Welcome to the Free Drop newsletter – a round-up of all the talking points from the past week in golf and a look ahead to Free Drop podcast content coming up.
Fun Fact
3M Open champion Michael Thompson has finished outside of the Top-125 on the FedexCup each of the past four years.
Weekend Takeaways
Three takeaways from the past week in golf, according to Craig Stirton.
Podcast guests make bright starts to competitive return
This is a delayed shout-out given the absence of a newsletter last week. That said, congratulations to Cara Gorlei and Garrick Higgo on faring well in their respective returns to competitive golf.
Making her season debut on the Women’s All-Pro Tour in the United States, Gorlei played solid golf all week long at the Texarhana Children’s Charities Open. The 24-year-old book-ended her week with rounds of 73 while further rounds of 74 & 71 ensured a T-17 finish.
Though Cara missed the cut this past week at the Central Arkansas Open, look for her to bounce back in the coming weeks and be back to playing the golf that made her one of the best amateurs in the country.
Hear about Cara’s fantastic amateur career, her rookie season on the Sunshine Ladies Tour and more in her interview on the Free Drop Podcast here.
Sunshine Tour Rookie of The Year Garrick Higgo, meanwhile showed no ill-effects from the Covid-enforced break as he finished T-6 at the Euram Bank Open on the European Tour. What made Higgo’s finish all the more impressive was the way in which he rebounded from a front-9 of 40 to come home in 29(!!) in the final round.
Rounds of 65-69-67-69 allowed the De Zalze member to climb to 4th on the Road To Mallorca rankings. The Top-20 players on the RTM standings will earn their European Tour cards for next season.
Keeping going Garrick!
Listen to Garrick’s interview on the Free Drop podcast here.
Caddie Outperforms Player
This week at the 3M Open Martin Trainer’s caddy, Aaron Crawford, had to remove his bib for the week. Not because he’d been relieved of his duties but because he’d Monday-qualified for the event at TPC Twin Cities after shooting a 63!
Not only did he qualify for the event but ended up beating his boss by 7 (+1 v +8) over 36 holes. How cool is that??
Thompson’s Tearful Triumph
It is always cool to see a win mean something to a player. Like really mean something. And we got that on Sunday when Michael Thompson won the 3M Open. The above mentioned Fun Fact is reason enough to get choked up.
That the win came 2 702 days after his win at the 2013 Honda Classic makes his victory one of the most feel-good stories in recent memory.
Past Podcasts
David Frost
10-time PGA TOUR winner David Frost joins the show to chat about his trophy-laden career which has spanned more than 30 years, working with David Leadbetter and Bob Rotella, the most common mistakes he sees amateurs make and loads more. Thanks a ton to David for the time!
Have a listen
Kaylah Williams
Women Wednesdays: SA’s Open amateur of the year Kaylah Williams joins the Free Drop podcast. We chat about why she once considered giving up the game, achieving some amazing things despite a nagging knee injury, winning the Western Province Strokeplay in bizarre fashion, her exciting upcoming collegiate adventure and loads more.
You don’t want to miss this one – not only is Kaylah a phenomenal talent but also one of the coolest guests we’ve had on the show.
Watch the podcast here
Next On The Tee
Tuesday @ 20:00: Free Drop Live with Dorian Fourie.
Scary Stat
When Jon Rahm ascended to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking CBS’ Kyle Porter tweted this Scary Stat:
If Jon Rahm is No. 1 in the world from today until August 1, 2033, he will still not have accumulated as many weeks at No. 1 as Tiger Woods.
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) July 20, 2020
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CHECK OUT TEE & SANDWEDGES
If you’re after some more quality, homegrown golf content then look no further than Tee & Sandwedges. The popular print newspaper has done a great job of adapting to life under Cover-19 and have recently started an awesome vlog called Tee It Up. Go check out episode one here:
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