Report: Sebastian Munoz to leave PGA Tour, join LIV Golf

Report: Sebastian Munoz to leave PGA Tour, join LIV Golf

Most of the excitement around LIV Golf during its debut season in 2022 stemmed from player movement.

Since the conclusion of the team championship last October, it’s been all quiet on that front for the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-backed circuit, aside from a report on Mito Pereira and a new player joining Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces. But as LIV prepares for its 2023 opener at Mayakoba in Mexico, Feb. 24-26, another PGA Tour winner is expected to join its ranks.

According to the Telegraph, Sebastian Munoz will join LIV Golf in 2023. The Colombian, currently ranked 90th in the world, turned pro in 2015 and won his first and only PGA Tour event at the 2019 Sanderson Farms Championship. He also won the 2016 Club Colombia Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Last fall he was a member of the International team at the Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow, where he compiled a 2-0-1 record, including a win against Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1 at the time.

The league recently released its 2023 schedule which features 14 events across six countries, including eight in the United States. LIV also secured a TV deal with the CW this offseason.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/nY4NopZ

Report: Shane Lowry and longtime caddie Brian 'Bo' Martin to split after losing spark and chemistry

Report: Shane Lowry and longtime caddie Brian 'Bo' Martin to split after losing spark and chemistry

In the midst of a year when Shane Lowry is gunning to make the European Ryder Cup team, he’s going to have a new looper on his bag.

Lowry and Brian “Bo” Martin had an amicable split last weekend, per a report from the Irish Independent. The duo teamed up in 2018, their biggest victory coming in the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, where Lowry cruised to a six-shot victory for his only major title.

The report states Martin and Lowry had lost their “spark” and “chemistry,” even pointing to an incident during the 2022 Masters where Lowry was visibly frustrated after he felt he was given bad advice.

Two weeks ago at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Lowry went into the final round tied for the lead but fired a 76 on Sunday, eventually falling by nine shots. Last week at the Dubai Desert Classic, he missed the cut, leading him and Martin to make the decision.

The Irish Independent reports Lowry will play five straight weeks on the PGA Tour beginning next week at the WM Phoenix Open and concluding at the Players Championship.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/nY4NopZ

Why did Bubba Watson join LIV Golf? His son who 'never watched' golf knew the team names

Why did Bubba Watson join LIV Golf? His son who 'never watched' golf knew the team names

Bubba Watson made his LIV Golf League debut in Boston last September, however, he’s yet to play in an event due to injury. He served as an on-course reporter and non-playing captain of his Niblicks GC team.

This week, the two-time Masters champion is in Saudi Arabia for the PIF Saudi International at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.

During his pre-tournament press conference, Watson was asked about growing the game.

“How I signed up with LIV is my 10-year-old son was sitting in the bed with me, and we were watching golf on the TV, and he knew the Aces — everybody knows the Aces, they keep winning,” he said. “He knew the Aces, he knew the Stingers. He didn’t know individual names, he just knew the team names, and for a 10-year-old to never watch the game of golf but now watches it, now I knew that there was a product to be had. LIV has a niche, it has a reason.

“My son is used to the Yankees. He’s used to the Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs. He’s used to watching teams, and that’s the one thing that golf — high school golf has a team, college golf has a team, and then one of the biggest events in the world is the Ryder Cup, and it’s a team event. Now that professional golf has a team, we’re going to be able to get the below-60-year-olds watching Golf Channel to the 10-year-olds now wanting to watch.

“I think we’re on to something with LIV, and that’s why I want to be a part of it. When my 10-year-old never watches golf and now watches golf, and my eight-year-old daughter now understands the teams, she knows my new logo, she was a part of — my family was a part of making the new logo and the new team colors. That’s what we’re trying to do.

“To grow the game is not getting the 60- and 70-year-olds to play, it’s getting the young kids to play.”

LIV recently agreed on a broadcast deal with The CW, known for its younger demographic. The first event on the 2023 LIV Golf schedule is in Mexico at Mayakoba, Feb. 24-26.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/nY4NopZ

PGA Tour Q-School to be hosted in 2023 at TPC Sawgrass and neighboring Sawgrass CC

PGA Tour Q-School to be hosted in 2023 at TPC Sawgrass and neighboring Sawgrass CC

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – Much of the PGA Tour’s schedule for next season, including the fall portion of the schedule, are still in flux, but Golfweek has learned the site of the tournament PGA Tour pros will be doing everything in their power to avoid.

The Tour’s Q-School, which will offer five cards to the big leagues for the first time in more than a decade, will be held in mid-December and be hosted at Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass and nearby Sawgrass Country Club.

The latter was the home of the Players Championship from 1977-1981 until TPC Sawgrass, sister course to Dye’s Valley, became the long-term home of the Tour’s signature event in 1982. Sawgrass Country Club is a 27-hole layout designed by Ed Seay and regularly hosts a collegiate event, the John Hayt Invitational, and also will be familiar to former contestants of the AJGA’s Junior Players, which hosted the popular junior invitational while TPC Sawgrass conducted a renovation in 2016.

Last year, Korn Ferry Tour Q-School was held at The Landings in Savannah, Georgia. For several years, the venue alternated between PGA West in Palm Desert, California, and Orange County National in Winter Garden, Florida. The latter recently was announced as the site of a LIV Golf event ahead of the Masters.

The PGA Tour hasn’t made an official announcement, but Golfweek obtained a letter from Sawgrass club president Dan Cavey, dated Jan. 30, to the membership that detailed how it will serve as one of the two courses to be used.

It noted that, “The PGA Tour approached the Club to be a partner in hosting the PGA Tour Qualifying School or ‘Q School.’”

TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley

The 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley during the final round of the 2015 Web.com Tour Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Photo by Chris Condon/PGA Tour

It continued: “The PGA (Tour) is elevating Q-School to be a featured televised event and is very interested in holding it in Ponte Vedra Beach near their headquarters. They want to structure it as a split field with 85 players daily at our course and 85 at the Valley Course.”

