Oct 30, 2026 · 5 min read
Smotherman Can't Stop Winning
Two victories in two starts, a wild final-round 62, and a putting drill worth trying
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A confession before we get to the golf.
Last week I wrote “shoot better than 4-under and you’ll win a $100 gift card.” I meant one prize for one winner. I didn’t notice until after it sent that I’d promised a hundred dollars to anyone who cleared the bar.
Two of you cleared it. Ben and Jacob both shot perfect rounds — nine holes, nine aces, both of them. They both got paid.
Lucky it was two. If twenty of you had read that closely I’d be selling the clubs to cover it. Read my rules carefully, because apparently I don’t.
Now, the golf.
Austin Smotherman waited 100 starts for his first win. He’s now won two of his last two.
This one took until Monday. Forty-mile-an-hour winds wiped out Sunday in Bermuda, and he and Seamus Power ended up playing the same par 3 three times before it was settled. Rory Sabbatini turned 50 in April, shot 62 on Sunday, and won for the first time since 2011.
Apparently this turned into a putting edition. I didn’t plan it that way, but there’s a drill in here that tells you exactly why you’re missing — plus two fixes for the chunked iron.
Two gear deals, an Alabama course with one genuinely intimidating tee shot, and a barrel-proof bourbon at the 19th.
New Gimme challenge below, and this time it’s all four courses.
Let’s tee off.
THE GIMME · THIS WEEK’S CHALLENGE
The Grand Slam
Four courses. Thirty-six holes. Par 72. Your best round on each one adds together into a single score, and the lowest total for the week wins.
Last week, Jacob and Ben didn’t just win — they took the entire board. Both of them with perfect rounds. Nine holes, nine aces. Twice. We paid them both.
So we made it harder. One course was a sprint.
TWO WAYS TO WIN
Lowest Grand Slam total takes the $100.
Everyone who finishes all four courses goes into a draw. Winner gets their home course built into the game.
Closes Thursday, November 5th at 5:00pm ET. One $100 prize. You need all four courses finished to appear on the Grand Slam board. Lowest total wins — if two or more players tie, it goes to whoever posted their final course first.
Finished all four? Post under the same name each time so we know it’s you, or email adam@bbb-golf.com.
Birdies: Where the Pros Play 🏆
Austin Smotherman Wins Again After Bermuda's Wild Finish
Three weeks ago this newsletter led with Smotherman winning for the first time, in his 100th PGA Tour start. He’s done it again.
The final round in Bermuda never happened. Gusts topping 40 mph made Port Royal unplayable and the Tour scrapped Sunday entirely, leaving Smotherman and Seamus Power tied at 16-under through 54 holes with a Monday playoff to settle it.
They went back to the par-3 16th. Then they went back again. Then a third time.
On the first, Smotherman missed the green and scrambled for par while Power missed a 21-foot birdie putt. On the second, Smotherman two-putted from 75 feet and Power got up and down from a bunker. On the third, Smotherman two-putted from 14 feet to a two-footer, and Power couldn’t save par from the rough.
“I’m still shaking,” Smotherman said afterward. “That putt was not easy.”
It’s the first 54-hole weather-shortened win on Tour since Wyndham Clark at Pebble Beach in 2024. It moves him to 51st in the FedExCup, puts him in next year’s U.S. Open — at Pebble Beach — and extends his exempt status through 2029.
A hundred starts for the first one. Three weeks for the second.
Rory Sabbatini's Wild Finish Earns Him His First Champions Title
Sabbatini turned 50 in April. He hadn’t won a PGA Tour-sanctioned event since the 2011 Honda Classic, and he’d spent two and a half years away from the game entirely.
“The break from golf was much needed,” he said.
Sunday at the Stifel Charity Classic outside St. Louis, he was 4-under for the day with five holes to play. Then he played the last four in five under — an eagle and three straight birdies — to shoot 62 and finish at 13-under.
The last of those birdies was a 45-foot putt on 18. He took 23 putts for the round.
It was enough to beat Darren Clarke by one and give him his first PGA Tour Champions title.
Five-under through four holes to close a tournament. I’m usually happy to get through four without losing a ball.
Bogeys: For Us Weekend Golfers 🏌️♂️
Stop Guessing Why You Miss Putts
Ever miss a five-footer and immediately blame the green?
GOLF Top 100 Teacher Stephen Sweeney — who coaches Ludvig Åberg and Collin Morikawa — has a drill that tells you whether you’ve got a case.
Push a tee into the ground where your ball sits so you’re hitting from the same spot every time. Then build two gates between the ball and the hole using four markers. Make each one about the width of the cup, and space them so they split the putt into roughly thirds.
Now roll it through both and into the hole.
Here’s what your misses tell you:
Miss the first gate: Your start line needs work.
Clear the first but miss the second: Your speed might be off.
Clear both but miss the hole: You may have misread the break.
“What we want to do is make sure we are blaming the right things,” Sweeney says.
Run it from a few different spots. I’ve spent years blaming greens for putts I started on the wrong line, and this is the first thing I’ve seen that would have told me which it was.
Two Drills to Stop Chunking Your Irons
Nothing kills a good approach faster than hitting the ground before the ball. Big swing, torn-up fairway, ball goes nowhere.
Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Trey Niven says the usual cause is the lead shoulder sliding away from the target during the backswing. That drags your low point backward, behind the ball, which is exactly where you don’t want it. At impact, that shoulder should be back where it started at address — or slightly past it.
