Love and war, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a locked-in Jordan Spieth doubling as Houdini, and the version of him blocking one-foot putts; when discussing the duality of man in the world of golf, one cannot give meaning to the conversation without at least a mention of the Texas rollercoaster.

Ever since traversing through a career valley from 2018-20, when he experienced the lowest of lows for a three-time major champion in his mid-20s, the steady ascension of Spieth back into the spotlight has been on full display. In 2022, Spieth entered the winner’s circle for the 13th time in his career when he got the better of Patrick Cantlay in a playoff at the RBC Heritage. Both players’ approach shots found the greenside bunker on the first extra hole, and when it was confirmed Cantlay’s ball was buried and Spieth’s was lying clean, it all but secured his lone title of the year.

That week in Hilton Head, South Carolina, was just a little snippet into Spieth’s year — and, from a broader perspective, his career. It featured everything that makes Jordan Spieth, well, Jordan Spieth: Hole-out bunker shots from impossible angles, chipping out sideways when a persistent Michael Greller urges, missing 1-foot putts (badly, I might add) and making everyone, himself included, believe the tournament is out of his grasp until somehow it is in the palm of his hand.

“You have a lot of events where you feel like you should have won and someone outplays you or makes the putt or something, and a couple times you have one where you feel like you played good but not good enough to win, and I honestly felt like this was that week,” Spieth said following his triumph at Harbour Town. “I needed a lot of things to go right. I needed to birdie the 18th then needed some help, got some help, dodged a bunch of bullets coming in and ended up in a one-on-one playoff where my lie in the bunker, although not great, was certainly better than Patrick’s. Yeah, it’s a bit of a surprise.”

The rest of Spieth’s regular season was relatively less surprising. He followed his victory with a runner-up performance to K.H. Lee at the Byron Nelson in his next start before capturing top-10 finishes at the Charles Schwab Challenge, Scottish Open and The Open to round out his year.

A strong final round at the Tour Championship propelled Spieth into the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow as the most experienced member of the U.S. Team in a blink of an eye, and the golden boy-turned-man led by example. Garnering a 5-0-0 record in North Carolina, Spieth was perfect alongside Justin Thomas before capturing the first singles victory of his career between the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup.

“I think I just used my example in here of the 2014 Ryder Cup and the 2015 season,” Spieth said on leveraging his Presidents Cup performance for the 2023 season. “I thought Scottie [Scheffler’s] last year into this year, I don’t want to put words into his mouth, but I thought he could probably draw on the experiences of last year’s Ryder Cup into his season this season …

“For me, yeah, I’m really excited about the week that was this week,” Spieth continued. “I thought that I played some of my best golf of the year this week, which was really cool to do it with and for — you know, as a team with these guys … there’s a lot I can draw on for next year.”

Despite this climb, there is still a ways to go to for him to return to his 2015 peak when he won the Masters, U.S. Open and Tour Championship. That begs the question: What should we expect Spieth’s 2023 to look like? Is one win, a strong team performance and a potential run at a major championship the new baseline from which we should define success for him? It is worth pondering how much staying power this new baseline may truly have. 

The romantic — and maybe even the agent of chaos — in me believes there’s more to be had. The talent pool on the PGA Tour has never been deeper. The accolades mentioned above do make for a fantastic season in this era. Yet, for a magician like Spieth who can wave his wand awkwardly on rehearsal and effortlessly just moments later, you can’t help but let your mind drift towards the unimaginable.

This season, the PGA Tour will unveil a new schedule which Spieth will very much be a part of after finishing third in the 2022 Player Impact Program behind only Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Playing in 13 elevated events that will feature the best talent on the circuit, four major championships and a handful of other tournaments, winning has suddenly become even more difficult.

Never an afterthought at Augusta, and proving to be one of the great links golf players of his time, Spieth’s name on the first page of a major championship leaderboard is expected at least once a year regardless of form. When the PGA Tour travels to the state of Texas, the same presence will be assumed from the former Longhorn.

