When Nate Smith, who earned a spot in the Wells Fargo Championship by firing 63 in the Monday Qualifier, walked into the locker room on Wednesday afternoon, he found his new golf bag with a note (pictured above) attached, “All players, please sign for charity auction. Nate Smith, you’re welcome.”

Nate had left the bag he was using for his tournament next to his locker and when his buddy James Hahn came across it, he saw it as an opportunity to get Nate back for a prank earlier in the day.

Turns out it may have brought some good juju, as Nate shot a five-under 67 to share the first-round lead with seven other players, including world no. 2 Rory McIlroy. (continue reading…)

Snedeker quenches the thirst for first

After taking a back seat to Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the last two events, Brandt Snedeker had the spotlight to himself — well, he kind of shared it with his pro-am partner and friend Toby S. Wilt since the duo won that portion of the tournament. Snedeker, who has played solidly, ran into two guys who just happened to be unbeatable the last two weeks.

This week he was the one that was the man to beat, despite entering the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tied for the lead with PGA Tour rookie James Hahn.

If anything, being the bridesmaid for two straight weeks made him even more hungry for the victory.   (continue reading…)

I know it was Saturday night on the East Coast, so many thanks to those who took the time to submit questions and/or actually watched the live-stream.

Good news is you can always check it out later if you were busy with fun weekend activities (and I hope many of you were).

One thing: I made a mistake during the Hangout. Apologies to Jesse. For some reason — even though I knew he shot 68 — I thought Snedeker broke his streak of rounds in the 60s. In 15 of his last 16 rounds, Snedeker has scored in the 60s. His lone over-par round in that stretch was in the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open when he posted a three-over 75.

Eyeing a win after finishing runner-up to Tiger and Phil the last two weeks

There’s a name that’s been gracing the first page of the leaderboard who is tied for the 54-hole lead: Brandt Snedeker, who finished runner-up the last two weeks to Tiger Woods (Farmers Insurance Open) and Phil Mickelson (Waste Management Phoenix Open), respectively. PGA Tour rookie James Hahn birdied his last three holes at Spyglass (the hardest of the three venues) to fire a six-under 66 and tie Snedeker for the lead at 12-under through 54 holes.

Good news for Snedeker – Mickelson, who triple-bogeyed the 18th at Pebble Beach today after knocking two in the water (if you haven’t seen the GIF of his slip, then here’s a link), made the cut on the number (one-under), so he’s not a threat. And Tiger isn’t in the field. (continue reading…)

James Hahn has some serious moves! After the 31-year-old PGA Tour rookie rolled in a 20-footer for birdie on TPC Scottsdale’s notorious par-3 16th, he broke out the “Gangnam Style” dance (the original song by Korean pop star PSY is the most watched video on YouTube ever with over 1.26 billion — yes, billion — views). (continue reading…)

Gay has his eye on the prize…

I probably shouldn’t admit what I’m about to say, but it’ll give you an idea of just how glamorous my life on tour is. On Saturday evening at dinner a few friends and I were chatting about golf (what else? /eyeroll) and we were guessing what 54-hole leader Scott Stallings had to shoot or the other guys that we thought had a shot at catching him.

See, thing is, a five-shot lead at the Palmer Private isn’t much of a lead. There were tons of guys who were in range to catch him– with some help from Stallings — because you have to assume at least one or two guys will shoot a 62 and/or 63. One friend said, “Four-under. Scott needs to shoot four-under to guarantee a victory.” I agreed.

(continue reading…)

James Hahn, aka “The Asian Brad Pitt”…

Recovering from nearly two weeks of flu-like symptoms — which, from personal experience, in case you were wondering, really stinks — Phil Mickelson shot five-under 67 on Friday at Nicklaus Private in the second round of the Humana Challenge.

However, Mickelson, who carded five-under through 36 holes after his opening 72, is still two strokes outside of the cut line. 77 players posted scores of six-under or better. Good news for Phil and others? The cut is made after 54 holes in this pro-am format, where amateurs are paired with the pros for three rounds, and then Sunday’s final is pros only. (continue reading…)

During the third round of the Nationwide Tour Championship, the Golf Channel’s Jerry Foltz tweeted this gem:

I’ve confirmed with Jerry and this really did happen. James Hahn and his caddie Dong Yi, who are good friends, played a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine the shot selection. Hahn wanted to lay up, but Yi urged him to go for the green. Who won?

(continue reading…)