Watching a Jordan Spieth round nowadays is like being on a roller coaster.
For one golf fan during Friday’s second round at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, watching Spieth also came with a surprise bruise.
As the Texas native teed off on the 16th hole, his tee shot went so far right that he hit a spectator directly on the elbow. Luckily for Spieth, the ball bounced off the fan’s elbow right onto the green.
The spectator was thankfully O.K., even though he is walking away from the tournament with a huge welt near his elbow. Spieth gave him a signed ball and glove to apologize for the injury but also thanking him for help on the shot.
The fan appeared to be in good spirits despite the unfortunate injury.
Spieth ended up bogeying the 16th hole even with the fan’s help to put him on the green. He missed the cut for this week’s tournament after finishing four-under par.
There was a 60-year gap between Canadian champions at the Canadian Open. But not only did Nick Taylor end that drought in 2023, but he did it in electric fashion, sinking a 72-foot putt in a playoff against Tommy Fleetwood.
Now that the pressure is off Canadians to break the winless streak, will we see a run of fellow Canadians win the event? Can one of them grab the win this week?
There are 26 Canadians in the field to give it a shot. Let's take a look at each of their odds of winning this week's tournament at Hamilton Golf and Country Club.
Since this is Canada's national open, the majority of Canadian golfers in the field are amateurs with no real shot to win. The golfers with a legitimate chance are: Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Hadwin, Taylor Pendrith, Adam Svensson, Nick Taylor, and Ben Silverman.
Conners is set as the betting favorite among Canadians at +2000, which means he has an implied probability of 4.76% of winning the event. He has just two wins on Tour, but he has been statistically the best Canadian golfer on Tour for a number of years.
He's been known as one of the best ball strikers in the world, but his short game often lets him down, losing strokes on and around the greens weekly. Just a few weeks ago at the PGA Championship, he gained +1.94 strokes on the field with his approach game, but losing strokes on and around the greens cost him and he finished just T26 on the week.
Conners has finished solo sixth and T20 at the Candian Open the last two years.
Nick Taylor, the 2023 Canadian Open winner, is the definition of a hot and cold golfer. He has won twice in the past 12 months but has just two other top 10 finishes in that stretch. You never know when he's going to show up with his best stuff, but when he does he has a great chance to win like he did at the WM Phoenix Open in February.
His last start resulted in a missed cut at the PGA Championship and before last year's win, he hadn't finished in the top 25 at a Canadian Open in his career.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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Jack Nicklaus helped kick off the 2024 Masters tournament as one of the former champions selected to take an honorary tee shot ahead of the first tee time. It turns out he wasn't satisifed with merely one swing at Augusta.
The golf legend spoke to reporters in Dublin, Oh. this week ahead of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village and revealed he stuck around Augusta after Scottie Scheffler won to play a few rounds. Nicklaus said he played three times and shot an 88, 90, and 91. He gave a good quote about it, too. Per Golfweek's Todd Kelly:
“I shot 88, 90 and 91. That’s a 269 for three rounds, which is a pretty good four-round score,” he said. “That’s what I play anymore. They don’t have any forward tees at Augusta. I can’t play 6,400 yards. I hit the ball 190 yards anymore, if I kill it. I played once last year, once the year before, and I’ve played four times this year already.”
Not too shabby for an 84-year-old to break 90 in tournament conditions at one of the hardest courses in professional golf. And it's hard to imagine there aren't too many folks of a similar age still able to pipe it nearly 200 yards down the middle off the tee. Not to mention having the skill required to break 100 at Augusta in April, something great amateur golfers 50 years younger than Nicklaus struggle with.
