Jon Rahm posted his third win in 2023 and no one can argue that he is the hottest player in the world right now. After trading birdies and bogeys with Max Homa all day, Rahm took the lead with a few holes to play and never looked back, carding a stroke victory over Max. As Jon celebrated with his family, he wore his favorite timepiece, the Rolex Sky-Dweller in bright blue!
WOTW Specs Name: Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller Reference: 326934-0003 Limited: No Date: 2017 – Present Case: 904L Oystersteel Bezel: White Gold Fluted Dial: Bright Blue Size: 42mm Movement: Calibre 9001, 40 Jewels Power Reserve: 72 Hours Glass: Saphire Crystal, Cyclops Lens Waterproof: 100 Meters Bracelet: Rolex Oyster, 904L Oystersteel Price: $15,650 (~$24,500)
The Sky-Dweller is the most complicated watch that Rolex makes currently with a unique dual time zone design. The Rolex Sky-Dweller was introduced 10 years ago as a watch for world travelers. The case is on the larger side for Rolex at 42mm and made from Rolex’s own stainless steel, Oystersteel. The caseback is solid stainless steel and screws into the case for a 100 meter waterproof rating. On the right side of the case is the screw-down crown that features Rolex’s Twinlock double seal system.
Under a sapphire crystal is a Bright Blue dial with an off-center ring around the middle. The off-center ring tells the time of a second time zone in a 24-hour format. Around the dial are hour markers made from white gold and filled with Rolex’s Chromalight luminescent material for a bright blue glow in low light. Above each hour marker is a white, or red, square that indicates the current month. The date is at the 3 o’clock position and only needs to be set once per year as the Sky-Dweller is an annual calendar. It is engineered to distinguish between the months with 30 and 31 days so you only need to set it on March 1st each year.
On top of the case is the iconic fluted bezel that is crafted from Rolex’s own white gold alloy. White gold can fade over time and Rolex created their own foundry in order to produce a white gold that will keep its luster longer through everyday wear. The bezel also features Rolex’s Ring Command that works with the mechanical movement to set the date and time on the watch.
Rotating the bidirectional bezel into one of three positions allows you to set the local time, second time zone, or the month and date. This unique system gives you the ability too easily set a very complicated watch.
Internally the Sky-Dweller uses Rolex’s most complicated movement, the Calibre 9001. The 9001 is a self-winding automatic with the aforementioned annual calendar and Ring Command. It contains around 380 parts and that is a lot to package into its 33mm diameter. The 9001 is unique as it works with the bezel and that feature alone takes 60 parts to function correctly. Rolex designed and builds the 9001 completely in-house and it offers the wearer around 72hrs of power reserve. Like all Rolex movements the 9001 is COSC (Swiss Superlative Chronometer) certified to ensure it is extremely accurate through all temperatures and conditions.
Jon’s Sky-Dweller has the more casual design, the Oyster, bracelet. The Jubilee option is a little more flashy and formal in its look. Made from 3 solid, flat links of Oystersteel the bracelet is very durable and comfortable. A folding Oysterclasp brings the bracelet together and features Rolex’s Easylink extension, allowing you to adjust the band 5mm for the perfect fit. The Sky-Dweller is a popular watch among collectors and the Bright Blue dial is by far the most sought after. Rolex collector’s demand has pushed up the price of the blue Sky-Dweller to around $24,500 on the secondary market, almost $9,000 over its retail price.
Morning 9: Rahm wins at Riv | Olesen’s Thai victory | Tiger’s week
Tour Rundown: Langer ties Irwin for all-time Champions mark | Rahm regains No. 1
I have been an employee at GolfWRX since 2016. In that time I have been helping create content on GolfWRX Radio, GolfWRX YouTube, as well as writing for the front page. Self-proclaimed gear junkie who loves all sorts of golf equipment as well as building golf clubs!
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Good Tuesday morning, golf fans, as we gear up for what is one of the best fields we will see all year at this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…”The actual tournament competition? That remains the least compelling aspect, and apparently millions of sports fans agree – the ratings for the first CW broadcast were abysmal, even when strategically put up against what was easily the weakest PGA Tour event of the year. The product now has to stand on its own merits, and this was an unsteady start.”