In recent years, the top 40 and ties at Q-School earned full status for the first 12 events on the Korn Ferry Tour, the development circuit for the PGA Tour. But beginning this year, the top five finishers and ties will earn PGA Tour status for the following season, creating a pathway for collegiate stars to go straight to the big leagues and bypass spending a year on the Korn Ferry Tour. This marks the first time since 2012 that Q-School will provide a direct path to the PGA Tour.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for guys. I think it’s something that you deserve. I mean, it’s pretty grueling to go through Q-School, especially if you start at first stage like I did,” said reigning Masters champ and PGA Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler earlier this month. “It’s a long few months.”

“I think more opportunities for guys to get out here is better,” he said. “Because you want to reward good golf wherever it is. If it’s at Q-School or on the Korn Ferry or PGA Tour Canada, Latin America, wherever it is, you want to reward good golf.”

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/nY4NopZ

New events, return stops and $1K pro-am deposits: What to know about the LIV Golf League’s 2023 schedule

New events, return stops and $1K pro-am deposits: What to know about the LIV Golf League’s 2023 schedule

With just a month before its first event of the year, the LIV Golf League has officially announced its full schedule for 2023.

While the schedule was reported last week (along with more turnover among LIV Golf’s leadership), the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund confirmed its slate of 14 events which begins with a trip to Mayakoba’s El Camaleón Golf Course on Mexico’s Riviera Maya, Feb. 24-26, for the season opener.

From new events and return stops to ticket and pro-am prices, here’s what you need to know about the 2023 schedule for the LIV Golf League.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/nY4NopZ

No need for affirmation — DP World Tour players have never had it so good

No need for affirmation — DP World Tour players have never had it so good

Self-help gurus suggest there are benefits in using a positivity wall — to stand in front of a mirror, say something positive about yourself, scribble it down on a bit of paper then shove it up on said wall so you become energized, inspired and motivated by a burgeoning assembly of rousing affirmations.

That’s the theory, at least. The reality, of course, is slightly different.

As I gazed at the haunting reflection of my increasingly wizened fizzog, which is beginning to develop the same consistency of a perished balloon, my eyes became tormented by the kind of ghoulish vision of foreboding that was akin to a hallucinating Macbeth glimpsing the ghost of bloomin’ Banquo.

Once I’d composed myself, I started to think that Keith Pelley, the chief executive of the DP World Tour, would be the kind of fella who would perhaps embrace one of those positivity thingamabobs.

He is, after all, a dynamic, thrusting type of chap who wears blue-rimmed spectacles and speaks with composed, confident, authoritative gusto. I could imagine him having little Post-It notes with galvanizing pearls like “see the invisible, feel the intangible, achieve the impossible” scattered around his Wentworth office.

Or maybe he just stands and curses and mutters at a wall like the rest of us?

You wouldn’t blame him. The upcoming arbitration hearing – Pelley and his tour will square up to the outlawed LIV Golf rebels who believe they have the right to play anywhere they like – is consuming plenty of the Canadian’s time, much to his chagrin.

On the other hand, of course, Pelley has lots to be positive about. This season’s DP World Tour, for instance, boasts record prize money of over $144M. To us mere mortals, it’s a vast sum. In the madcap world of men’s professional golf, though, it’s like something cobbled together from a rummage under the cushions of a couch.

2022 DP World Tour Championship

Jon Rahm plays his tee shot on the 16th hole during the DP World Tour Championship on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates on November 19, 2022, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

The 2023 curtain-raiser in Abu Dhabi was a Rolex Series showpiece worth a whopping $9M, yet it attracted just one player — Shane Lowry — from the world’s top 20. There was another $9M purse on offer at this week’s Dubai Desert Classic and while Rory McIlroy sprinkled his stardust over the event, eventually winning, Norway’s Viktor Hovland wasn’t back to defend his title.

As for DP World Tour headline acts like Jon Rahm and Matt Fitzpatrick? Well, they are skipping the circuit’s Middle East swing entirely.

Big names of the European scene missing big events on their own tour is hardly new — the PGA Tour, where they ply most of their trade, will always take precedence, even more so now — but those absences may be more striking in 2023. While the “strategic alliance” with the PGA Tour has had plenty of spin-offs for the DP World Tour, the partnership is still weighted heavily in the former’s favor for now.

In the ongoing parrying and jousting with LIV Golf and its formidable financial war chest, the PGA Tour’s creation of a series of elevated events worth at least $20M to combat the Saudi-backed assault on the golfing establishment leaves the DP World Tour’s own marquee occasions in the shadows.

It’s almost absurd to think that an event worth $9M can now be viewed with a kind of shrugging indifference. But that’s the top end of men’s professional golf for you. Sodden with cash like never before.

The general state of the DP World Tour varies depending on who you speak to. Recently, European stalwart and now LIV Golf renegade Lee Westwood stated that, “I’m not sure where the [DP World] tour is now,” while weighing in on the lack of leading world stars competing in Abu Dhabi. “If you’d have told me that I’d be playing in a $9M tournament on tour I’d struggle to believe you,” he added. “But then if you told me there’d only be one member of the world’s top 20 in the field, I’d think you were mad.”

While Westwood aired his concerns, others preferred to focus on the tour’s emerging talent and abundant opportunities. The circuit can’t just pander to the top brass. It has a large and varied membership to look after, too.

Playing on the tour ain’t cheap. Birling here, there and everywhere, staying in hotels, eating egg and chips, etc., means expenses alone can be $85K and upwards. The implementation this year of an earnings assurance program, with a guarantee of $150,000 for any player who competes in a minimum of 15 tournaments, is a significant boon to the rank-and-file and new recruits.

The global game in its fractured upper echelons continues to be embroiled in a battle for hearts, minds and wallets, while division and debate rage.

One thing that can be agreed on, though, is that those elite campaigners have never, ever had it so good.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/nY4NopZ

Conversations with Champions: Max Homa says 'everybody else calls me the social media guy. I still think I'm a pretty darn good golfer'

Conversations with Champions: Max Homa says 'everybody else calls me the social media guy. I still think I'm a pretty darn good golfer'

Max Homa stole the show on Friday at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open, when he agreed to wear a mic and conduct a live talk-back during CBS’s coverage of the third round.

