Greg Norman sends letter to LIV Golf staff regarding $3 billion investment in PGA Tour

Greg Norman sends letter to LIV Golf staff regarding $3 billion investment in PGA Tour

PLAYA DEL CARMEN — LIV Golf CEO and Commissioner Greg Norman’s message to his entire staff in relation to the news of the Strategic Sports Group’s $3 billion investment in the PGA Tour to create a new for-profit entity was simple: onward.

In a letter obtained by Golfweek sent just days before the start of the 2024 LIV Golf League season at Mayakoba’s El Camaleon Golf Course in Mexico, Norman wrote to his staff to not just hype up LIV Golf’s third official season, but to also downplay any negative impact the SSG investment may have on LIV’s future.

An excerpt from the letter:

As you may have seen, the PGA Tour made an announcement this morning about an investment partner. Let me make one thing very clear: nothing announced by other tours or investment groups changes LIV Golf’s positive trajectory or future plans.

We started LIV Golf with the goal of creating something new, taking the game to a global, diverse audience and driving innovation while growing golf’s fanbase. More investment in golf is a great thing for the game and for us. It’s a positive development for our players, our fans, and for the long-term future of the game.

Golf is now viewed as an asset class. We proved this was possible and are now in a unique position to mold and drive this incredible growth opportunity. This broader interest and commitment to the game, and investment in its future, would not have happened without the emergence of LIV Golf as an innovative force in the golf ecosystem.

Norman said the league was “moving full steam ahead” into 2024 and beyond and that he has “never been more confident in the league, the people involved, and our supporters all over the world.”

Just seven months ago the Tour announced a framework agreement with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to create what we now know today as PGA Tour Enterprises. The Tour confirmed in a release on Wednesday that progress has been made in ongoing negotiations with the PIF, LIV Golf’s financial backers, on a potential future investment. That same release also stated that PGA Tour Enterprises allows for a co-investment from the PIF in the future, “subject to all necessary regulatory approvals.”

The previous deadline of Dec. 31, 2023, to come to an agreement was missed, but both sides have ventured on. The PGA Tour now has more money to spend and LIV has new assets in former Tour players like Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. As Norman would say, onward they go.

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

'Any investment into the game of golf is gigantic': LIV Golf players react to $3 billion outside investment in PGA Tour

'Any investment into the game of golf is gigantic': LIV Golf players react to $3 billion outside investment in PGA Tour

PLAYA DEL CARMEN — The Strategic Sports Group’s $3 billion investment to partner with the PGA Tour to create a new for-profit entity was undoubtedly the golf news of the day.

Just seven months ago the Tour announced a framework agreement with the DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to create what we now know today as PGA Tour Enterprises. The Tour confirmed in a release on Wednesday that progress has been made in ongoing negotiations with the PIF on a potential future investment. That same release also stated that PGA Tour Enterprises allows for a co-investment from the PIF in the future, “subject to all necessary regulatory approvals.” In the original framework agreement, the PIF would’ve had the right of first refusal to any outside money if a deal was passed by the original deadline on Dec. 31, 2023 deadline.

A lot can change in seven months.

Given the PIF’s role as the financiers of LIV Golf, players were asked ahead of the 2024 season opener at Mayakoba’s El Camaleon Golf Course in Mexico about the new deal and their confidence level that the PIF would eventually join the PGA Tour Enterprises party, but even the always outspoken Bryson DeChambeau didn’t have much of any real substance to say.

“Look, I don’t know exactly how it’s all going to shake out, when it’s all said and done. I don’t know what it really means for the PIF’s position in it,” he said of the SSG investment. “What I can say is that any investment into the game of golf is gigantic, especially on their side.”

“You’re just going to see both entities continue to grow, and I hope at some point we’ll come back together. It needs to happen,” DeChambeau added. “I hope people can just put down their weapons and come to the table and figure it out because that’s what’s good for the game of golf and for fans in general. But like I said, any additional capital going into the game of golf is always positive. I’ve always said that.

“It may not be exactly what we all think it should be,” he continued, “but as time goes on, I think things will settle down in a positive way for both.”

“Yeah, that was really in the back of my mind, like really far back in my mind,” said LIV’s newest member Jon Rahm, who joked he was more worried about filling his roster for the 2024 season opener this week. “There’s a lot bigger people that are a lot smarter than me that are going to be worrying about that that actually have a say in it, and they should be thinking about it. I think we’re here to play golf, perform, and whatever comes, comes.”