Two drills to fix it:
The Ludvig drill: named after Ludvig Åberg. Grip normally with your lead hand and keep your trail hand open and flat on the club. Halfway back, with the shaft parallel to the ground, your trail hand should point straight behind you and feel like it’s pushing the club away. If it’s out of position you’ll feel no pressure at all — that’s the tell.
The step drill: Start with your feet together. Halfway into the backswing, step toward the target with your lead foot. That gets your lead shoulder covering that foot, which keeps the low point past the ball.
I’ve donated enough grass to enough golf courses over the years. A drill that tells me the second I’ve got it wrong is worth a range session.
Gear Drop: This Week’s Picks ⛳
Nike Victory Pro 4 Spiked Golf Shoes: From $89.97 (Save Up to 42%)
Scheffler didn’t just wear these. He spent two years helping Nike design them.
The Victory Pro 4 has a Fly Wing support system meant to keep your foot stable through the swing, plus a cushioned midsole, a foam collar, and nine spikes for mornings when the grass is still soaked.
Verdict: Good buy. A shoe the best player in the world helped build, for under $100, doesn’t need much deliberating — just check that the size and colorway you want is actually at that price, because the discount moves around. Don’t expect Scheffler’s ball-striking to come included.
OGIO Woodē Cart Bag '25: $209.99 (Save 30%)
Still digging through your bag every time you want a club? This one’s $90 off.
Fifteen-way top with room for oversized putter grips, eleven pockets, a cooler compartment, and straps that lock it to a push cart.
Verdict: Yes, if you walk with a cart. Fifteen dividers is more organization than most of us strictly need, but it’s the difference between grabbing a club and excavating for one. And the cooler is a feature you don’t think you want until the ninth tee on a warm afternoon.
This week’s Weekend Card has three goals for Saturday. Open it here →
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Bourbon: Life on the 19th Hole 🥃
⭐ Course of the week ⭐
FarmLinks at Pursell Farms: Sylacauga, Alabama
You don’t think of Alabama farmland when you’re planning a golf trip. This is the exception.
The Pursell family has worked this land for three generations. Hurdzan-Fry built the course through it, and it has far more elevation change than anything called FarmLinks has a right to. Golfweek puts it among its Top 100 Courses You Can Play, and Golf Digest ranks the resort 50th in the country.
Nearly every hole has a name — Baby Rattler, Big Gulp, Lonely Pine, Christine. The one you’ll remember is No. 5. It’s called Hang Time, and it drops 172 feet from the tips to the green with the countryside opening up behind it.
Picking the right club is half the battle. Convincing yourself to trust it is the other half.
Where you'll lose shots: Club selection. The elevation changes can make familiar yardages feel completely different, especially on the downhill par 3s.
How to play it smarter: Pay attention to the elevation, take enough time to choose your club, and don't let the scenery distract you from the shot.
Would I make the trip? Absolutely. A beautiful course, a few dramatic tee shots, and a place to stay afterward? Sounds like a pretty good golf weekend to me.
Planning a visit?
Location: Sylacauga, Alabama, southeast of Birmingham
Course: Public-access, 18 holes, par 72
Length: Approximately 5,100–7,400+ yards, depending on tees
Designer: Hurdzan-Fry Environmental Golf Design
Rates: Vary by date and availability
Accommodations: On-site inn, cabins, cottages, and golf packages
Booking: Tee times available online
This Week’s Pour
Wild Turkey Rare Breed Barrel Proof Bourbon
Some bourbons are built to go down easy. Rare Breed isn’t trying.
It goes barrel to bottle at full strength — no water, 116.8 proof. Wild Turkey blends six-, eight- and twelve-year-old stock into it, and it drinks like all three are arguing.
Wild Turkey’s notes: honey and black pepper on the nose, warm spice and vanilla on the palate, and a finish that stays put long after the glass is down.
Here’s what I actually like about it. No allocation, no lottery, no hunting. It’s about fifty bucks and it’s on the shelf at most decent stores right now, which after a few weeks of chasing bottles feels close to a public service.
My verdict: Pour it neat if you enjoy a little heat, or add a splash of water to soften the edges. Either way, this feels like the kind of bourbon worth slowing down for after a long Saturday on the course.
Proof: 112.8 (56.4% ABV)
Age: Blend of 6-, 8-, and 12-year-old bourbons
Style: Kentucky straight bourbon, barrel proof
Price: Varies by retailer
One Last Thing
Rory Sabbatini went fifteen years without winning a tournament.
Somewhere in the middle of that, he stopped. Not a slump — he put the clubs down for two and a half years. “The break from golf was much needed,” he said Sunday. He’s 50 now. He’d just played his last four holes in five under to win.
I’ve been on the road six months. No rhythm to any of it, golf included. Maybe that’s what I needed.
Sabbatini knew which one he was doing. I don’t always. Sometimes stepping back is rest. Sometimes it’s building something next to the hard thing so you get to feel busy without touching it.
So this weekend: real green, real cup. No leaderboard, nobody watching, nothing to win.
Just enjoy the moment.
See you next week,
Adam
Adam Rosen
Editor-in-Chief, Birdies, Bogeys & Bourbon
P.S. Answer: B. An opponent's ball blocking your putting line. Under the old stymie rule, golfers sometimes had to putt around or even over an opponent's ball. The rule was finally abolished in 1952. Imagine having to deal with that on top of your usual three-putts.
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