Homa was all business Saturday, shooting a final-round 66 to rally from six shots down to earn his sixth PGA Tour victory. The California kid also won for the fourth time (on three different courses) in his home state.

Homa moved up three spots to No. 13 in the Official World Golf Ranking and No. 7 in the Golfweek/Sagarin ranking.

The biggest thrill for Homa, though, might be that his infant son Cameron was greenside in the arms of his wife Lacey as he grinded out a come-from-behind win on the difficult South Course.

Here’s everything Homa said on Saturday at Torrey Pines.

Question: What was that progression for you to get more comfortable here at Torrey?

Max Homa: Joe [Homa’s caddie] did say exactly that. I think that Sunday I had shot 5 under in the final round and kind of finally figured out how to play the South Course. I’ve always played the North all right. But yeah, I think really what changed, part my golf game. I drive the ball really well now, that’s a big advantage out here. You don’t need to be in the short grass all the time, but you do need to be in it if you want to make birdies. The good news about this place is you’re going to make so many pars and bogeys, you can get away with some loose ones, but in general I started getting more comfortable on certain tees. My iron game has always kind of been my staple, I guess, of what I’m most proud of in my game and it lends itself to that at this golf course. But yeah, getting comfy on South knowing that I don’t need to ball out on North to have a chance here. As Joe said, once we get to the weekend or I guess Friday, the third round here, you know, it really does become a who’s who at the top it seems like. You need to play very, very good golf two days in a row on a very hard golf course. So I thought that just what Joe said, that final round, that T-9 I think gave me some confidence, all right, I can play this golf course. I think I came in here, got a little psyched out just because of how difficult it could be and I started to realize that you don’t need to hit every fairway. If I play my game, it actually does kind of suit me pretty well.

Q: What has changed mentally in the last two or three years about your belief in  yourself going from the social media guy to now one of the top players in the world?

MH: Everybody else calls me the social media guy. I still think I’m a pretty darn good golfer. Obviously results helped me kind of build that foundation. I do like to say dumb things and make dumb jokes and observe weird stuff and Tweet about it like, you know, a kid, I guess. But when I work, when I practice, when I play tournaments, I — this is what I love. I love what today was, it was incredible. So I don’t think anything’s changed too much. The confidence is becoming more steady. I’ve been working with a sports psychologist, Julie [Elion], who has,  I mean the last two months have opened my eyes to a lot of things. Having a plan each day mentally. I didn’t go into a single round this week thinking about a technical goal or a statistical goal, it was I’m going to learn something today, I’m going to put in place what I’ve been working on, and today that’s what I did. I did a great job of it. I told her last night, she asked if I wanted to talk, I said I’m all good because I thought our game plan yesterday was fantastic. I didn’t play the greatest round of golf in the world, but I did everything that I wanted to do and put myself in a position to win a golf tournament.

2023 Farmers Insurance Open

Max Homa reacts after clinching victory at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego. (Photo: Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports)

Q: L.A. guy, winning in San Diego, that hasn’t happened a lot lately. Were you hearing anything from Padres fans while you were out there in the gallery?

MH: Only for the six days I’ve been here. (Laughs.) Yeah, I mean, it’s all in good fun. They talk a very big game, which is just wild to me. They have all the pressure in the world on them this year. They’ve spent all the money that we had been spending, so if they don’t win, then they can hear the same stuff they chirp back at us as Dodger fans. Yeah, it’s nice, it’s nice to win up and down the state of California and carry that L.A. logo both on my head and in my heart, me and Joe. It’s nice. I don’t talk back to anybody in the crowd about the Dodger-Padres thing but Joe does, so I enjoy listening to him talk his trash back to them.

Q: More serious golf question, the fact that you had experience now in coming back on the final day from deficits, what is there about your attitude, your thought process, what have you, that enables you to do that, that enables you to just let that roll off of you?

MH: I think I do a good job when I’m behind of “one shot at a time” and knowing that it’s a marathon. Unfortunately I’ve been in the position, succeeded a couple times both through on the, well, when it was the Web.com, now the Korn Ferry Tour. I think I was 7 behind and I won one in Chicago. I just remembered that experience of just go play golf, see what happens, I’m going to need help, but it’s hard to win golf tournaments I think what kind of always helps me. Sam [Ryder] is a phenomenal golfer, I’m sure he’ll win a bunch out here, but he hadn’t won yet. And it’s hard to win, I know that. I’ve done it fortunately and I think when the old guys say experience is key, that’s what they’re talking about. I was lucky, Jon [Rahm] is probably just exhausted, he’s made so many birdies and won so many golf tournaments. There’s just so much going on that you can’t really get ahead of yourself and I struggle with that at times, but when it’s something like today or when you are behind chasing, it almost eases you into just one at a time and make everybody beat you and just play a good round of golf and see what happens. You can’t force yourself to a 66 out here, you can’t force yourself to 64. I’m sure Tony shooting 64 yesterday, Jon shot 66, I’m sure they would say the same thing. It was a round earlier, but they just played good golf and the ball went in the hole. Trust your game. Yesterday was a bigger day towards the end goal than today really was because I had it, I had my game, I played awesome, swung it great, just did not make anything. Held it together and shot 1 under and gave myself a chance today to go play the same round of golf and let the ball go in the hole. I think just that patience has been something I’ve leaned on when I’m behind and knowing just how darn hard it is to win out here. There’s just a lot of great players and the golf courses are very hard. These final rounds are marathons, they seem to take forever.

Q: Does anything feel different about winning now that you have a child?

MH: A little bit. I mean, I’ve joked about it all afternoon, but I really, I want to win when he remembers it. However, when you have a kid as a professional athlete, you hear so many times the noise, oh, it’s, you’re not going to have the same time, this, that or whatever. But I’ve been so fortunate that my wife just seems to handle everything so easily. She had a horrendous birth, it did not go well. It was the scariest. … hard to say because it was an amazing day, get a new son, Cam. It was the worst day ever at the same time. I thought. …whatever. So she’s just made everything so easy. And I still go practice, but I think I just manage my time a bit better.