Perhaps this leads to his first multiple-win season since 2017. Perhaps he is without new hardware as he was the three years following. Maybe his name jumps next to four-time major champions like McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Ernie Els and Raymond Floyd. Maybe he does one better and joins the ranks of Seve Ballesteros and Byron Nelson.

On paper, accomplishing in 2023 what he did in 2022 would merit calling the season a success. However, golf isn’t played on paper, and the projection of Spieth’s next 365 days doesn’t belong on it either.

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Have you ever been watching a PGA Tour golf tournament on TV and heard the announcers use the phrase “up and down”? 

This quick guide will explain what it means and give you some tips to help you nail more of them to improve your scores.

What Does Up and Down Mean in Golf?

An “up and down” occurs when a golfer needs only two strokes to get the golf ball onto the green and into the hole. “Up and down” is a phrase used to describe how good a golfer is at scrambling. The opportunity for an up and down always occurs after a golfer has missed the green in regulation (GIR).

For example, let’s say that a golfer hits an errant iron tee shot into a greenside bunker on a Par 3 hole. To achieve an “up and down”, the golfer will need to get “up” on the green with the first stroke out of the bunker and “down” into the hole with the second stroke. If the golfer needs more than two shots to get the ball into the hole, it is not a proper “up and down”.

Most golfer announcers use the “up” part of the phrase to describe a pitch shot, chip shot, or bunker shot. The “down” portion of the phrase always refers to one putt on the green. The phrase is most commonly used when a golfer is trying to save par with two really good short game shots in a row.

How to Make More Up and Downs

Being able to get “up and down” is an essential part of being a scratch golfer. This is because saving par and avoiding a dreaded double-bogey is just as valuable as an eagle. Here are a few tips for making more up and downs.

1. Devote an Ample Amount of Practice Time to Chip Shots

It’s crazy how most golfers will spend an hour at the driving range regularly but will never work on their chip shots. This doesn’t make a lick of sense because the quickest way to lower your handicap is to work on your short game. A good habit to establish is to not practice your full shots until you have worked on your chipping for the day.

When practicing chip shots, don’t just mindlessly hit ball after ball without a purpose. That won’t lead to lower scores on the golf course! Check out these chipping practice drills if you need some ideas on how to properly work on your chip shots.

You don’t even need to be at the driving range to try some of the best chipping drills out there. You can try chipping some small coins in your backyard or on the carpet in your living room. Just make sure you get permission from your wife or girlfriend first

Chipping a small object like a coin will make chipping a golf ball seem easy by comparison. This drill is a great way to make better contact more often with the center of the clubface.

2. Work on a Wide Variety of Chip Shots

If you want to start making more up and downs, you need more than one go-to chip shot in your arsenal. There are three different chip shots that all golfers need to learn: bump & run, flop shot, and lofted chip.

Bump & Run

This style of chip shot should be the go-to for beginner golfers and high handicappers. A bump and run is a low trajectory shot that rolls out nicely without a great deal of backspin.

To execute a proper bump & run chip shot, use a golf club with less loft than a typical wedge. Most folks like to use an 8-iron for these types of shots.

The best way to hit a bump & run is to play the ball off the back foot in your stance and swing the club with a putting stroke. This will eliminate the wrist hinge that causes those awful “chunked” or “bladed” chip shots.

Flop Shot

The flop shot is tough to master but it can come in handy when you are in the rough and trying to chip over a sand trap. A flop shot should fly high in the air but land softly near the pin.

Most golfers prefer to use a sand wedge or lob wedge when trying to pull off a flop shot. Ideally, you want to use a wide stance with 70 to 80% of your weight on your front foot. Play the ball off your left heel with no forward shaft lean.

Lofted Chip

Have you ever watched a PGA Tour pro hit a high chip shot that lands ever so softly on the green? That’s exactly what a lofted chip shot is.

