lenz – Page 23 – Len Ziehm On Golf

No Ryder Cup captaincy for Donald, but his game seems on the upswing

These are trying times for Luke Donald, the Englishman who starred on Northwestern’s teams before eventually enjoying a long run as the world’s No. 1 golfer.

Now 44, Donald’s best days as a player are probably over but he is still a force in the game both in the Chicago area and world-wide. Though now a Florida resident, his presence in Chicago is still felt through his extraordinary support of the Northwestern and First Tee programs.

More recently he was in the spotlight for something he didn’t do; he was expected to be named the European Ryder Cup captain for the 2023 matches in Italy, but he wasn’t.

Donald had all the credentials for the job. He made four appearances as a player for Europe and never was on a losing team. He also served twice as Europe’s vice captain and seemed a shoo-in after Padraig Harrington, Europe’s captain in last year’s matches at Wisconsin’s Whistling Straits, gave him a resounding endorsement.

“Luke would be great,’’ Harrington told The Daily Mail, a London newspaper. “Behind the sceneshe does a terrific job. His managements style, he’s got the experience. I’d thoroughly recommend him.’’

So did Graeme McDowell, who served with Donald as Harrington’s vice captains in Wisconsin.

Donald was “very humbled’’ when he heard that and gave a 30-minute presentation to the European Ryder Cup selection committee. It included the captains of the last three European teams – Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn and Harrington; Keith Pelley, chief executive officer of the DP World Tour, and David Howell, chairman of the European Tour players committee.

Actually Donald would not have been the first choice. Lee Westwood appeared the front-runner until he took himself out of consideration. Still, the five-man committee – perhaps stung by Europe’s 19-9 whomping at Whistling Straits – went for Sweden’s Henrik Stenson as captain instead.

Donald was confronted about that selection at last week’s Valspar Championship.

“I thought I had a good chance this year,’’ he told GolfWeek. “Hopefully, that’s not my chance gone.’’

It could be, though.

Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter – as well as Westwood and McDowell – have been keys to Europe’s previous domination of past Ryder Cups. They’re still playing, but will be captain’s candidates not far down the road. Garcia, given his past battles with New York’s boisterous fans, would especially seem an attractive choice when the matches are played at New York’s Bethpage Black in 2025. That would be Donald’s next chance to be a Ryder Cup captain.

While his Ryder Cup future may be in limbo, his playing days might be on the upswing.

Still dealing with back problems, Donald had dropped to No. 547 in the Official World Golf Rankings prior to last week’s Valspar Championship in Florida. Donald won that tournament in 2012 when it was called the Transitions Championship, and it came at a crucial time in his playing career. It restored his position as golf’s No. 1 at that time. Donald spent 56 weeks as world No. 1 in 2011 and 2012.

Last week he finished in a tie for 16^th in the Valspar Championship – his best showing in the PGA’s 2021-22 wrap-around season that has included six missed cuts in 10 starts. In a pro career that began in 2002 Donald has earned $37 million with five PGA Tour wins and eight more on the European circuit. He was the leading money-winner on both tours in 2011.

His nezt start figures to be the RBC Heritage Classic in South Carolina April 14-17 – the week after the Masters. Donald has four runner-up finishes and two thirds in the Heritage.

Valspar produced a great climax for the PGA’s Florida Swing

Champion Sam Burns (left) and Davis Riley settled the Valspar title in a dramatic playoff.

The first day of spring also coincided with the last day of the PGA Tour’s four-tournament Florida Swing this year, and the final tournament of the Sunshine State’s moment in the sun for 2022 provided the best weather, the biggest crowds, the best scoring and the most drama of the four events.

Sam Burns repeated as the champion of the Valspar Championship, dubbed the PGA Tour’s “most colorful tournament’’ thanks to its paint company sponsor, by beating Davis Riley with a 33-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a sudden death playoff. The winning putt came at the par-4 sixteenth hole – the start of the treacherous three-hole Snake Pit that concludes the respected Copperhead course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor.

The winning putt circled the hole before dropping in, spoiling what would have been a Cinderella-type win for Riley who started the day with a two-stroke lead, then had to bounce back from a triple bogey on the par-5 fifth to force the playoff. He had a chip shot from green-side rough to continue the playoff after Burns’ bomb went in, but his desperation shot went long but didn’t leave him deflated.

“I got punched in the mouth early and had to hit the reset button,’’ said Riley. “But he won in the moment. We’ve probably played against each other since we were 11-12 years old. He just did what he needed to do.’’

“I was really excited,’’ said Burns, who climbed into the No. 10 spot in the Official World Golf Rankings, and he also soared to second in the FedEx Cup standings. “The last couple weeks I tried to not get too high or too low. When the putter came through it was really cool.’’

The winning putt came on the same No. 16 green where he made a key birdie putt en route to his win in the 2021 Valspar. The event was played in May then, and Burns gained more respect for the trio of finishing holes known as the Snake Pit.