I guess to your question, it’s a little different because I feel like I’ve almost worked harder for this because I want to spend as much time as I possibly can helping her and being with Cam and doing all the cool things, catching some smiles here and there and getting screamed at. But I also want to be the best golfer on the planet and she knows that and she just does an amazing job letting me do both, especially when she’s here on the road and when I’m home. So yeah, I work hard at two things now, so it feels a little bit more difficult but it’s a million times more rewarding. To see them behind the 18th green knowing I was probably about to win a golf tournament was cool. Like I say, he has no idea what I did, but I will tell him this story ad nauseam and he will probably think I’m the worst for it, but this will be my corny dad story that I will tell every Thanksgiving or something.

Q: With you being in the moment, have you changed a diaper since walking off the course and now or is that a predicted thing for later?

MH: It will happen. The sun will come up tomorrow and my son will need a diaper change many times before that. So I will be changing diapers, I will enjoy every second of it as I always do. It’s going to feel even better than normal. If he screams at me, I will just be smiling ear to ear. These tournaments are hard, man, but it puts you in the best mood ever when you come out on top. He can poop away and I’ll just be here for him.

Q: Compared to other six wins, lost your card twice and earned your card back on the Korn Ferry Tour. Are there anyways you feel like that has been unique to your advantage or perspective to kind of compete at this level?

MH: Yeah, I think I have a great perspective towards my love for this game. I’ve seen kind of all of it. I remind myself most days too when I’m getting nervous coming down the stretch or things are getting wobbly, like today 12, or 13, 14, 15. I just kind of always remind myself you’ve seen the darkness of this game, enjoy this, enjoy the beauty of it. People chanting my name, things I could never have imagined. So I do think so. I think that it’s calming. And I’ve always had a bit of a chip on my shoulder, just grew up a huge Kobe fan. He just seemed to play basketball like that and I’ve always loved trying to play golf like that and work at it like that. So when I get in these moments, I feel like all of it combined eases me a bit. I remember when I won my first golf tournament on the PGA Tour, the Wells Fargo in ’19, I was going to play golf with Rory McIlroy on Saturday and I just told myself he’s never seen what I’ve seen, he does not know the same kind of pressure I know, I guess. I could be making this up, but either way it helped me beat him. But yeah, it’s the little things like that. I think everybody out here’s got their own chip, everyone out here’s got their own story, everyone out here has their own struggles. They look a little bit different. We all handle it how we handle it. But yeah, I can only tell you what’s going on in my head and that’s how I’ve kind of tried to use it.

2023 Farmers Insurance Open

Max Homa hits his tee shot on the 16th hole during the final round of the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego. (Photo: Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports)

Q: Those four straight birdies in Portland, do those still live on? Are they still something that comes up in your head?

MH: It’s funny, I think about it less and less, but I should probably think about it more and more. Yeah, that’s kind of what I mean about pressure. Like sitting there on the 15th hole and I didn’t know I needed to but I figured I needed to birdie the last four just to have a chance to go into the playoff. I believe I would be out here anyways, I believe I’d have six wins anyways, I believe that I would have figured it out, but I’m glad — I’m glad I made those four birdies, I’ll say that.

Q: This week it was a silly thing for Groundhog Day, but it was a fun clip where we asked you if there was a day you’d like to re-live over and over. … and you also made the point to mention you want to have more of those memories, want to create more days you would like to live over and over. What’s your reaction with that mentality that you have?

MH: Oh, man, that’s a great question. I guess I feel very thankful that I’m not really sure which day. I’ve had a lot of great days both on the golf course and off. I’m glad to say I do not know how to answer that question today.

Q: What do you think it is that kind of allowed you at that point have that response in terms of not wanting to really dwell on a date too much in the past?

MH: Yeah, I guess everyone, you know, you’re just hopeful. I hope that I haven’t seen my best day yet, my favorite day yet. I’m sure there will be many other great, great days. Today feels like the best day ever. I’m hoping that tomorrow feels better. I’ll say that maybe I’ll be looking forward to the first time my son thinks he’s going to beat me and I drop a putt on 18 to beat him and show him what’s up. That will probably be a day I’m looking forward to. But I guess it’s just hope. I think all of us kind of have that, you just hope for the best and stay the course.

Q: Have you always had that, just that natural hope?

MH: I think all of us kind of do. There’s some grumpy people, but if you’re playing golf, you better be an eternal optimist.

Q: I know you’re a big Kobe fan, so when you make that putt on 16 for the birdie, is there a little Kobe in you that says let’s go get it. Has anything changed mentally for you or do you stay even keeled at that moment?

MH: I actually thought about it, him a little bit throughout the day. This is the golf tournament where we found out he had passed away tragically, so this place has a weird, I have a weird feeling towards it. I love it and it has like a weird sadness to it. I mean, I think about Kobe Bryant a lot, I think a lot of athletes do. But yeah, little moments. It’s not the putt on 16 really, it was the putt on 13, the second one, and the second one on 15. That just tenacity that everyone around you might be oohing and ahhing and you know what’s about to happen and you kind of just stand up there and say I’m going to show you what guts are right now and I’m going to show you that I trust what I’ve been doing. What I learned from Kobe Bryant’s teachings and watching him, you know, work at his craft back in the day is he puts in all these hours behind the scenes so that when he’s on camera doing his thing, he can just let it happen. So I try to take that with me and I try to embrace the craziness and the pressure and all of that because that’s what I saw him do and I was enamored by that.

Q: All the success you’ve had in California, how much have you circled the U.S. Open in L.A. this year?