PGATour.com’s Kevin Prise on the Monday qualifiers incredible week…”Gerard, 23, earns a spot in next week’s Puerto Rico Open via a top-10 finish, an appreciative addition to his winter schedule as the Korn Ferry Tour is in the midst of a five-week break.”
James Corrigan for the Telegraph…”LIV Golf has slammed down the shutters and revealed that no new signings will be competing in the 2023 season.”
Golfweek’s Adam Woodard…”When it comes to the league format, those plans are more European than American, especially with its new promotion and relegation system. LIV views open competition not only as a cornerstone of its evolving product, but also as a way to legitimize its place in the professional golf landscape.”
AP report…”This year, the tour had two elevated events before the Honda, with two more to immediately follow at Bay Hill and The Players Championship.”
Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…“If Stanford is to repeat as NCAA champion, it may have to do so without one of its best players….Junior Rachel Heck, the 2021 NCAA individual champion and player of the year, missed the Cardinal’s first two events of the spring because of thoracic outlet syndrome, a shoulder condition in the area between the first rib and the collarbone.”
Mike Hall for Golf Monthly…”Because of the inability of LIV Golf to offer its players world ranking points, attention has regularly turned to the plight of players who have tumbled down the rankings since opting to play on the big-money circuit.”
One place that 156 competitors at the 2023 PGA Championship won’t want to spend much time is among the trees at Oak Hill Country Club. For the perspicacious patrons and volunteers, however, not just shade and repose will be found beneath those canopies. A large part of the Oak Hill story is told on the stalwart trunks that frame the grounds.
Tree management programs have been in the news for the past three decades, since courses and clubs took steps to allow sun, wind, and moisture to more efficiently and naturally impact the turf and plantings that define golf course architecture. The Oak Hill Country Club, near Rochester in Pittsford, New York, is sensitive to the work of its superintendents and grounds crew, and initiated a restorative program five years ago to return the course to its Donald Ross roots. Part of that restoration involved the assessment and culling of certain trees around the two courses and lawns. Members and fans wondered aloud how the removal of certain pines, elms and, yes, even oaks, would impact the club.
Trees at Oak Hill hold more than just their own history and legacy across the property. Many are designated with plaques, commemorating members and important staff, with a special space reserved for winners of major tournaments. The Hill of Fame alongside and above the 13th fairway is known as an august space, but there are many other, arboreal plantings that tell brief but important stories.
I sought the expertise of two gentlemen with vast knowledge of this commemorative program. Mr. Griffen Owen is the current member in charge of the continuation and cataloguing of the program, with an official title of Tree and Memorial Curator for the History and Archives committee. Mr. Fred Beltz is the Club Historian. My debt to each is vast, and their words help to create the following account.
The tree-naming program has existed since the decade of the 1920s. It was then that Dr. John Williams proposed the matter of landscaping the grounds to club president Clarence Wheeler. Armed with approval, the two embarked on a donation program, and raised enough seed money to purchase, well, seeds and saplings. Dr. Williams traveled near and far to collect enough live timber to dress up the club property in leafy luster. Three spaces alongside holes on the fabled East course were selected as nurseries, and these locales allowed the club to plant 20,000 seedlings to begin the tree program.
Not long after, Dr. Williams connected people with the oaks, pines, and other species. A ceremony held on Memorial (nee Decoration) Day would read the names and feats of the honorees, and the location of their memorial plaque. Two of the most poignant stories are told in a club article by the historian. Of Major Michael J. Crino, MD.; 1st Lieutenant Richard Arnold; 1st Lieutenant Herbert Hastings; Private Edward R. Crone Jr.; 2nd Lieutenant George Healy; 2nd Lieutenant Joseph Myler, Jr.; 1st Lieutenant Robert E. Stevenson; and 1st Lieutenant Willard B. Eddy; Mr. Beltz writes:
“I cannot fully express the pride I feel for these men that I never met but who, at one time or another, shared a love for the 355 acres we all call “home.” How fitting that a memorial to them will forever be part of the grounds of Oak Hill Country Club.”