DeChambeau is unsure whether the SSG news will push back or speed up the Tour’s discussions with the PIF, but did compliment Rory McIlroy for his recent comments on accepting the reality of Saudi Arabia’s investment in golf and that players who left for LIV shouldn’t be punished.

“I appreciate the sentiment that he is providing out to the public now. I think his words are from a much more neutral position as the likes of us over here at LIV have been since day one,” said DeChambeau, who was the last player to remove his name from the initial lawsuit against the PGA Tour. “I think it’s positive, what he’s saying now, and I appreciate that.”

“I’ve spoken to Rory a bit in the past week and back in December. That’s kind of along the lines of what he said to me. It’s not a surprise to hear him say that in the media,” added Tyrrell Hatton, who joined Rahm’s Legion XIII team. “Ultimately, I would like to still be able to play events on the other two tours. But we’ll see how all that works out.”

A three-time teammate of both McIlroy and Hatton in the Ryder Cup, Rahm echoed what Hatton had to say.

“I haven’t spoken to him a lot recently. But he might have had a change in thought process, as in maybe with some of the things he said in the past,” Rahm said. “I think he might be seeing that the landscape of golf is changing and at some point you need to evolve. So I think he might be seeing that, and everybody is entitled to their opinion, but it’s nice to have the support from a player the caliber of Rory, especially those Ryder Cup remarks he made early on. I think that’s an important statement for change to be said.”

While both sides of the professional golf aisle believe the game will be better when it’s united, they don’t seem to agree or even know how to get there. The SSG investment was a step forward for the Tour, and only time will tell if the PIF can get on equal footing.

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

Photos: NFL stars and other celebrities at the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Photos: NFL stars and other celebrities at the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

One of the best weeks of golf is here, even if it has been reduced a bit.

The 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is set to kick off Thursday as the first full-field signature event of the PGA Tour’s season. Unlike in year’s past, there are only 80 players in the field, but playing with them the first two rounds will be celebrities from all realms.

Bill Murray. Josh Allen. Aaron Rodgers. Buster Posey. And dozens of others will tee it up at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill the first two rounds before the competition switches to pros only at Pebble Beach over the weekend.

Here’s a look at the best photos of celebrities at the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

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

Caleb Surratt details journey leaving Tennessee, joining LIV Golf: 'Conversations were a bit difficult'

Caleb Surratt details journey leaving Tennessee, joining LIV Golf: 'Conversations were a bit difficult'

It wasn’t until three weeks ago it became official Caleb Surratt would join LIV Golf for the 2024 season.

The sophomore at Tennessee and reigning SEC individual champion had finished playing in the Jones Cup Invitational, which would be his final event as an amateur, though he didn’t know it then. He was spending time with his girlfriend when he received a call that would change his life.

He was joining LIV Golf and would be on the same team as Jon Rahm.

“It’s obviously been a whirlwind of events,” said Surratt, who was ranked 10th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. “You go from moving out of your dorm room to competing with the best players in the world, and having two of them truly being your daily mentors on the golf course, it seemed like a big opportunity for me and my golf game, and of course everybody is going to be entitled to their opinion, but I have no doubt that this is what was best for me and my golf game and the future of my professional career.”

However, that doesn’t mean leaving Tennessee was easy for Surratt.

He was the best player on the Volunteers and a team leader. Last year, he became the first player in Tennessee history to earn first-team All-America honors. He was a member of the 2023 Walker Cup team and proven as one of the top amateurs in the world.

However, it wasn’t just Surratt who was making the decision.

“The conversations were a bit difficult,” he said. “I would say it was kind of tough to break the news because it’s a big change. I’m on a very highly competitive college golf team that I was the leader of, and to kind of have to step up and leave, it’s tough. One thing that I made very well a point was to not just break the news to them and say I’m leaving. It was more of including everybody that was close to me and on my team in my decision. It was a team decision. It was a group decision. It was not just Caleb Surratt saying what Caleb Surratt wants.”

When news dropped Tuesday of Surratt joining LIV Golf, Tennessee Golf’s social media accounts were one of the first to congratulate him on his move.

Surratt is not the first highly-ranked amateur to turn professional and join LIV Golf. David Puig and Eugenio Chacarra, the latter who won in LIV’s inaugural season, set the trail for top amateurs to join the breakaway circuit.