MH: A lot less than other people have for me. I’ve circled the Masters as the next major. But yeah, it will be great. I have great memories there, won the Pac-12s there. But I think I’m going to let a lot of people decide that that’s going to be a big opportunity for me. I’d like to just keep playing great golf and I would hope that all of them could be a good opportunity for me. But it will be fun just like today was to play in front of my friends and family. I’ll hear more Dodgers fans up there than Padres, so that will be a nice change from this week. But yeah, it’s so hard to look ahead. Right now if you told me to go start the U.S. Open tomorrow in L.A., I’d feel really, really good, but you never know what swing stuff you’re going to be going through. I’d like to say I’m going to feel just like I do right now, but I’m just going to keep working at it and when I get there I’ll be able to kind of look around and appreciate that I have great history there.

Q: Is there a hole that you made birdie when your son was there?

MH: The first one was, was it yesterday? Yesterday I birdied 18 and Joe said, “About time you birdied one for Cam.” I think I birdied 6 a couple days ago, but it didn’t feel like it counted to Joe, so we’ll let 18 yesterday be the one that counts.

Q: Just before we let you go, you wore the earpiece yesterday for one hole during the CBS broadcast. Sounds like it was successful, everybody seemed to have a good time, you included. Do you think or have you had any feedback from other players? Do you think now that you’ve gone on to win the tournament that there will be, that it will encourage others to perhaps experiment with that, try it?

MH: Hopefully. We’ve been working on this with [Andy] Pazder and CBS and everybody for like two months. I’m very excited about the idea. I’m sure if we could Tweet things how other people want to do it, how other players want to do it. If they don’t want to do it I’ll keep doing it, it didn’t bother me. I thought it was great for the fans to look into, push that envelope for the fans. Not just myself, but the Tour seems to be, CBS, NBC, all these broadcasting streams seem to be wanting to add something to the viewing experience. But it was great. It was cool to win after doing it. You always hear people say, oh, Tiger would never do this, Rahm would never do this, all they care about is winning. I get that, but you can do both. That was definitely nice to win doing that yesterday. It was 20 minutes, it was not invasive. I even thought if you don’t want to do the interview with the people in the booth, they could just be in your ear or in your caddie’s ear so they could hear us really clearly. So there’s definitely little things we could do here or there. I’m hoping other players would want to do it. I haven’t heard yet. We were coming off the third round into the fourth, we don’t really talk about too much of that stuff yet. But hopefully other players want to do it. I’m sure there’s some interest in this whether I won or didn’t. Hopefully we can kind of keep pushing that or tweak it, just anything to help golf kind of gain some attraction to all the viewers hopefully a little bit younger than our typical audience, I think that’s what the goal is.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/8UECWAz

Callaway ERC Soft, Supersoft golf balls (2023)

Callaway ERC Soft, Supersoft golf balls (2023)

Jon Rahm and Si Woo Kim won the first three PGA Tour events of 2023 using new Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond drivers, and both golfers also used a Callaway Chrome Soft X ball. Xander Schauffele also dropped a Paradym Triple Diamond driver in the bag and is still playing Callaway’s Chrome Soft X LS. The Chrome Soft, Chrome Soft X and Chrome Soft X LS, each of which were updated in 2022, remain the brand’s premium offerings in 2023, boasting the most advanced technologies Callaway can pack into a ball. They also cost more than other Callaway balls.

For 2023, Callaway has updates to several balls at different price points below the Chrome Soft, Chrome Soft X and Chrome Soft X LS, and each places a premium on various aspects of performance. Here is a look at the new ERC Soft and Supersoft balls.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/8UECWAz

Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, Danielle Kang and In Gee Chun among 13 major winners in upcoming Saudi Ladies International field

Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, Danielle Kang and In Gee Chun among 13 major winners in upcoming Saudi Ladies International field

The Aramco Saudi Ladies International has announced that 13 major winners will be included in this year’s field, highlighted by World No. 1 Lydia Ko, Lexi Thompson, In Gee Chun, Danielle Kang and defending champ Georgia Hall.

The event, which is the presented by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, takes place Feb. 16-19 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club and features an upgraded purse of $5 million. More LPGA stars are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

The 120-player field will feature 60 Ladies European Tour players, 50 from the top 300 in the Rolex Rankings and a maximum of 10 sponsor invites. The winner will receive $750,000.

The tournament’s purse is up from $1 million last year and now matches the men’s event, the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, which will be held Feb. 2-5 at Royal Greens.

“Equal pay in golf has been something that all of us in the women’s game have wanted for so long,” said Thompson in a release, “so seeing that huge prize purse increase at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF to match the men’s tournament was extremely heartening. For us, it’s always been about feeling equal and we are all focused on growing the game to leave in a much better place for future generation of female golfers.”

In addition to the Aramco Saudi Ladies International, the 2023 LET schedule also features the Aramco Team Series, comprised of five events staged across the globe. Winners of those events last year include LPGA players Bronte Law, Nelly Korda and Thompson.

The LET’s Saudi-backed events remain controversial given the wide-ranging human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has been accused of, especially toward women.

The 13 major winners in the Saudi Ladies International field boast 18 major titles between them.

Chun, a three-time major major winner, will make her first trip to Saudi Arabia later this month.

“I’m excited to finally visit Saudi Arabia,” Chun said in a release. “I’m also looking forward to an event that is expected to elevate women’s golf in all parts of the global community. It will definitely be a great early season challenge with a very strong field competing.”

Added Hall: “It’s a massive boost for the women’s game, and it also goes beyond golf as it’s what women in sport deserve. We are all thoroughly grateful to Golf Saudi for what it’s doing for women’s golf.

The Ladies European Tour begins its 2023 season this week with the Magical Kenya Ladies Open.

Here are the 13 major winners set to play later this month in Saudi Arabia (with world ranking):

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/8UECWAz

When will former Masters champ Larry Mize stop playing the Augusta event? We now have an answer

When will former Masters champ Larry Mize stop playing the Augusta event? We now have an answer

Larry Mize is saying goodbye.

The 1987 Masters Champion has confirmed that the 2023 Masters — his 40th consecutive — will be his last.

Mize, an Augusta native who lives in Columbus, Georgia, hinted last April that 2023 could be his final competitive appearance, but after missing the cut with a Friday 78, he remained noncommittal about his future.

