The Golf Central crew talks about Lydia Ko looking to recover from a rocky 2023 at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions and takes a look at Sam Burns and Nick Dunlap starring at the American Express. #GolfChannel #GolfCentral
» Subscribe to Golf Channel: https://www.youtube.com/golfchannel?sub_confirmation=1
» For the latest news around golf: https://www.nbcsports.com/golf
Welcome to Golf Channel’s official YouTube channel. We are the #1 destination for everything golf – 24/7. Find golf instruction tips, sneak peeks to our original series, news and tournament coverage. We are part of the NBC Sports Group.
Discover what else Golf Channel has to offer:
Live Coverage on Peacock: https://peacocktv.smart.link/v82e9dl56
Live Scores: http://bit.ly/GCScores
TV Schedule: https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/schedule
Instructional Tips: https://www.golfpass.com/learn
Golf Course Reviews: http://bit.ly/GCCourseReviews
Lydia Ko on track in Orlando; Sam Burns, Nick Dunlap star in La Quinta | Golf Central | Golf Channel
https://www.youtube.com/golfchannel?sub_confirmation=1
[Music]
golf Central on YouTube is brought to
you by the Paradigm AI smoke woods and
irons from
Callaway welcome into golf Central Whit
Watson alongside Jim Gallagher Jr second
round of the Hilton Grand Vacations
Tournament of Champions in Orlando the
season opener for the LPGA as they
celebrate 75 years Lydia Co trying to
bounce back from a less than Stellar
season last year this was her second
shot at the par
59th yeah she felt like she’s played
here enough she knew she could go ahead
and make an effort shouldn’t be too much
difficulty with this shot and she nearly
makes this one this is really tracking
nicely beautiful shot there kind of got
the round going again she teamed up with
Jason day to win an unofficial event
last year but not up to her standards
after three wins the year before that
eagle putt at the ninth however got her
to seven underpar take the over to the
other side and the par five 15th and
this was her second
there yeah and you you can tell she
hates it she had really tried to be a
little less technical this year and that
gets into the penalty
area so taking a drop now playing her
fourth with a short game like Lydia Coes
you expect to hit a good shot there and
she does nicely done and she did manage
to get up and down for par so she stays
at minus 7 now to the par for 18th her
second
shot yeah the rain start to come in
there it’s a little bit of a 34 her
follow
[Applause]
through I like the way her game is I
love the way her golf swing looks she
looks like she’s playing with a lot of
freedom and that is a well played shot
there tough hole location
today and the ensuing birdie opportunity
as the rain starts to fall in
Orlando look how that stroke is
nice got her to eight underpar and that
is where she would finish with a 67 on
the day 31 putts could have been a
little bit better as Co looks to notch
the early win in the 2024
season over to the American Express in
California on a PGA Tour and Sam burns
on the Nicholas tournament course par 4
18th a par putt to finish with a
61 we were on 59 watch for a while by
the way the RTR in the hair is the
result of losing a bet to Alabama Alum
Justin Thomas Roll Tide Roll But
3130 on route to that 61 despite the
haircut after his round Burns spoke with
our Steve
Bowski it was quite a show by Sam burns
on this Friday George how were you able
to get it around seemingly with such
relative ease uh as you had a chance to
shoot 59 yeah um I really like the golf
course I mean look the weather’s perfect
uh had a great amateur group and uh we
just had a lot of fun and I I really
didn’t realize I had a chance um until I
had the putt on 17
um unfortunately didn’t make it and then
hit a poor W shot on 18 but yeah
obviously solid round we were discussing
it on the broadcast when you might be
thinking about it truthful that you
didn’t really have that pop into your
mind till 17 yeah I didn’t really
realize what I was at um until yeah I
made the putt there on uh 16
and then got on 17 I hit the shot on 17
and then I started figuring if I’m at 17
that means I’m 11 today uh so then I
realized I needed to bre the last two
but um wasn’t in the cards most
important question is how quickly do you
hope that your hair grows back after
what Justin Thomas forced you to
do very quickly um thankfully I get to
wear a hat every day and uh I try to
keep it on as long as possible so yeah
that was a uh that was a tough bet to
lose but paid the bet so we’re uh we’re
good can we get a closeup give us a
little something for the folks at home
Roll Tide Roll by now that’s tough for
an LSU man isn’t it very yeah very tough
good news is sabin’s gone maybe you got
a chance next year celebrating sabin’s
retirement as everybody else in
Louisiana is great job Sam appreciate
the time all right
thanks on social media this was Justin
Thomas telling Sam Burns how much he