Come Friday, Surratt will tee it up at LIV Golf Mayakoba in Mexico on Rahm’s Legion XIII for his first professional start. Also on the team is Tyrrell Hatton, No. 16 in the world, and Kieran Vincent.

There have been plenty of changes in his life recently, but the foundations he built at Tennessee and before are guiding him in his newest chapter.

“I had all the support in the world from my teammates,” Surratt said. “I had all the support in the world from my coaches, and I think everybody sees how great of an opportunity this is, and myself more than anybody, just couldn’t be more excited for it.”

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

This state champion high school sophomore who made an LPGA cut has forfeited her eligibility

This state champion high school sophomore who made an LPGA cut has forfeited her eligibility

Mia Hammond, a New Albany sophomore and last season’s Ohio Division I girls golf individual state champion, has signed with a sports management company for name, image and likeness representation — a move that forfeits her high school eligibility.

Columbus-based Sterling Sports Management announced the partnership Tuesday morning, and Hammond’s father and coach, Tom, confirmed her decision to The Dispatch. Mia Hammond has not signed any NIL deals but there are “irons in the fire,” Tom Hammond said.

“It’s more about representation and guidance (through the NIL process) than anything else,” Tom Hammond said. “We’ve had a lot of companies reach out to represent Mia and we don’t want to do anything wrong to jeopardize her college eligibility.”

Thirty-three states and Washington, D.C., currently permit NIL for high school athletes, but Ohio is not among them. An Ohio High School Athletic Association referendum to allow NIL, as the state does for college athletes, failed by a 68-32% margin in May 2022 in a vote of member schools.

OHSAA bylaw 4-10-2 states that “an athlete forfeits amateur status, and thus interscholastic athletic eligibility, if any of the following standards of amateurism are violated … (including) entering into an agreement with a sports or marketing agent.”

2023 Kroger Queen City Championship

Mia Hammond gets ready to tee off on the 11th hole during the second round of the 2023 Kroger Queen City Championship at Kenwood Country Club in Madeira, Ohio. (Photo: Liz Dufour/The Enquirer)

Hammond competed in two LPGA Tour events last year, the Dana Open in Sylvania and the Kroger Queen City Classic in Cincinnati. She made the cut in her LPGA debut in Sylvania, tying for 26th place, but fell short in Cincinnati, and participated in the World Junior Girls Championship in October in Ontario.

“We started talking about (leaving high school golf) last summer,” Tom Hammond said. “We didn’t see her popularity taking off this quickly.”

Mia Hammond has led New Albany to district championships each of the past two seasons, extending the team’s streak to six. She shot rounds of 67 and 69 at state last fall for a two-day score of 136 that set the Division I tournament record, and the Eagles tied Rocky River Magnificat for second place behind Dublin Jerome.

Hammond tied for fourth at state as a freshman.

“The high school season takes a toll as far as the time commitment and the number of tournaments they play,” Tom Hammond said. “It’s a lot of time between (amateur) tournaments and high schools, and typically (the high school season) is when she would take a break from tournaments. And it’s not about having nothing left to prove in high school, although she’d have loved to have won a championship with her team.”

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

Rory McIlroy on Tyrrell Hatton's move to LIV Golf, punishment for players to return and more from Pebble Beach

Rory McIlroy on Tyrrell Hatton's move to LIV Golf, punishment for players to return and more from Pebble Beach

For the first time since 2019, Rory McIlroy is back on the hallowed grounds of Pebble Beach Golf Links. He hasn’t been to the Monterey Peninsula since the U.S. Open, a tournament at which he tied for ninth. This time around, he’s hoping to carry some early-year momentum into the PGA Tour’s second signature event of the season, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

The Northern Irishman has played in the old Crosby Clambake just once, missing the 54-hole cut in 2018.

But he enters this year’s tournament in great form, winning in his last start at the DP World Tour’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic (McIlroy came second to Tommy Fleetwood the week before at the Dubai Invitational).

“Obviously a great way to start the year, two weeks play, two times in contention,” the world No. 2 told the media during his pre-tournament press conference Tuesday. “And to get a win early on is always a nice confidence booster, a nice way to come into a busy — a pretty busy stretch here going sort of into the spring and beyond.”

As for his return to Pebble, McIlroy is glad to be back.