“Will next year be my last?” Mize said in 2022. “I don’t know. I really don’t. That decision will come, but I can’t say for certain right now.”

A year later, he’s certain.

For a final time, the local kid who spent teenage years operating No. 3 scoreboard will enter the field at Augusta National.

“It’s going to be an emotional week, but it’s time,” Mize, 64, said. “I know it’s time.”

In addition to winning in 1987 – which earned Mize a lifetime exemption to the Masters – he finished third in 1994 and tied for sixth in 1992. His last made cut came in 2017.

When asked about his silver-medal memory at Augusta National, Mize thought back to 1994, where he slept on the lead Thursday and Friday, but after Sunday bogies on Nos. 12 and 14, his chances had evaporated as he walked to No. 18 tee box.

“I hit my drive and a stranger shouted, ‘Thank you, Larry,’” Mize said. “I wasn’t going to win the tournament. José (María Olazábal) had pulled away. But that appreciation I felt, I’ll never forget it.”

1987 Masters

Larry Mize celebrates after chipping in on the second playoff hole at No. 11 to win the 1987 Masters at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. (Photo: David Cannon/Allsport)

The 140-foot chip.

A purple shirt leaping into Georgia lore.

No, Mize’s body of work won’t be stamped among the all-time greats: One win. Three top-10s. Nineteen missed cuts. As Larry admits, “I don’t belong in the same sentence as most of these guys.”

But what Mize owns is a moment. A MacGregor sand wedge that bounced twice up the bank, hopped once on the green, rolled 60 feet and vanished. Sure, Mize’s resume isn’t the most decorated in Masters history, but he may be responsible for the tournament’s most iconic shot.

“It’s the greatest shot ever, and I’ll tell you why,” said Carl Jackson, who caddied at the Masters for 54 years. “It was a walk-off. It won the tournament. People talk about Tiger’s chip (in 2005) or Sarazen’s double-eagle (in 1935) but neither of those won the tournament. Mize walked ’em off.”

Added 1971 Masters winner Charles Coody: “The two greatest shots ever are Mize’s chip and Sarazen’s double eagle, and I don’t know which is No. 1. Larry’s won the tournament and Sarazen’s allowed him to win.”

A day before turning 100 years old, Jackie Burke was asked if Mize’s chip was the greatest ever. “You’re damn right it is,” the 1956 Masters winner said.

Charles Mize witnessed every shot on April 12, 1987, except the chip. Looking back, Charles, 95 years old, claims his anxiety peaked on the 72nd hole when his son needed birdie to join a playoff with Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros.“I’m still nervous that putt won’t go in,” Charles said.

When the six-footer fell, Charles turned to wife, Elizabeth, who died in 2018, and asked for medication.

“I thought I was going to faint,” said Charles, whose wife of 67 years provided a Valium. “We were watching with our friends, John and Tammy Hurley, and I said to John, ‘If I pass out, you better not call a doctor. You throw me over your shoulder and walk me down No. 10.’”

Charles admits that Larry’s best chance should have been on the first playoff hole. In a three-man sudden death, Norman and Ballesteros (who was eliminated with a bogey) had already missed birdie chances, and Mize had an uphill putt for victory.

The putt on No. 10 slid left, causing Mize to lower his head.

“When Larry lowered his head,” Charles said. “I lowered mine, too.”

Charles and Elizabeth raced toward No. 11, but only reached the fairway. With Amen Corner flooded with patrons, Mize’s parents didn’t try to move closer out of respect for those who had waited.

“I knew Larry hit a poor second shot, but that’s all I could tell,” Charles said. “Next thing I remember is that roar.”

That roar. That moment.

Thirty-six Aprils later, the author of arguably the greatest shot in Masters history will bid farewell. Larry Hogan Mize will likely never become an Honorary Starter or have an Augusta landmark named on his behalf. But for a final week, the crowd will serenade its hometown champion with his second-favorite memory.

They’ll tell him, “Thank you.”

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/8UECWAz

Rory McIlroy beats Patrick Reed by one at Hero Dubai Desert Classic after 'one of the toughest rounds I've ever had to play'

Rory McIlroy beats Patrick Reed by one at Hero Dubai Desert Classic after 'one of the toughest rounds I've ever had to play'

The final round of the 2023 Hero Dubai Desert Classic was a perfect encapsulation of the week that was at Emirates Golf Club: a battle between Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed.

After an overblown incident on the range earlier in the week where Reed tossed a LIV Golf tee McIlroy’s way, the two found themselves in a duel down the stretch on Monday that lasted until the 72nd hole.

Reed began the day four shots behind McIlroy but got in the mix thanks to five birdies and an eagle over his first 13 holes. The American made a costly bogey on the par-4 16th but birdied the last to tie McIlroy, who was slow to start, at 18 under. McIlroy made par on his opening eight holes before adding birdies on Nos. 9, 10 and 13. The world No. 1’s lone blemish of the day came on No. 15, but McIlroy rebounded with two clutch birdies on his final two holes to secure the one-shot win at 19 under..

“I think mentally today was probably one of the toughest rounds I’ve ever had to play because it would be really easy to let your emotions get in the way and I just had to really concentrate on focusing on myself,” said McIlroy, who praised his mental strength. “Forget who was up there on the leaderboard, and I did that really, really well.”

“I’m going to enjoy this. This is probably sweeter than it should be or needs to be but I feel like I’ve still got some stuff to work on,” he added. “It’s a great start to the year and a really good foundation to work from.”

The win was McIlroy’s third Dubai Desert Classic title, but it also came with a few career firsts. Now a 15-time winner on the DP World Tour, this week’s victory was not only the first Rolex Series win for McIlroy, but the first time he’s ever won his opening of a new year. After turning professional in 2007, McIlroy was 0-16 with 12 top-five finishes in his first start of a new year.

“Just ecstatic that I gave myself an opportunity the first week back out,” said McIlroy. “I definitely feel like there’s tons of room for improvement but it’s a great start to the year.”