A key to hitting lofted chip shots is to keep a constant speed on both the backswing and the downswing. You can play the ball in the middle of your stance or even slightly forward if you like.

Oddly enough, you want to slice this type of shot, which makes it similar to a bunker shot. As with the flop shot, most golfers prefer to use either a sand wedge or a lob wedge for lofted chip shots.

3. Work Tirelessly to Improve Your Putting Accuracy

Ever hit a great bunker shot from a fried egg lie and then miss a short putt that costs you an up and down? It’s incredibly frustrating, but it happens to all golfers at times. A good way to make more up and downs is to improve your accuracy on short putts.

A good rule of thumb is to make sure you are spending at least 25% of your practice time on the putting green. If you’re pushing or pulling a lot of your short putts, try out Tiger’s Gate Putting Drill (made famous by Tiger Woods, of course). Here’s how it works:

• Stand three to four feet away from the hole
• Take two tees and make a “gate” that is slightly wider than your putter’s head
• Try to make 5 putts in a row with only your right hand
• Do the same routine with your left hand
• Now try to make 10 putts in a row with your normal putting grip

Here are some other putting drills that will help dial in your putting stroke and help you make more up and downs. Remember, the putter is the most important club in your golf bag. Make it your biggest asset instead of your biggest liability.

Mike Noblin

Mike has been involved with sports for over 30 years. He’s been an avid golfer for more than 10 years and is obsessed with watching the Golf Channel and taking notes on a daily basis. He also holds a degree in Sports Psychology.

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Rory McIlroy regained the world No.1 spot for the first time since 2020 after the 33-year-old successfully defended the PGA Tour’s CJ Cup in South Carolina.

Leading by one at the start of the final round at Congaree Golf Club, McIlroy carded a brilliant four-under 67, with four birdies in a five-hole stretch on his back nine helping him pull clear of the chasing pack.

Playing the 17th hole with a three-shot lead, McIlroy had the luxury of being able him to drop shots at both the final two holes and still finish one clear of playing partner Kurt Kitayama, with KH Lee claiming third spot ahead of Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood, with the latter closing with a 65.

McIlroy’s third win of the year, and 23rd PGA Tour title of his career, sees him become the first FedEx Cup champion to begin his PGA Tour season with a victory since Tiger Woods in 2008, with his latest success taking him above Scottie Scheffler at the top of the world rankings.

Speaking straight after the final round, a visibly emotional McIlroy said: “It feels great to go out there with a lead, shoot a great score, play really well, and get the win. It’s an awesome way to start the season. I feel like it has been a continuation of how I feel like I’ve been playing over the last few months.

“I’ve worked so hard over the last 12 months to get myself back to this place. I feel like I’m enjoying the game as much as I ever have. I absolutely love the game of golf and I think that when I go out there and I play with that joy, it’s definitely showed over these last 12 months.”

McIlroy’s next scheduled appearance is at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, from November 17-20, where he will have a chance to win his fourth Race to Dubai title.

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Spain’s Jon Rahm matched the achievements of the late Seve Ballesteros when winning his national open for the third time in his career.

Rahm matched the maestro’s record in triple quick time courtesy of a stunning final round 62 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid which took him to an incredible 25-under-par for the week and a six-shot victory over nearest challenger Matthieu Pavon.

Rahm’s third win in the Spanish Open – he also won in 2018 and 2019 – came at the same venue as where Seve chalked his final win in the event in 1995. The 27-year-old led one by one shot following the third round, but four birdies on the front nine saw him open up a gap over the chasing pack, which also included Min Woo Lee.

A bogey on the 12th briefly halted Rahm’s momentum, but he responded with a birdie on the next and then almost made an albatross on the par-five 14th, with his approach from 208 yards hitting the pin and finishing just five feet from the hole, from where he duly converted for an eagle. Back-to-back birdies over the final two holes cemented a famous victory which sent the local fans home happy.

