Pro players will be back to mix it up again at Shorties Classic at Butler Pitch and Putt
There might be one less PGA Tour player in the mix, but that doesn’t mean the third installment of the Tito’s Shorties Classic at Butler Pitch and Putt will be any less entertaining.
Under a new format, the event will add a third team as pro players partner up with members of the popular YouTube trio known as Bob Does Sports. Tickets are on sale for what’s quickly becoming a downtown Austin staple. Patrons must be 21 years or older to attend and the event will be held on Oct. 26, then air on TV at a later date. The previous two editions found their way onto the Golf Channel.
Back again is Joel Dahmen, who has seen his star rise since being featured in the Netflix documentary “Full Swing.” After his first visit to Austin, Dahmen said he wouldn’t be surprised if he and his food blogger wife Lona consider relocating to the capital.
“Oh, it’s definitely one of the places I could see us moving,” Dahmen said. “We got into town and the next morning I hopped on a scooter and headed out to breakfast. My kind of town.”
Dahmen’s competition on the short course will again come from Harry Higgs, with whom he’ll be forever linked after the two took their shirts off on the 16th hole at the WM Phoenix Open, and 2019 Honda Classic champion Keith Mitchell.
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With golf broadcaster Hally Leadbetter as host, the three two-man teams will play for their favorite charities in a Texas Team Skins match with a total purse of $350,000 at stake.
Tickets are available at titosshortiesclassic.eventbrite.com.
Scheffler breaks down at Ryder Cup
Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg completed a beatdown for the ages at the 44th Ryder Cup, which was held at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club near Rome. Hovland of Norway and Aberg of Sweden waxed the American duo of Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka, 9 and 7. It’s the worst loss in Ryder Cup history in any format.
“I don’t think we could have done a whole lot better,” Hovland said. “It’s nice to kind of speak our own language and we understand each other. Obviously same humor, same culture. (Ludvig’s) a stud. He doesn’t miss a shot, so it’s easy when I’m playing well and he’s playing well and we are just feeding off of each other.”
It was a combination of Euro brilliance and American ineptitude. The world No. 1 and reigning PGA Championship winner started double-bogey-double to fall 3 down after three holes. Then the Euros turned it up a notch, making four birdies in the first 10 holes to build an 8-up lead. They missed only one green and hit every fairway on the front nine. The Americans, by contrast, combined to shoot 7 over. Their misery lasted just 2 hours, 19 minutes and 11 holes.
It brought Scheffler, the former Texas Longhorns star, to tears afterward.
For Team Europe, this was a walk in the park with the added bonus that they may have found a pairing to be reckoned with for the next decade and beyond.
Deep in the heart of Spain?
The women’s professional tour is in the DFW Metroplex this week with the Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America at Old American Golf Club in The Colony. And while Cheyenne Knight was happy to talk about her 2019 victory at this event, she was just as eager to discuss her recent appearance in the Solheim Cup in Andalucía, Spain.
Knight, who hails from the Fort Worth suburb of Aledo, was standing on the first tee during the event’s final day when a familiar song came bubbling up from the crowd of U.S. supporters.
“You're so nervous in that environment. You're ready to hit the first tee shot and get going,” Knight said. “To just kind of hear the people sing ‘Deep in the Heart of Texas’ and put my name in it was so special, all the way in Spain. All our fans that came out and supported us — I played like the last few holes with Leona (Maguire) today and she was like, you guys had a lot of people out there. So big shoutout to all the people that came and represented Texas.”
Although the Americans played Team Europe to a 14-14 draw, the home side kept the Cup, per longstanding rules.
College rankings out
The first Golfweek/Sagarin college team rankings are out and there are no surprises with who the top men’s and top women’s teams are right out of the box.
North Carolina, which lost in the semifinals of the 2023 NCAA Championships in May, will start the new campaign in the No. 1 spot. And the Stanford Cardinal, who also reached the final four last spring before getting knocked out, is the top team in the women’s game.
The Golfweek/Sagarin rankings were released on Sept. 28 and will be updated every Friday throughout the season.
The Longhorns are the only area school in the top 10 on the men’s side, at No. 9. In the women’s rankings, Wake Forest, which won it all last season, is No. 2 to start this year while the only area team to crack the rankings is Texas A&M at No. 10.
This season, the men’s and women’s championships will be held at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., the first of a three-year commitment. Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., hosted the previous three seasons, except for 2020, when the championships were canceled due to the COVID pandemic.
Tim Schmitt is the managing editor for Golfweek, golf coordinator for the USA Today Network and lives in Round Rock. Adam Schupak contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Tito's Shorties Classic set for return at Butler Pitch and Putt course