McIlroy will tell you he hasn’t had his A-game in the bag by his standards, but the Northern Irishman entered the week on a hot run of form. Dating back to his Tour Championship win in October, McIlroy now hasn’t finished worse than T-4 over his last seven starts.

“I think again the most satisfying thing to me this week is I haven’t had my best, far from it and to be able to win when you don’t have your best, that’s the sort of like Holy Grail of what we are trying to do,” he said.

McIlroy shot rounds of 66-70-65-68 and made just five bogeys in Dubai. If more is to come for the reigning FedEx Cup and Race to Dubai champion, get ready for a wild 2023.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/8UECWAz

The incredible story of how 30 years ago Scott Simpson became Bill Murray's longtime partner at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

The incredible story of how 30 years ago Scott Simpson became Bill Murray's longtime partner at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Thirty years ago, the odd couple of comedian-actor Bill Murray and PGA Tour pro Scott Simpson joined forces to become an unforgettable duo at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Simpson, who is in his second year as men’s golf coach at University of Hawaii, recalled to Golfweek at the Sony Open in Hawaii the story of how their partnership came to fruition.

As Simpson tells it, Murray had played the previous year in the pro-am with journeyman pro John Adams.  Simpson remembers watching on TV Murray’s antics with the gallery and thinking they were hilarious, but when Adams was asked, ‘How is it playing with the fun-loving Murray, he complained that he found it distracting and wasn’t able to concentrate on his game.

“He said, ‘It’s really not much fun,’ or something like that,” Simpson recalled. “I went to the putting green after and Peter Jacobsen who played for years with actor Jack Lemmon, is there and I said to him, ‘Peter, can you imagine John Adams saying this isn’t fun? That’s the most fun you can have on the golf course, playing with Bill Murray.’ He goes, ‘Scott, you’ve got to play with him next year.’ My caddie was Jim Mackay, Bones – he caddied for me before Phil Mickelson. I taught him everything. He caddied for my buddy Larry Mize first – and Bones said, ‘You tell him you want to play with Murray next year.’ Actually, when Bones left me for Mickelson – which was great, you know. I was really happy for him to get this guy who’s so talented and going to do great things. He says, ‘But there’s one thing I want, one thing I’m going to ask you for, I want to caddie with your group with Bill Murray next year.’ Even though he was working for Phil, he caddied for me at Pebble.”

Jacobsen and Mackay talked Simpson into writing a letter to tournament officials requesting to play with Murray. On paper, it seemed like a mismatch with Simpson, a regular at weekly bible study meetings, considered to be too staid for Murray’s on-course schtick. But two weeks before the tournament the following year, officials asked Simpson if he still wanted to play with Murray.

“Absolutely,” Simpson said. “No one wanted to play with him, and I just thought, you know what, I don’t care what I shoot. This is going to be the most fun week in the world. I didn’t care. Because I get the front row seat. He would slice it over into the people and the people would start clapping because they knew he was coming to them, and rightfully so.

“They had these ladies that would make cookies for all the AT&T executives. He would go, ‘Can I have one of those?’ Oh, sure, Mr. Murray. Next thing you know he grabs the whole batch of them and he’s throwing them to the people in the gallery.  One time at Spyglass, he went to a cart of a Ben & Jerry’s vendor and same thing: Can I have one of those? Oh, sure. Next thing you know he’s throwing one to everyone in the gallery, ‘Hey, you look like a Cherry Garcia.’ He emptied it, and the guy who owned the Ben & Jerry’s thing out there, he’s in shock and he goes, “Oh, my God, I wanted him to have one, but oh, no, I’m going to lose money.’  Murray left him like $500. He just went over there and gave him like $500. Just stuff like that.”

Simpson had so much fun that first year that he kept signing up to play with Murray year after year.

“I said, ‘You can play with someone else, you know. He said, ‘Oh, no, we’ve got to win it.’  He says, ‘We’ve got two rules. We’re going to have the most fun and we’re going to win.’ We always accomplished at least one goal,” Simpson said.

Simpson and Murray, who played together 13 times between 1993 and 2007, finished as high as a tie for fourth place in the pro-am division (2004), but never took home the hardware. (Simpson did win the 2006 First Tee Open on PGA Tour Champions with Murray as his partner.)

“He finally won with D.A. Points (in 2011), and he goes on the David Letterman Show, and Letterman goes to him, ‘So, Bill, you won that golf tournament out there, huh?’ ‘Oh, yeah, Dave. Big deal.’ He says, ‘You know, my partner D.A. won the pro thing, but the big news was we won (the pro-am).’ Letterman goes, ‘Didn’t you play with another guy for a long time?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, Dave, I played with this guy named Scott Simpson for about 14 years. He brought me down, Dave. He brought me down. Then he looks at the camera, ‘And you know you did,’ ” Simpson recalls with a laugh. “That was so classic. ‘You know you did.’ Geez. Good fun.”

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/8UECWAz

Patrick Reed defends ruling after his ball got stuck in a tree in Dubai

Patrick Reed defends ruling after his ball got stuck in a tree in Dubai

At first it was a tee, now it’s a tree.

It’s been a tough few days online for Patrick Reed. Social media erupted after he tossed a tee Rory McIlroy’s way on the driving range before this week’s DP World Tour stop at the 2023 Hero Dubai Desert Classic. During Sunday’s third round – early-week weather has forced a Monday finish at Emirates Golf Club – Reed found himself in the spotlight once again after a wayward drive on par-4 17th hole.

Reed said he was “100 percent certain” his ball had landed in a tree and got stuck. From here he took a drop, scrambled for bogey, then made birdie on the par-5 18th to sign for a 3-under 69 to reach 11 under for the tournament, four shots off the leader McIlroy.

A golf coach shared video of the drive on Twitter, which called into question whether or not Reed identified the proper ball. If he wasn’t able to identify his ball in the tree and prove it was stuck, Reed would have been forced to walk back and play his third shot form the tee after taking a stroke-and-distance penalty.