Rahm, for whom this was his first win since the 2021 US Open, said: “Seve has always been a great hero of mine, so to do something he took his whole career to do in just a few years is quite humbling. It might not have been the strongest field I’ve played in all year, but sometimes they are the hardest to win; the ones where people expect you to do well, especially on home soil and in front on my home fans. So to come out and play like I did means so much to me. It was pretty much a perfect week and the only thing that would have made it better was if my wife and kids were here to share it with me.”

Frenchman Pavon took second with a closing 65, with Min Woo Lee in third, and Edoardo Molinari and Zander Lombard two strokes further back in a tie for fourth.

Jon Rahm’s winning gear
Driver: Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond LS (10.5°)
Fairway woods: Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond T (16°, 18°)
Irons: Callaway Apex UT (21°), Callaway Apex TCB (4-PW)
Wedges: Callaway Jaws Forged (52°, 56°, 60°)
Putter: Odyssey Rossie S White Hot OG
Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft X

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The PGA Tour’s fall swing is unlike any other part of its schedule. While there are a handful of top-tier events, most of the slate is an opportunity for either youngsters to make a name for themselves ahead of the meat of the schedule next spring or for flailing veterans to rediscover the groove that once made them great.

While we don’t know what the next few falls are going to look like — the Tour will likely move to a completely revamped fall swing in 2023 and beyond — the current fall slate will follow the last few and offer a few opportunities to some players that might go otherwise unnoticed if all the stars were in full swing.

Breakouts can manifest themselves in a number of different ways. Last year, Talor Gooch foreshadowed his leap into the top 40 in the world when he got off to a hot start during the fall swing and eventually won the RSM Classic to close out the schedule. That went a little sideways in 2022 when he disqualified himself from the PGA Tour after joining LIV Golf, but he’s a good example of how the Tour’s fall tournaments can be a springboard into a terrific following year.

The RSM Classic in 2019 provided a different kind of breakout for a fellow Oklahoma State player as Charles Howell III won the third tournament of his career and the first in 11 years. He represented the type of veteran who could take advantage of more inexperienced fields and get a long season on track early with some big performances.

Here’s a look at who could fit into this category as the fall swing in 2022 arrives.

Davis Riley (OWGR: No. 70): Perhaps I’m crazy for believing that Riley could be on the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup team, but his fall could (could, not will) go like Sam Burns’ did last year when he won the Sanderson and it catapulted him all the way to the U.S. Presidents Cup team the following September. Riley is probably not as talented as Burns, but the U.S. team is not necessarily that deep between the top 12-14, and Riley could absolutely get hot and find his way to Rome for the Ryder Cup 12 months from now. He had nine top 13s last season (including the Memorial and PGA Championship), and if he gets momentum going the right way, he could be a force in 2023. 

Sahith Theegala (No. 53): Speaking of golfers who could be on the 2023 Ryder Cup team in Rome, Theegala is on the short list of players who could jump into one of the final 3-4 spots that could be vacated from this year’s Presidents Cup team because of injuries, poor performance … or LIV. In November 2021, Data Golf ranked him as the 175th-best player in the world. Now he’s all the way up to 56th. If he can make a similar leap in 2023 (which could start with a win this fall that so eluded him throughout the year), then he’s a legitimate Ryder Cup threat.

Rickie Fowler (No. 157): The five-time PGA Tour champion is now ranked behind Kaito Onishi, Ewen Ferguson and Phachara Khongwatmai in the Official World Golf Rankings and needs something — anything –– good to go his way this fall. He’s split with both his caddie and his coach, and will try to regain the form that once made him a Players champion as well as a perennial top-10 player in the world. Coincidentally, I thought Fowler found a springboard last fall when he narrowly lost the CJ Cup to Rory McIlroy; instead, that was his only top 20 of the season. If you’re looking for hope here, Fowler actually improved statistically from 2021 to 2022 after declining in each of the previous three seasons.