“Good to be back at Pebble Beach, it’s been a while… The course obviously plays a little different this time of the year than in June… Just trying to refamiliarize myself with the golf course a little bit.”

The Pro-Am got a facelift this season, with amateurs playing alongside the pros for the first two rounds. Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill will be utilized on Thursday and Friday before just the pros take on Pebble over the weekend. McIlroy said he played Pebble on Tuesday and plans to play Spyglass on Wednesday, depending on the weather (the forecast through the weekend doesn’t look great).

Pebble Pro-Am: Odds, picks to win | Sleepers

On top of being asked about the status of his game and his recent win, McIlroy was posed several questions regarding Tyrrell Hatton’s recent move to LIV Golf, potential punishment for players hoping to return to the Tour and more.

Here’s what he had to say:

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

Site originally expected to host Tiger Woods first golf course design now on sale for $19M

Site originally expected to host Tiger Woods first golf course design now on sale for $19M

A 550-acre swath of land in Swannanoa, once the site of Tiger Woods’ first planned North American golf course, is up for sale for $19 million. It’s the second time the property has hit the real estate market after plans to develop the site fell apart in the late 2000s.

The property, located 17 miles east of Asheville, has had two owners since Woods visited in 2007. The whole 800-acre site sold in 2019 for $15.3 million, according to Citizen Times reporting. The 400 Spring Mountain Road property is tax-appraised at $2.3 million and is currently owned by the South Carolina-based New Fort LLC.

Former owner David Straus told the Citizen Times in 2019 the property was sold that year for $15.3 million due to expenses and a lack of interest in the land.

“We didn’t really want the property anymore and there were a lot of expenses involved in it,” Straus told the Citizen Times in July 2019. “At that point, the house we had on it we would use to vacation on it had been torn down to make way for the golf course. It really didn’t have the kind of value to us anymore that we wanted, so we had been trying to sell it for a number of years.”

The site had been previously listed for $24 million in 2016.

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods of the United States plays his shot on the first tee during the first round of the PNC Championship at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club on December 16, 2023, in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)

The listing for the property notes the 6-acre private lake and deep wells located on the property, which has elevations as high as 4,300 feet. The property is being listed by the Asheville-based Altamont Property Group.

While Woods has made no mention of involvement in the property in recent years, the listing notes that “past development and golf course plans” are still on file. The listing also indicates the presence of white-tailed deer, turkey, foxes and black bears, with the site possessing “significant conservation value.”

Straus financed a deal to develop the property in 2007, under a deed to The Cliffs. The Cliffs make up seven private luxury communities owned by South Street Partners, a development company based out of Charlotte and Charleston, South Carolina. The project would’ve led to the development of nearly 1,000 new luxury homes in a development dubbed “The Cliffs at High Carolina.”

In 2007, Woods said he would visit Fairview “as much as I can” to see the project through to completion. The project’s late 2000s demise coincided with Woods battling a series of injuries and coverage of a high-profile infidelity scandal.

Other golf legends have built courses in the area, while another planned course fell through due to financing problems and a criminal scheme.

The Arnold Palmer-designed Seven Falls course in Etowah came apart in the late 2000s. The site developer Keith Arthur Vinson was later sentenced 18 to years in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, misapplication of bank funds, wire fraud and money laundering in a complex financial scheme.

Golf course designer Tom Fazio designed a course at Bright’s Creek in Polk and Henderson Counties. A Henderson County home designed by Tom Fazio hit the housing market in October, listing at 7.7 million.

Woods has since designed a handful of courses, and his golf course design firm, TGR Design, announced in 2023 that it would construct a golf course in Park City, Utah, at Marcella Club. It’s the first mountain design for Woods and will be the fourth golf course to bear his name, including Bluejack National in Houston, El Cardonal at Diamante in Cabo and Payne’s Valley in Hollister, Missouri.

Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. 

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

'Collusion,' 'fishy' and 'shady' among PGA Tour players' descriptions of AT&T Pebble Beach's sponsor exemptions

'Collusion,' 'fishy' and 'shady' among PGA Tour players' descriptions of AT&T Pebble Beach's sponsor exemptions

The PGA Tour’s rank and file are rankled again.

The latest reason? The implementation of the Aon Swing 5 and sponsor exemptions into this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which features an 80-man field, purse of $20 million, no cut and beefed up FedEx Cup points, with 700 awarded to the winner.

