Cleveland Golf Blog

What makes golf such an incredible game is the incredible range of emotions and achievements that come with it. Spirit. Determination. Passion. Victory. Cleveland Golf staffers experienced all of these feelings and more in 2012, making it one of the most memorable years in recent memory and living proof of How The Game Should Feel.

Following his breakthrough 2011 season, Keegan Bradley played with tremendous fire and focus in 2012. The 26-year-old validated his superstar status by winning the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and wowed millions of viewers with a dominant effort at the Ryder Cup.

Graeme McDowell returned to the winner’s circle at the World Challenge. The native of Northern Ireland truly is a gritty competitor whose future remains very bright, especially after becoming engaged to his longtime girlfriend just before winning.

Proving that dreams really can come true, two talented rookies, Ted Potter Jr. and Charlie Beljan, notched their first career PGA Tour wins in dramatic style – Potter in a playoff at The Greenbrier Classic, Beljan at the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic after overcoming an on-course panic attack.

There were plenty of other highlights. George McNeill won the Puerto Rico Open. Australian Cameron Percy graduated from the Web.com Tour to the PGA Tour, while Steve LeBrun, Steven Bowditch and Tag Ridings advanced through the final stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School. And let’s not forget Aussie Rhein Gibson, whose 16-under-par round of 55 may have been the lowest score in golf. Ever.

At Cleveland Golf, our staffers’ accomplishments keep pushing us to create the best equipment on the market. We want to ensure that they, along with all golfers around the world, continue to hit amazing shots so they can continue to experience amazing feelings in golf.

It was a banner year for Cleveland Golf. The Classic Driver was a hit with tour players and amateurs alike, and 588 Forged wedges redefined the standard for feel and precision. Now that golfers have had a chance to experience the advanced performance of Rotex Technology – “The New Face of Spin” – there’s no telling how much more we can do to improve the short game and promote lower scores.

You’ll just have to see what’s next. We thank you so much for your support this year and will see you in 2013.

What was your favorite moment of 2012? What is your bold prediction for 2013?

Continuing with the winning theme of the weekend (David Toms on the PGA Tour and Garth Mulroy on the Nationwide Tour) we are happy to inform you readers that Brandon Brown has taken home his second Hooters Tour victory of 2011.  Brown held off an onslaught of competitors that were one and two shots back coming down the stretch to seal a 1-shot victory.  Carding rounds of 70-66-66-68, Brown finished at -18, 270 and will be able to cash a $28,000 check for the week.

“It’s always great to win anywhere, but winning in front of my family and friends is really special,” said Brown. “Coming into this year, I felt very confident about my game. I’ve worked on some things, and it’s great to see them paying off.”

This was the 2nd win of the year for Brandon, who continues to roll.

In Brandon Brown’s bag was:

Driver: TL31o 8.5 (Miyazaki CKua 59X)

Fairway Wood: FL 15 (Miyazaki Kusala 72X)

Irons: CG7 Tour 3-PW

Wedges: CG15 Tour Zip 52, 56, and 60

Readers,

We are starting to see a trend on the Nationwide Tour that is most uncommon.  Two weeks in a row, Cleveland Golf/Srixon Developmental Staffers, who previously did not have any status on the Nationwide Tour, Monday Qualified for a Nationwide Event and finished high enough to gain full status on the circuit!  Two weeks ago it Russell Knox who finished T2 in a weather shortened tournament, moving him into 11th place on the money list, and full status on the tour.  This past weekend it was Ted Potter Jr who Monday Qualified and went on to win the South Georgia Classic by three shots!

Potter, who has had much success on the Hooters Tour but had yet to break through on the Nationwide, was tied for the lead heading into Sunday before distancing himself from the pack on the front nine with 3 birdies.  The field never caught back up with him as he cruised in to a 3 shot win.  To put this into perspective, Potter is the first person to qualify on a Monday and win a Nationwide event since 2006.

“I was more nervous after I finished the round,” said Potter. “I was fine most of the day. I was just trying to draw back on my past experiences and focus on every shot. I don’t know how to describe it. I was nervous and happy.”

When we caught up with Ted here are some comments he had to make on his play this week:

What was your mentality on the back nine with a three shot lead? Does that change the way you play at all?

I didn’t know I had a 3 shot lead, I was just trying to make pars and birdies, I walked off 16 tee an accidentally saw a leaderboard and that I had a 2 shot lead, I birdied 16 and then parred 17 and 18 with 2 great up and downs.

After all your success on the Hooters Tour, how does it feel to get this W on the Nationwide?

Pretty Awesome! Means I have a set schedule for the rest of the year and knowing I have somewhere to play for the next few years. I’m 4th on the Money List and a great chance of finishing in the Top 25 and avoiding Q-school.