“That’s its M.O.,’’ he said. “It comes down to some dramatic finishes, and crazy things happen on that stretch.’’

Burns took a break from the tour after three consecutive missed cuts on the West Coast and he also bypassed the Honda Classic, first of the tournaments on the Florida scene. When he returned he was ready to play. A tie for ninth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a tie for 26^th at The Players Championship preceded his rousing win on the Copperhead layout.

The Valspar tournament came down to a battle of 25-year olds after Justin Thomas and Matthew NeSmith faltered on the final hole of regulation play. Burns and Riley played their 72 holes in 17-under-par 267 and Thomas and NeSmith came up one stroke short. Those four players comprised the final two twosomes of the day. No one else really challenged that foursome.

In the other Florida tournaments this last month Austrian Sepp Straka won the Honda Classic with a 10-under performance. Scottie Scheffler was 5-under to take the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Australian Cameron Smith was 13-under in capturing the weather-plagued Players Championship. Those performances paled in comparison to the shot-making on display at Copperhead.

Though NeSmith and Riley haven’t had the success that Burns and Thomas have had on the circuit, NeSmith shot a course record-tying 61 in the second round and Riley had 62 in the third.

Burns, meanwhile, took another big step toward behind recognized as one of golf’s top stars. He won his first PGA Tour event at last year’s Valspar Championship, then won again at the Sanderson Championship in Mississippi last fall. Now he has three wins in a year’s span.

Here’s why Rich Harvest will host an event on controversial new golf tour

Jerry Rich, owner of Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, has done wonders for amateur golf by making his ultra-private course available for big tournaments like the Western Amateur, NCAA Championship and Palmer Cup. His biggest venture into the professional ranks came in 2009, when Rich Harvest hosted a very well-received Solheim Cup, a team event between the top women from the U.S. and Europe.

That’s why Wednesday’s announcement that Rich Harvest would be a host site in the first season of a controversial golf tour organized by Greg Norman and backed by the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund came as a surprise. The eight-eight-tournament team competition is called the LIV Golf Invitational Series and Norman, one of the greatest players in golf history, is chief executive officer of LIV Golf Investments.

Mention of the Saudi Arabia connection wasn’t included in the group’s schedule announcement, in which Rich Harvest was assigned Sept. 16-18 dates. It was the fifth event of the series and last of four planned in the United States. Total prize money for the eight events is $255 million, with all the events played at 54 holes.

Perceived competition from the Saudi circuit has led to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan to ban any players from his circuit if they join the newly-announced tour. The popular Phil Mickelson, an outspoken critic of PGA Tour policies, played an active role in getting the Saudi circuit started.

Criticized by many of the PGA’s top stars Mickelson has taken a leave of absence from tournament play, and Monahan — while refusing to say Mickelson has been suspended — said they’ll have to meet before Mickelson can play in another PGA tournament.

So, why did Rich Harvest get involved in the controversy?

Rich didn’t comment when the circuit was initially announced, but his staff put out a statement on behalf of Rich Harvest Farms. It citied “benefits’’ the tournament would have on the Kids Golf Foundation of Illinois, the caddies at Rich Harvest, Ukrainian refugees, educational institutions (most notably Rich’s alma mater Northern Illinois and Aurora University, both of whom play and practice at the Sugar Grove club), businesses in the greater Chicago area and “the Illinois golf community.’’

Rich, as well as Sugar Grove village president Jennifer Konen, made it clear they’re all in for tournament in the aftermath of Norman’s announcement..

“I’m thrilled to announce (his support of Norman’s release),’’ Rich said in his regular “Jerry’s Drive’’ message to friends of Rich Harvest on Thursday. “I hope to see a big turnout from all you golf fans! This will be huge for Illinois and the Chicago area.’’

“The Village is thrilled to welcome the LIV Golf Invitational Series to Sugar Grove,’’ echoed Konen. “Rich Harvest Farms is a valued member of our community and it is exciting that it will be showcased in this new tournament. Sugar Grove looks forward to hosting golf fans from around the world.’’

Players who will compete in the Saudi events haven’t been announced, but the schedule shows there will be some conflicts. The first event, June 9-11 in London, is opposite the Canadian. Open and just a week before the U.S. Open in Massachusetts. The second, at Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon July 1-3, is opposite the John Deere Classic – Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour stop. The other Saudi events all come after the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Trump National, in New Jersey (July 29-31) and The International in Boston (Sept. 2-4) are the other U.S. events on the Saudi circuit. The season wraps up with events in Bangkok, Thailand; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and the season-ending team championship Oct. 28-30 at a site to determined.

This is a long way from being over. Norman is considering legal action against the PGA Tour if it bans players from playing on his tour, and the PGA is considering the creation of a rival Premier Golf League that would offer massive paydays and ownership stakes for tour members. It’d probably play in the fall, after the FedEx Cup events.