From Saipan to Italy, from Germany to North Africa, in stateside training and overseas missions, these OakHillians made the ultimate sacrifice, to defend the freedom and liberties that they and their generations valued, above all else. The most known, and perhaps most moving, is the story of Private Crone. Mr. Beltz continues
“Private Edward R. Crone Jr. was part of the 106th Infantry and took part in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was captured in the Ardennes. Along with other prisoners, he was sent to Dresden, Germany, in cattle cars, where they lived in a meat-packing plant. Living on starvation rations, the prisoners took part in forced labor, clearing the city of rubble and bodies after the Allied firebombing. Suffering from malnutrition, he died less than a month before the war’s end. Edward Crone is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery. Fellow POW Kurt Vonnegut used Crone as the role model for the character of Billy Pilgrim in his novel “Slaughterhouse Five.” After visiting the gravesite, Vonnegut wrote, “There’s a wonderful Victorian cemetery [in Rochester]. And that’s where Billy Pilgrim is buried . . . Visiting Crone’s grave closed out the war for me.”
The tree memorialization program currently lists 375 plaques on the East and West, the clubhouse proper, and the Hill of Fame. Along the 8th hole, parallel to Chapin Way, multiple plaques adorn trees to commemorate winners of the John R. Williams Four-Ball Invitational. On the Hill of Fame, names like Whitworth, Nicklaus, Sorenstam, Trevino, Rawls, Strange, and Middlecoff are remembered for their professional, major championship victories, both at Oak Hill and beyond. Jay Haas earned space for his senior professional win, while Charles Coe and Hank Kuehne garnered memorialization for US Amateur titles. The 1995 European side is also remembered on the Hill of Fame, for its stirring victory over the host USA contingent.
On May 21st of this year, another named plaque may be added to the arborescent archive above the 13th green. It will certainly find a place on the adjacent Wall of Fame, outside the majestic clubhouse. It’s to be expected that the fortunate soul will feel something akin to Shaun Micheel’s reflection on his place nearby on the clubhouse Wall of Fame
“Oak Hill is a very special club and they have an incredible amount of pride in the championships that they’ve hosted and their respective champions. The membership always goes out of their way to welcome me when I’m on property and I’m grateful for that. But, I am truly honored to have a permanent place at Oak Hill.”
May of 2023 will certainly see the addition of another champion to the Wall of Fame. As the club moves through the 21st century, Oak Hill will continue to serve as a beacon of tree management, a venue for tournaments of the highest caliber, and a pantheon for the game’s greatest contributors.
Good Monday morning, golf fans, as Chris Kirk returned to the winner’s circle with a big playoff win at the Honda Classic.
AP report…”Chris Kirk waited nearly eight years to win a PGA Tour event again. Waiting one more hole on Sunday was no problem.
AP report…”American Lilia Vu rode a hot putter to claim her maiden LPGA crown with a one-shot victory over home favorite Natthakritta Vongtaveelap at the Honda LPGA Thailand on Sunday.”
BBC Report…”Charles Howell III claimed his first LIV Golf title at the season-opening event with a stunning eight-under-par 63 in the final round in Mexico.
The American won $4m (£3.33m), plus a quarter of the $1m prize for winning the team event with Crushers GC.”
AP report…”Marcel Siem ended his long wait for a fifth European tour title with victory at the Hero Indian Open by a single shot Sunday.”
Golf Channel report…”44 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking will tee it up next week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. No tournament has featured more top 50 players since the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews.”
Golf Channel’s Max Schreiber…”During the summer of 2021, the major champions, who both defected to LIV Golf last year, had a high-profile feud that captivated the golf world. However, Koepka revealed Thursday during an Instagram Q&A that they have come to a truce once and for all. “
Tom D’Angelo for Palm Beach Post…”Jack Nicklaus is confident the rebranded Honda Classic is ready to make a comeback.”
Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (9 degrees @10.7)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 TX
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 TX
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 TX
Irons: Callaway Apex Pro ‘21 (4), Callaway Apex MB ‘18 (5-9)
Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (46-10S @47, 50-10S @51), Vokey Design SM9 (56-10S), WedgeWorks (60-T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S200
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG No. 5
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
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