer that is probably from me to you that didn’t see the ball bounce, then you obviously are going to go off of that.

Q. Given how confident you are that you did the right thing and the officials have backed that up, are you at all surprised at sort of the reaction in the last 20, 30 minutes to what happened?

PATRICK REED: Well, I haven’t seen really the actual reaction, I’ve just been asked the question over and over again what happened on hole 10.

Q. Are you surprised we keep asking the question over and over again?

PATRICK REED: No, because different media outlets, you know. Really, no. I mean, I wouldn’t I wouldn’t have done anything differently when everyone has said that they did not see the ball bounce. Now, if you had 100 people around there, bunch of fans out there and one fan said they saw it bounce, I never would have had to put a tee down and even check to see if it was embedded.

That’s the one thing that, you know, when we don’t see it something happen and a volunteer doesn’t see something happen, you go by best judgment as well as that’s why you always call a rules official, because at the end of the day they’re going to have the best judgment over everybody. If they believe that it’s embedded as well, that’s then when you go by what they say.

Q. Patrick, do you feel like when you get in these situations that sometimes you have a little bit more scrutiny on you than other players maybe?

PATRICK REED: Oh, definitely. You know, it is you know, it is an unfortunate thing that happened today, but at the same time it’s exactly what I would have done every time, exactly what every player should do. You should ask your playing opponents if they’ve seen whether it’s a ball bounce or whether it crosses a hazard line, you always ask them first and then you ask the volunteer, and then from there you check to see and at that point you call a rules official.

It’s unfortunate, but at the same time when you have the rules officials and everybody come up and said that you did it textbook and did it exactly how you’re supposed to do, then that’s all you can do. I mean, when we’re out there and we’re playing, we can’t see everything. That’s why you rely on the other players, other opponents, you rely on the volunteers as well as rely on the rules officials. When they all say what we’ve done is the right thing, then you move on and you go on.

You know, the great thing is I still have a chance to win a golf tournament. Now have to go out tomorrow and put the foot down and try to make as many birdies as possible.

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Plan to turn Ohio golf course into a nature preserve fails, but it's still for sale

Plan to turn Ohio golf course into a nature preserve fails, but it's still for sale https://ift.tt/39qkLjb

A plan to apply for a state grant to turn Wilkshire Golf Course into a nature preserve will not go forward because it did not receive the required support from Lawrence Township trustees.

Trustees Mike Haueter, Donald Ackerman and Matthew Ritterbeck decided Thursday not to back the efforts of the property owners and a Cleveland-area nonprofit to get a Clean Ohio grant to buy the 182-acre course near Bolivar.

Ackerman said the area already has more than 600 acres of open space at Camp Tuscazoar, plus the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and Fort Laurens. He said a nature preserve would affect the ability of the Zoar Wetland Arboretum to get volunteers and donations.

“We have a wonderful place here in Tuscarawas County,” Ackerman said. “What can a park offer our community that we don’t already have?”

The area also has green space controlled by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Ritterbeck said.

The community would lose about $25,000 a year in taxes if the golf course became a nature preserve, he said.

Ritterbeck said Tuscarawas County commissioners, whose approval would also be needed to advance the grant application, are fiscally conservative.

The 16-member advisory committee of the Tuscarawas County Park Department recommended on Tuesday that county commissioners support the Clean Ohio application, according to Jesse Rothacher, park manager. The recommendation was not unanimous.

But the commissioners will not be asked to act because the township trustees’ lack of support doomed the application.

Most of the residents who spoke about the project at the board’s meeting opposed it.

“I don’t see why we need 182 acres of area for scum to come in and do whatever they want to do in a public park,” said Martha Simon. “I’m just hoping that it doesn’t happen, like in other places, where there’s a problem getting rid of people on drugs and all kinds of stuff.”

Kyle Quillen said he does not support using tax dollars to buy the course.

“I don’t think we need another park in the area,” he said. “I think it would be detrimental to the economy locally down here.”

Quillen said jobs and revenue would be lost, and that there are local people who would buy Wilkshire and keep it in its present use.

The golf course is owned by Beth Easterday Futryk of Powell, Ohio, and Holly Easterday Adams of Savannah, Ga., whose late father and grandfather built the course. They have proposed selling the course to the West Creek Conservancy of Parma, which would have funded the purchase with a Clean Ohio grant.

It would have been operated by the Wilderness Center of Wilmot.

Wilderness Center Executive Director Jeanne Gural said the property would have had trails open to the public with a nature center in the clubhouse. She said Wilkshire would have allowed the nonprofit to serve thousands of children per month, an increase over the hundreds who visit its facility in more remote Wilmot monthly.

But Harry Frank told trustees the nature preserve would become a liability.

“You’re crazy if you approve it,” he said. “Who’s going to take care of it? You’re going to get stuck with the bill.”

Franks said the local hotel would suffer without the golf course.

Golfers patronize local restaurants, Ackerman said.

Kyle Bradford said the property would stink after being flooded because it would stay wet.

But Joe Leslie, director of real estate for the West Creek Conservancy, based in Parma, said returning the land to its natural state would allow it to absorb more water. He said the area would have pollinator habitat.

“The majority of the residents in Bolivar couldn’t care less about pollination,” Bradford replied.

“Farmers should,” Leslie said.

He said the nature center would be an asset that would draw tourists.

Lockport Brewery owner Andrew Marburger said he was excited about the possibility. The brewery is next to Wilkshire.

Futryk spoke in favor of the proposal at the trustees’ meeting. She said the course has been offered for sale, but had not gotten any offer at a fair-market value. She said the course has suffered from floods, a tornado and a declining interest in golf.

The West Creek Conservancy will explore other public and private options for Wilkshire, said Executive Director Derek Schafer.

On Twitter: @nmolnarTR

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