Well hello there… pour yourself three fingers of the good stuff and sit on down, and by down I mean down under. LIV golf has made its way to Australia and they are ready to go at the Grange in Adelaide. 75,000 tickets have been sold and the event has been sold out for weeks. The excitement is high and let’s get going with the usual shotgun start. Australian accents are everywhere and the home team Rippers GC are getting lots of love.
Here we go… The Majestik G Spot is ready for a weekend of golf.
- Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson are ones to watch with their strong showings at the Masters.
- Marc Leishman has lost 15 pounds bringing an announcer to say that he has laid off the Leishman lagers, the beer is actually his beer… these are my people.
- Jesus, Crackay! The crowds for Ripper GC was insane, especially following Cam Smith.
- The golf course is supposed to be a keep it in the fairway type course. The rough is penal. I like it already.
- Captain Ian- looking good buddy. Ian Poulter the Majestick captain. My fearless leader for the year. Hit the cup and bounced out and gave us a classic Ian Poulter look. Haha, the ire of Ian.
- David Feherty with the line of the week referring to a Phil Mickelson drive that just barely rolled into rough- “for a lack of six inches, the story of my life.”
- Phil Mickelson’s walkup song on the 12th party hole par 3 called the Watering Hole was “Lose Yourself” by Eminem. Mafioso…
- This is what is fun about LIV Golf- They show a team practice round with Louis Oosthuizen and his team. Louis chips in for eagle and his teammate Dean Burmester says if you do that again I will play the next hole in my underwear. Louis says give me a ball, and he chips in again and gets more excited than I have ever seen Louis. He was hopping around, jacked out of his mind. Dean being a gentleman, paid off the bet by taking his shorts off and hitting his next tee shot in his underwear. No tighty whities, but the camera zooming in on his backside was a bit much. Good times! Whether it was team bonding or the sight of Dean’s skivvies, the Stingers jumped out to an early lead and spent much of the day at the top of the leaderboard.
- Brooks Koepka is putting like Sunday at the Masters aka he is making nothing. Phil Mickelson is playing well and is sitting in the top 5. He is continuing his fine form from Augusta.
- The crowd was amazing for day one. So many people, grouped so close together, and everyone having fun. Taylor Gooch was your first round leader with a 62, 10 under, and the Cleeks took over the team lead from the Stingers on the last holes of the day at -16.
- Cam Smith is a huge crowd favorite and climbing the leaders board after the first hour of play. The course is manicured perfectly allowing for some very good putting and Cam’s putting is a huge strength.
- Phil Mickelson is sitting tied second right now. He is playing some unbelievable golf for a 52 year old.
- Patrick Reed was asking the Watering Hole 12th to get louder. It’s refreshing versus the annoying “Quiet please” of caddies on the PGA Tour.
- Harold Varner III was dancing before he hit his tee shot on the Watering hole. It was fun, but then he hit it in the bunker so maybe don’t do that.
- The LIV Golf commentators referred to the PGA Tour as Grandpa Golf and then David Feherty said if you don’t like LIV Golf you are a communist. This is great fun.
- Cam Smith making his way to the Watering Hole reveals a fan drinking a shoe-y amid general chaos.
- Pause on the golf for a moment- Australia looks really beautiful. Those gum trees and blue skies are quite impressive. Remind me to go to Australia and drink wine and play golf in the future.
- Taylor Gooch has a 5 shot lead halfway through day 2 here, he is threatening to make Sunday a snoozefest…Good thing there is a team format with a whole bunch of teams within a couple shots of the lead…Unfortunately my Majestiks are in dead last and not one of them. Boy can I pick them…
- Fat Pat as my buddy calls him, but in fairness he isn’t that fat anymore, but Pat Perez has got it rolling and is solo second right now, 3 clear of third, but still 5 shots back of Taylor Gooch.
- Woop woop is a great name for OB or the outback of Australia. I’m gonna use that one.
- Ripper GC, the hometown boys, are in dead last. Too much partying perhaps or simply the pressure from trying too hard. Golf is hard enough and when you try too hard it seldom works. That means my Majestiks are rising!
- Taylor Gooch is 17 under and has the Rangegoats at 31 under, second place is the 4 Aces at 26 under. This is a showing by Gooch….
- Henrik Stenson of the Majestiks is on the leaderboard at -7 with 5 holes to play here on a beautiful Saturday.
- Taylor Gooch with another 62. What great golf!
- Loud and Fun. Great day.
- Championship Sunday and Taylor Gooch starts with a 10 shot lead so let’s focus on the fun and the team competition because that race is likely over.
- There is a footrace among caddies down the fairway- first one to the green wins. Haha, terrific!