“The Tour rated the Swing 5 category above being a Tour winner, which makes absolutely no sense. In every other instance, winning is at the top of the food chain, the No. 1 category, and it should be. Winning on the PGA Tour is hard,” said a veteran PGA Tour player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “It’s just another thing the Tour has done that is complete bullshit.”

Matthieu Pavon, winner last week of the Farmers Insurance Open, and Grayson Murray, winner of the Sony Open in Hawaii, were the top two finishers, followed by Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Kevin Yu and Stephan Jaeger. All five will compete at Pebble Beach Golf Links as the top five FedEx Cup point earners across the last three full-field events – the Sony Open in Hawaii, the American Express and Farmers Insurance Open – not otherwise exempt.

The 80-player field at Pebble Beach includes the top 50 on the 2023 FedEx Cup, Nos. 51-60 on the 2023 FedEx Cup Fall standings, the top finisher on the 2023 Race to Dubai not otherwise exempt (Nicolai Hojgaard), the Aon Swing 5, tournament winners not otherwise exempt (Nick Dunlap), players inside the top 30 on the Official World Golf Ranking not otherwise exempt (Justin Thomas) and four sponsor exemptions. This adds up to 72 players, leaving eight remaining spots via the “fill the field” category.

Multiple players reached out to Golfweek to argue players were originally told during a meeting at the Players Championship last March that winners would be automatically exempt into Signature events. That is still true, but the Swing 5 category, which was designed to give hot and trending players a shot to play their way into the big-money events, falls higher on the priority list than winning.

“Now it’s like, oh, no, winners are part of the Swing 5. That is allowing fewer players to qualify for these events,” a veteran player said. “It’s really disappointing that you’re under the impression that if you play well, you’re going to have the opportunity to get into one of these events and then you don’t. If there are an extra two or three players in this field, who cares at this point? There’s $20 million in the purse.”

Indeed, for the AT&T the Tour resorted to the “fill the field” category, admitting Nos. 62-69 on the 2023 FedEx Cup Fall standings to bring the field to 80 for the pro-am.

A PGA Tour spokesman said staff have been on the road and available to educate players on the makeup of the fields for the signature events and infographics were distributed to players in December. The reason why the winner category is a lower priority than the Swing 5 is to avoid fields exceeding 78 players later in the year, such as at the Travelers in June, when more winners will have become exempt. Based on projections, the Tour says that outside the top 50, an additional 70 unique players will play in at least one signature event this season.

2023 Wyndham Championship

Webb Simpson watches his shot from the 11th tee during the third round of the 2023 Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports)

The AT&T’s sponsor invites also are a hot topic of conversation among players. Sponsor invites were granted to four players. Three of the four exemptions to AT&T were handed out to members of the Tour’s independent Board of Directors – Peter Malnati, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson – as well as local product Maverick McNealy, who last week fulfilled his medical exemption.

“It seems like collusion, a political game that should never happen on Tour,” said one veteran player. “It’s very shady, if you ask me.”

Given that Malnati, Scott and Simpson are on the verge of being three of the six players to vote on the Tour’s deals with private equity groups and potentially Saudi Arabia’s PIF, it could be perceived as a kickback for their unpaid efforts on behalf of the Tour or even as a way of buying their votes.

Another veteran Tour winner said, “It doesn’t pass the smell test. The cool thing about sports is it used to be the outlet where everything was determined on the field or court. Golf has always been the ultimate meritocracy.”

Malnati, a one-time winner, currently ranks No. 245 in the world. He finished T-4 at the AT&T last year and has supported the event consistently and knows how to show his amateur partner a good time. Simpson, a former major winner, has slipped to No. 225 in the world and has resorted to playing a limited schedule in recent years to spend more time with his large family. He has played at Pebble in only two of the last 10 years.

Gary Woodland, who won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and is making a comeback from brain surgery last year, and Daniel Berger, a tournament winner at Pebble in 2021 who is making his own comeback after being sidelined for more than a year, would seem to have more box-office appeal and attract more attention but are among the players who won’t be teeing it up this week.

Tournaments are allowed to offer sponsor exemptions at their discretion – and they have run the gamut from the NFL’s Tony Romo to the LPGA’s Lexi Thompson in recent years – but those selections will be greeted with greater scrutiny given the heightened stakes. AT&T Pebble Beach tournament director Steve John didn’t respond to an email requesting an explanation for his tournament’s choices, but at least one player wasn’t interested in hearing his reasoning.