How do you decide when it is a good tournament to try to Monday qualify for?

It was close to home and I had played there before on both the Nationwide and Hooters Tours in past years.

What is comic up for you for the rest of the season?

All about the Nationwide Tour and finishing inside that Top 25.

This feat is truly a rarity, and is a true testament to the level of play on the Developmental Tours such as the Hooters.  Golf Writer, Jason Sobel even went as far as to tweet: “I have said it before and I’ll say it again: Ted Potter Jr. might be a world Top 50 player right now.”

Potter was playing with a Launcher DST Tour  9.5* Driver, Composite 15* 3W, Launcher 20.5* hybrid, CG1 Tour Irons and CG14 Wedges at 52*, 56*, and 60*.

Hi Readers.  I wanted to talk to you briefly about Professional Golf’s most grueling process–PGA Tour Qualifying School.  Cleveland Golf/Srixon will have a large number of Developmental Staffers that will begin the grind in just a couple weeks in hopes of reaching their ultimate goal…The PGA Tour.  The tough part about QSchool is that your year kind of comes down to three tournaments (1st, 2nd, 3rd stage).  Regardless of how much you won or lost on various developmental tours or in college throughout the year, you start QSchool at exactly the same spot (When I say same spot I am definitely not referring to where a player may be mentally based on his good or bad play through the year–that is a different matter all together).  It goes without saying that successfully navigating through isn’t easy.  We will be updating this Post over the next couple months as we follow our staffers as they advance from stage to stage. Here is QSchool by the numbers:

First Stage — begins October 19th.

• 13 sites
• approximately 78 players at each site (over 1000 players)
• 72 holes
• 450 plus ties will advance

Second Stage

• 5 sites
• approximately 78 players at each site (around 450 players)
• 72 holes
• 156 players plus ties will advance

Final Stage

• played at Orange County National Golf Club, Winter Garden, FL
• 108 holes (6 Rounds)
• Top 25 and ties will get their PGA Tour Card
• all players 26 and below will get some sort of status on the PGA Nationwide Tour

Check back here for updates on how our Staffers are progressing!

You can get more information on PGA Tour Qualifying School at http://www.pgatour.com/qschool/

Hey there, readers.  I just wanted to get on here and share some really exciting news with you all… Will Wilcox has been named the Hooter’s Tour Rookie Of The Year!  This marks the fourth time in the last five years that a Cleveland Golf staffer has been named ROY on the Hooter’s Tour!  Here is what Wilcox had to say… more

Earlier this week I had a chance to circle up with recent Hooter’s Tour winner, Patrick Nagle.  Patrick was nice enough to give us a quick insight into the life of a Developmental Tour player.

How old were you when you started playing golf?
I started playing golf at the age of 10, but really didn’t play competitively until high school. more

     Developmental Staffer Patrick Nagle posted rounds of 65, 64, 67, and today’s final round 68 to earn his first NGA Hooters Tour Win.  Nagle, 25, is from Pacifica, CA and a former University of Illinois golfer.  After a relatively quiet start Nagle birdied holes 6,8,9, and 10 to regain the lead he would not relinquish.  He two-putted the final hole to secure a one shot victory.  The win moves Patrick to 4th on the Hooters Tour Money List and gives him a great deal of momentum as he approaches the start of PGA Tour Q-School.

Hello again, readers!  Today we were able to catch up with Developmental Staffer, Russell Knox who is playing at the Knoxville News Sentinel Open in Knoxville, TN.  Russell has been having a phenomenal year on the Hooters tour, and we wanted to catch up with the man, himself.

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     This past week was an exciting one for a number of our staffers in Development and we wanted to share a few of the highlights with you!

     Russell Knox, 26 years old, originally from Scotland who played collegiately at Jacksonville University put on a clinic this week at the Hooters Tour event in Tunica, Mississippi.  He shot rounds of 62, 61, 71, and 65 to shoot 29 under and won by eight shots—some impressive numbers to say the least! This is Russell’s second Developmental win of the year—he won the very first event of the year on the EGolf Tour.  His combined earnings for the year are well over $100,000.  He currently leads the Hooters Tour points race for an exemption into the Nationwide event in Knoxville with only this week’s event remaining.  Let’s hope he gets the chance to tee it up out there.  Russell has been a tremendous ambassador for Cleveland Golf / Srixon and will continue to be as he moves up through the next levels.

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Will Wilcox, a Cleveland Golf Developmental Staffer, is making his first PGA Tour start today.  I recently posted about his victory on the Canadian Tour.  That win followed by another strong performance last week earned him the exemption into this week’s Canadian Open on the PGA Tour.  Will has two wins and a Nationwide start already this year in addition to this week’s appearance.  He took  a few moments to anwser a few of my questions about this year’s stellar play and today’s PGA Tour debut.

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