“I would have gone back to the tee if I wasn’t 100 percent… I got lucky that we were able to look through the binoculars and you have to make sure it’s your ball and how I mark my golf balls is I always put an arrow on the end of my line, because the Pro VI the arrow on the end stop before it so you can see the arrow,” Reed explained to Telegraph Sport. “And you could definitely see and identify the line with the arrow on the end, and the rules official, luckily, was there to reconfirm and check it to make sure it was mine as well.”

“The only other time I’ve ever been in a tree was in Malaysia. Actually there’s a picture of (Sergio Garcia) and I underneath (caddie Kessler Karain). He’s up literally in the palm tree looking at my golf ball,” Reed added. “You know what, I hit that tee shot, I didn’t even see those palms. I felt like it was on a good line, just left of the green and I guess I just need to be a little more right or a little higher.”

Patrick Reed

Patrick Reed’s caddie climbs over a palm tree to recover the golf ball on the 10th hole during day 2 of the 2014 CIMB Classic at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club on October 31, 2014 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo by Stanley Chou/Getty Images)

“During round three of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, two on-course referees and several marshals identified that Patrick Reed’s ball had become lodged in a specific tree following his tee shot on 17,” said the DP World Tour via a statement. “The DP World Tour chief referee joined the player in the area and asked him to identify his distinctive ball markings. Using binoculars, the chief referee was satisfied that a ball with those markings was lodged in the tree. The player subsequently took an unplayable penalty drop (Rule 19.2c) at the point directly below the ball on the ground. To clarify, the player was not asked to specify the tree but to identify his distinctive ball markings to confirm it was his ball.”

Almost two years ago to the day, Reed was the center of attention for a rules incident at the Farmers Insurance Open, which followed a two-stroke penalty at the 2019 Hero World Challenge.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/Pru8s12

Max Homa's new secret weapon? A sports psychologist

Max Homa's new secret weapon? A sports psychologist

SAN DIEGO – Confidence is knowing your best golf is still to come.

Max Homa, who won the Farmers Insurance Open on Saturday for his second PGA Tour title of the young 2022-23 season, is off to the best start of his career and credited his recent success to his new secret weapon: a sports psychologist.

Homa began working with Julie Elion, who is best known in the golf world for working with the likes of Phil Mickelson and helping Jimmy Walker win a major, late last year and the results have been immediate.

“The confidence is becoming more steady. I’ve been working with a sports psychologist, Julie, who has – I mean the last two months have opened my eyes to a lot of things,” he said in his winner’s press conference. “Having a plan each day mentally. I didn’t go into a single round this week thinking about a technical goal or a statistical goal, it was I’m going to learn something today, I’m going to put in place what I’ve been working on, and today that’s what I did. I did a great job of it.”

What’s in the bag? Check out Max Homa’s golf gear

Speaking on the No Laying Up podcast, Homa detailed how on the 17th hole at Congaree in South Carolina during the final round of CJ Cup, his caddie, Joe Greiner, had something he wanted to address. He suggested Homa talk to a sports psychologist.

“I had tried that in the past and I didn’t like it,” Homa said. “The way he put it was I’m not tapping into a big facet of the game. Skill-wise, talent-wise, myself included, we’ve been working at this for so long there’s only so much I can better at incrementally I can get better at in this game.”

Homa has been open about how he can sometimes be his own worst enemy. Speaking at the Tour Championship in August after a round of 62 where the stars aligned, he said, “I felt like I deserved to play well, and I wasn’t even letting myself in the first place,” he said. “I get over, hit a great drive, a great 9-iron to 10 feet and think, ‘I have to make this.’ You just did two great things. Why don’t you just see what happens and trust that you’ve put in the work…

“This is how I am, unfortunately. But I think a lot of us are.”

Greiner, who is a childhood friend of Homa’s and has been on his bag for all six of Homa’s victories since 2018 (along with one win with Kevin Chappell), has witnessed the growth in Homa’s confidence in his own abilities.

“It’s really easy to fake-believe that you’re a really good player but now he walks around and you can just tell that he knows when he plays well he’s going to contend and he should be one of the best players in the world,” Greiner said. “He was always so hard on himself. He knows that his good is good enough and it is a lot easier for him to walk down the fairways and know he doesn’t need to be perfect.”

A key to Homa’s victory at Torrey Pines, where he shot a final-round 66 to win by two, was gutting out a 71 in the third round when he played solidly but couldn’t get the putts to fall. But rather than lose focus and mope, he did enough to hang around and trusted his game heading into the final round. When Elion texted to see if he wanted to talk, Homa responded that he was “all good.”

“Trust your game,” he said. “(Friday) was a bigger day towards the end goal than today really was because I had it, I had my game, I played awesome, swung it great, just did not make anything. Held it together and shot 1 under and gave myself a chance today to go play the same round of golf and let the ball go in the hole,” he said.

Homa is just scratching the surface in his work with Elion. Could it be the final piece in the puzzle for Homa to win his first major?

“I think it will be a momentous part of my journey in this game,” Homa said. “I had never worked on my mental game the way (Joe) was talking about it. He said, ‘I’m not telling you this because I think you’re broken, I’m telling you this because I think it can boost us real high in this game of golf.”

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/Pru8s12

CBS debuted its mid-round mic'd-up segment with Max Homa on Friday. Here are 6 players we'd love to see do it next

CBS debuted its mid-round mic'd-up segment with Max Homa on Friday. Here are 6 players we'd love to see do it next

CBS has long been criticized for its golf broadcasts, accused of little to no ingenuity with a stale viewing experience.

However, if its first round of 2023 is any indication, golf fans should be happy with the direction CBS is heading in.

Max Homa agreed to wear a microphone on the par-5 13th hole at Torrey Pines during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open. Throughout the segment, the broadcasters peppered him with questions, yearning to learn more about his mindset and process.

All in all, it was a success. In fact, with Homa going on to win, maybe others will seek out their turn next.

Twitter users approved, many saying they were looking forward to the next one and that got us thinking: who should be next?

Here are six players we hope agree to be part of the new mic’d-up segment.

Source: Golfweek https://ift.tt/Pru8s12