“Peter Malnati has zero business getting an invite into a signature event and Webb shouldn’t really either,” a veteran pro said. “It just seems very fishy.”

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

Scott Simpson on AT&T partner Bill Murray doing snow angels in the bunker, why he's anti-LIV and how Greg Norman became 'a jerk'

Scott Simpson on AT&T partner Bill Murray doing snow angels in the bunker, why he's anti-LIV and how Greg Norman became 'a jerk'

HONOLULU — A year ago, while covering the PGA Tour in Maui, I heard that former U.S. Open champion Scott Simpson not only had moved to Hawaii after his playing days had come to an end, but that he had become the men’s golf coach at University of Hawaii. Who knew!

So, I looked him up and met with the former seven-time PGA Tour winner the following week at the Sony Open for what resulted in an enjoyable two-part Q&A and a standalone story (Part I here; U.S. Open flash back here; partnering with Bill Murray at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am here). A few weeks ago, during my return trip to Oahu to cover the Sony Open, we sat down again for another solid hour and delved deeper into partnering with Bill Murray at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, coaching the modern golfer, why he supports a rollback of the ball and doesn’t like NIL or LIV as well as how Greg Norman turned into a jerk. All that and more. Enjoy.

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

Check the yardage book: Pebble Beach Golf Links for the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Check the yardage book: Pebble Beach Golf Links for the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Pebble Beach Golf Links in California – the main course to be used in three rounds of the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am –was designed by amateur architects Douglas Grant and Jack Neville and opened in 1919.

Pebble Beach Golf Links is one of two courses to host the Pro-Am. Also in play for the first two rounds will be Spyglass Hill Golf Club designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. Each player has one round on each course before the cut, then the final two rounds will be at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

The famed Pebble Beach layout on cliffs above Stillwater Cove and the Pacific Ocean has seen many renovations over the decades, including work done by William Herbert Fowler, Alister MacKenzie, H. Chandler Egan, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and others.

Pebble Beach Golf Links ranks No. 10 on Golfweek’s Best list of classic courses in the U.S., and it is No. 1 in California on Golfweek’s Best list of public-access layouts in each state. It is also No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best list of all public-access courses in the U.S.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

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

Keith Mitchell and friends return for third Tito's Shorties Classic at Butler Pitch & Putt

Keith Mitchell and friends return for third Tito's Shorties Classic at Butler Pitch & Putt

It’s a one-of-a-kind golf outing but with a new twist.

The third Tito’s Shorties Classic, which was filmed at Butler Pitch & Putt in Austin, Texas, will air on Golf Channel on Feb. 6 at 10:30 p.m. ET.

The new feature of this year’s event is the collab of PGA Tour golfers with some of the leading social media influencers in the game. The three teams are Keith Mitchell and Robby Berger, Harry Higgs and Nick Stubbe, and Joel Dahmen and Joseph Demare.

“I would say that the Butler Pitch & Putt in Austin is honestly the most fun version of golf I can think of because it really, it’s constant action, it’s quick. It only takes you about an hour to play nine holes. Your level of golf is less important,” Mitchell told Golfweek on Monday from the Monterey Peninsula, where he is getting ready to compete in what he called “the best of the best,” the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. But while Pebble is a pressure-packed PGA Tour event, the Tito’s Shorties Classic is nothing but fun.

“When you get to do the event with the Bob Does Sports crew and Tito’s it just brings an entire additional level of fun to an event that otherwise is pretty unique in the world of golf, where you have the ability to enjoy, you know, a fun, fan-filled event that’s not time-consuming.”

And the game needs this kind of experience, for all types of golfers, Mitchell said.

“That’s what I think Butler Pitch & Putt really embodies. I really hope that more of these venues, regardless of, you know, the Tito Shorties’s Classic, more of these venues could be spread across the U.S. and golf in general because it’s just a very good access point and entertainment value to any level of golfer.

“At Pebble Beach they have The Hay, which is full all the time and that’s a lot of fun. I played it yesterday [Sunday]. Pinehurst, they have The Cradle. And with Butler Pitch & Putt there are just three really good examples of how a good, approachable version of golf could work across the country.”

Check out some photos from the third annual Tito’s Shorties Classic.

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