- Ian Poulter with an eagle on 10! Go Majestiks. They are up to 8th place. Call me Majestic Johnson.
- Patrick Reed’s short game is right up there with Jordan Spieth’s and legacy Phil Mickelson’s.
- Taylor Gooch’s lead was down to 6 after 7 holes and he had to make a knee knocking 5 footer for bogey on a par 5.
- The Watering Hole steals the show when Chase Koepka hits first out of his group with Ian Poulter and Paul Casey. The commentator gave the lead in perfectly with “He’s posing” and the ball lands and starts trickling to its left and the crowd noise rises and rises. Sure enough it drops in for a hole and one. Adelaide loses their collective mind. Chase hops twice and then spikes his golf club and the chest bumps with the caddies and even Ian Poulter continue in a mist of cans cups and beer. Unbelievable scene! Bert Kreisher the comedian was at the 12th hole and had his shirt off and was just waving it over his head! What chaos, but wait. As everyone was catching their breath, they still had to clean up the tee box for the other two players so out came the crew to clean up. What a great and unforgettable scene. An ace for Chase. The moment of the tournament! A man of the people- he throws the ball into the stands. Just unreal.
- Moving on from that, we go to Taylor Gooch who hit a wedge over the green and almost OB from the fairway, then he hits a fat wedge shot although to be fair the lie was terrible. The chip shot didn’t reach the green and rolled down into a collection area. Double bogey alert- let’s see what happens but the 10 shot lead is down to 6 andnow even less. Anirban Lahiri is at 14 under so let’s see what he does. He putts it to be safe and gets it to 15 feet. Peter Uihlein has also gotten to 14 under. What a putt from 15 feet by Gooch. Bogey was a great result after the mess he made. Double bogey averted and his lead is still 5 shots.
- What drama around the course and now Sweet Caroline is being played and all I can think is that this is what happy looks like.
- Lahiri has closed the gap to 4 shots on Gooch, like the Majestiks I might have jinxed Gooch with my pick. 10 holes left.
- Harold Varner III, the man who did a little dance before hitting it into the sand yesterday got the Watering Hole chanting Harold Harold! He had to back off and smile but no dancing today and he hit the green. Well done! Phil hits it to 3 feet on the Watering Hole and the sound hits 130- jet engine sound. Very impressive. Thumbs up Phil!
- Watering Hole drama again, Pat Perez has a 37 ft putt and he stalks it around the ground head bobbing to the techno music and then pumps his fist a couple times and of course the crowd goes wild. He lines it up and hits it with speed and it slams into the back of the cup and bounces up and drops into the cup and he throws his putter in the air. He jumps and throws fist pumps and takes his hat off and the locks flow into the wind. More beer and cups fly onto the green this time as the Watering Hole is properly hydrated by now and the green is littered with cups etc. Not quite to the extent of the Chase celebration on the tee box, but the other caddies are not pleased. Haha, high drama from Pat! Keep in mind, the leader still had to putt that green. Pat helps take the 4 Aces into the lead with a 2 shot lead in the team event.
- Cam Smith gives all the loyal Aussie faithful a memory by making a bunker shot on 14 to get to 12 under.
- 6 holes to play and down to 2 shot lead for Gooch, but Gooch is about to hit the par 5 13th.
- I’m really impressed with Brooks Koepka. He is not putting well, but he is hitting it so solid that he is now in 3rd just four shots back. I think we will see Koepka be a major force in the majors this year. He is just paying so well and his putting pace is great, but he is just not finding the lines right now.
- Lahiri misses two fairly lengthy putts but closely. Gooch makes a birdie on the par 5 and the lead is three with 4 to go. $ Aces lead by one in the team competition after Varner leaks a little oil on a poor chip and a missed short putt that wasn’t a gimmee but makeable.
- I apologize as I have been trying to see if I can find a Leishman lager anywhere near me.
- Peter Uihlein hit a second shot approach that bounced once and landed in a woman’s bra. My god, the story lines continue. Marc Leishman then drinks a beer out of a patrons shoe, gets showered in beer, and then throws the shoe back into the crowd. What a country!
- Justin Thomas just found a hair in his quiche and fired his chef.
- The drunk crowd has rushed the green and surrounded Gooch. They are also singing be my girl. These Aussies are great.
- Cam Smith also didn’t play great and still finished third. The guy is gonna be a force in the years to come. He called his aussie teammates “us boys”. So relatable.
- Gooch wins by 3, and the 4 Aces win by 1. I’m off to buy a glass shoe to drink a shoey out of because I ain’t wasting good alcohol because I’m wearing flip flops.
Aussie Aussie Aussie Oy Oy Oy!
Insightfully Yours,
G Spot Johnson