loves his new haircut for sure didn’t
lose a bet and did it on your own roll
tide roll no was a bet it was the
football game between Alabama and LSU
last
fall speaking of Alabama the reigning US
amateur Champion is an Alabama sophomore
named Nick Dunlap and this was at the
American Express he’s in the field par
34th is birdie putt gets him to 10 under
par he’s won some big amateur events
like a US amateur championship and a
north and south but this is a whole new
ball game par 4
18th going to go ahead and just stick
this to six feet thanks very
[Applause]
much and finish up at 15
underpar the reigning us Amer champion
last summer a member of the US Walker
Cup team Two Shots off the lead as he
heads into the weekend some heady stuff
for this young
man so Jim let’s start right there I
mean we talk all the time about how
these college kids they’ve already been
on TV they’ve got teams around them
they’re accustomed to eyeballs but this
is a little bit different this is the
PGA Tour and we’re not just talking
about making a cut he’s in contention
right
now yeah he really is and I remember I
go back to the notay National junor a
few years ago I think he was 16 or 17 he
lost to Brandon Valdez who now is at
Auburn uh playing there and they played
a great battle towards the end and I
remember the disappointment that I saw
in his face and I went over to he and
his mom and I said hey it’s going to be
okay your your son’s got a lot of talent
he’s going to be very successful and and
he’s worked really hard he’s won a US
junior he beat Coen trolo at the Country
Club of North Carolina there of course
he wins the usam a walker cuper I mean
he’s done so many things in the last two
years he’s worked really hard but the
cool part about him is he’s an a athlete
he played baseball and basketball and
and and football all those Sports he
played was in a punt passing kid uh kick
as a kid so he’s a athlete I think he
takes that athletic mentality when he
gets out on the golf course and I think
what separates these Elite players is
that will to win and I think coach
Sewell who’s at Alabama says he has that
want attitude and and you can’t teach
those attitude that’s from inside uh and
he’s a fantastic player I look forward
to seeing how he finishes these last two
days pretty impressive run in the first
two rounds going back to the top of the
leaderboard Burns is a five-time winner
on the PGA tour he’s a proven commodity
that 61 was his best ever round on the
PGA tour and he still got a couple of
days to go what do you think about that
performance
uh I thought it was fantastic I think
it’s always interesting we always talk
about the zone and what is the Zone well
Sam was in it in burko asked when did
you think uh you had 59 and he said I
didn’t think about it till he was on the
17th Hole uh and that’s what happens
when you get on those roles you’re
focused on what you’re doing the
decision makinging is easy everything is
clear your mind’s clear and I think you
saw that with Sam I talked to Brad
Poland his golf swing instructor and he
had a tough year last year he won the
match play but only had a couple top 10
towards the end of the year he did in
the Ridder cup but uh he didn’t drive
the ball very well they’ve got that
straightened out they went back and
looked at some old videos worked on the
back swing on the way back a little bit
early where his hands and arms were they
were a little bit out of sink so they’ve
cleaned that up it looks really good so
far he looks like he’s playing with that
freedom and he’s hitting that little cut
shot that we normally see Sam play and
when Sam’s confident you better watch
out and he loves playing out here in the
Coachella Valley and he’s had some
success a couple good finishes out there
so what a great round and he’s got to
follow it up goes over to the stadium
and and I think you know as long as the
weather stays good we’re going to see
nothing but low
numbers 17 under is the lead right now
where do you think the lead is by the
end of the day on Saturday and where’s
that cut going to be it doesn’t come
till Saturday
night well I’m going to think the lead’s
going to probably be in the low 20s 23
24 under as far as the cut you got to
look feel like you’re 12 or 13 under par
to make the cut I mean you got to shoot
to me when I always went out there and
especially these guys you got to feel
like part of
6869 uh and you’re seeing that with the
scores we saw all these averages and and
I think that’s what you’re looking at
but I think for these guys I think it
helps though because you got to be
aggressive and that’s the mentality you
have to play and that’s why we’re seeing
so many low numbers so there’s the
schedule for Saturday it’s packed the
LPGA at 2 p.m. eastern time on Golf
Channel moving to NBC at 300 p.m.
eastern time the AMX at 4:00 and then
the PGA Tour Champions at 700 p.m.
Eastern and we are back to wrap it all
up at 10: p.m. eastern time on Saturday
night
[Music]