Justin Suh (No. 132): He’s probably the player from last year’s Korn Ferry Tour with the most upside. The pedigree is great, he had 10 top 10s on the Korn Ferry Tour last year and is normally a strokes gained menace — though the first two PGA Tour events of his season haven’t gone all that well. Most casual golf fans probably haven’t heart of (or don’t remember) the name, but it’s not difficult to see Suh catching heat over the final two months of play while jumping toward the top 50 in the world and into all the majors in 2022.

Tommy Fleetwood (No. 30): Fleetwood quietly finished the summer on a heater (T4 at the Scottish Open and Open Championship), and while his game is not in disarray like Fowler’s, he hasn’t had the last few years he probably envisioned and hasn’t won a big-time event since the Abu Dhabi Championship in 2018. It would be awesome to see Fleetwood grab a win or two this fall going into a Ryder Cup year and trying to build on what was his first-ever two-top-10 season in majors in 2022 (he added the PGA Championship as well).

Thomas Pieters (No. 33): As I was writing the Fleetwood paragraph, I thought to myself, “I think almost all of these same things about Pieters, too.”  I don’t know that he needs to win this fall- — he won the Abu Dhabi Championship earlier in 2022 — but it would make for a hyped lead-in to 2023 for somebody with silly talent. It would be fabulous to see a swaggering Pieters roll into the four majors in 2023 and then reunite with former Ryder Cup bomb-launching partner Rory McIlroy in Rome.

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Playing in only his second LIV Golf event, reigning Open Champion Cameron Smith proved that he is arguably the hottest player in world golf right now following a three-shot win at the series’ fifth tournament held at Rich Harvest Farms in Chicago.

The 29-year-old Australian, who had already won three times this year, said he felt immense pressure to prove to everyone that just because he had switched to a tour that had no cut and guaranteed prize money for all players, that his level of play would somehow drop off.

Smith fired rounds of 66, 68 and 69 for a 13-under-par total that saw him finish three shots clear of Dustin Johnson, who won the previous LIV Golf event in Boston, and Peter Ulhein.

Smith added: “That was the most pressure I’ve been under all year inside of an event. I feel as though I needed to prove to myself, and probably more so to other people, that just because I’ve changed tours doesn’t mean I’m a worse player for it. I’m still out here to win.”

Smith, who finished one stroke out of the three-man playoff won by Johnson in Boston, suffered a couple of early bogeys before bouncing back with three birdies in a five-hole stretch midway through his round. The key moment came in response to Johnson’s birdie at the par-5 7th to momentarily grab a share of the lead. Smith then drained his own birdie putt on top of Johnson’s to reacquire the lead, then followed with another birdie at the 8th to extend it.

“I think it was quite frustrating at the start of the day,” said Smith, who won $4 million in individual prize earnings. “My warm-up wasn’t fantastic. I didn’t feel like I was striking the ball as well as I had the first couple of days. I just kind of stuck in there.”
Johnson, however, did get to celebrate with his 4 Aces GC team, which won for the fourth consecutive time, completing the sweep of the US regular-season events before the Invitational Series heads overseas to Thailand and Saudi Arabia for the next two tournaments. Patrick Reed’s 68 – which included two chip-ins, one for eagle and one for birdie – and Pat Perez’ 69 led the way on Sunday, with Johnson supplying a 70.

Even though Johnson, rarely put heat on Smith on the back nine, the 4 Aces captain delivered the winning birdie on the par-5 18th for the $3m first-place team prize. Uihlein’s Smash GC, captained by Brooks Koepka, made its first appearance on the team podium and shared second-place prize money of $1.5m.

In the individual event, Sergio Garcia shot a closing 67 to finish alone in fourth, while Phil Mickelson had his best result in the series with an eight-place showing following a final round 66 that included nine birdies.

For the final leaderboard from the LIV Golf Invitational – Chicago, click here. 

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