As far as Chicago golf is concerned, the event at Rich Harvest fills a growing void of big tournaments coming to the area. The PGA Tour won’t be here for the second straight year and the U.S. Golf Association, Ladies PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions haven’t had an event at a Chicago area course since the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was played at Kemper Lakes in 2018. None of those organizations have one scheduled in the future, either.

Big-money Players tourney is proving a good fit for Ghim

Doug Ghim is learning about the PGA Tour. The second-year PGA Tour player who grew up in Arlington Heights is improving, too.

Ghim played in the last group in the final round of The Players Championship both as a rookie in 2021 and in the weather-battered staging of this season, which wrapped up on Monday.

In 2021 Ghim played was paired with eventual champion Justin Thomas. He couldn’t keep pace, shooting a 78 to drop down to a tie for 29^th place. On Monday Ghim made a costly double bogey on the par-5 second hole and – while he didn’t contend for the title after that — he finished in a tie for sixth.

With the tournament purse increased from $15 to $20 million, Ghim earned $675,000 on Monday when he finished five strokes behind champion Cameron Smith at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, FL. That was the biggest payday yet for the 25-year graduate of Buffalo Grove High School and the University of Texas, but it could have been quite a bit more.

Ghim, the last player to putt out in the tournament, missed a short birdie putt on the final green. Had he made it he would have finished in a tie for fifth with Keegan Bradley instead of a three-way tie for sixth with Harold Varner III AND Russell Knox. The difference was about $200,000 in his paycheck.

Still, Ghim’s game returned in the biggest money event of the season after he had endured three straight missed cuts. Watching Thomas pull away from him a year earlier paid dividends in his return to The Players.

“I learned how badly I wanted to win,’’ said Ghim. “I got to watch someone win at the pro level, let alone being at The Player Championship. It was a valuable experience. It was a painful one. I took pain away from it, and that’s a good thing because it tells me that I want to win.’’

Ghim didn’t play with Smith in Monday’s final round. Smith was in the group in front but Ghim still drew from the round with Thomas.

“The thing that struck me was the way he played. He made mistakes, played basically how I had played the first three days (last year), and basically how I played the first three days this week,’’ said Ghim. “I just realized I don’t really have to do anything different.’’

TPC Sawgrass seems an unusual place for a young player to find his game, but Ghim sees logic in it.

“I love the place,’’ he said. “I love playing against the best players. It makes me more patient, so I was more patient this week. I had had a rough couple of weeks, but the game felt good. It was a bit frustrating to not see any results, but I couldn’t find a better place to find them.’’

Ghim had company to help him through the numerous weather delays at TPC Sawgrass.

“I had some family and friends with me,’’ he said. “My sister’s here. My girlfriend’s here. I have a team here, so we kept it light hearted, played some video games, did whatever.’’

He’s skipping this week’s Valspar Championship, played about three hours away at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbour. That tourney will conclude the PGA Tour’s four-event Florida Swing.

The Valspar will have a strong Illinois contingent headed by Wheaton’s Kevin Streelman, who tied for 22^nd in The Players and won $201,000. Both Streelman and Northwestern alum Luke Donald are past champions on Innisbrook’s Copperhead course, Donald in 2011 and Streelman in 2012. Mark Hensby, a veteran who won both the Illinois Open and Illinois State Amateur , is also competing as is Illinois alum Luke Guthrie, who earned a spot in the field in Monday’s qualifying round, and PGA Tour rookie Dylan Wu (Northwestern). Wu moved in on Tuesday after being the first alternate. Nick Hardy (Illinois), now the No. 1 alternate, might get into the field, too.

Historic Disney World Golf celebrates a 50-year milestone

The Champions Pavilion showcases 42 years of PGA Tour golf played at Disney World.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – The date was October 1, 1971. The world of travel changed a lot that day. It’s when Disney World opened its gates.

The popular tourist destination has welcomed visitors from all ages, backgrounds and countries for 50 years now – and that huge contingent also includes golfers. Opening Day for the Magic Kingdom was the day that two of its golf courses – the Magnolia and Palm – also opened.

Joe Lee designed both of those courses, and they’re still going strong. So is Oak Trail, the nine-holer that uses the same pro shop as the two original layouts, and nearby Lake Buena Vista, the third 18-holer that opened 10 years after the Magnolia and Palm. Lake Buena Vista is also a Lee design.

The story of how these courses came into being, and the events held there, merits a recalling as the resort is in the midst of a year-long “World’s Most Magical Celebration’’ and the golf arm is proclaiming itself “the Happiest Place on Turf.’’

Alex Forsyth, the director of sales and marketing for Walt Disney World Golf, said the 50-year celebrations will carry all the way through 2022 and even into the start of 2023 but a big part of the golf festivities will come over the next few weeks when he says “a major announcement about future development’’ will be made.

Forsyth wouldn’t go into details about that but did admit that “there are no plans at present to get back on the PGA Tour.’’

Been there, done that.

Mickey Mouse lives on forever in this bunker on the Magnolia course.

The Disney courses hosted events on the PGA Tour for 42 consecutive years, from 1971 to 2012. Most were at the tail end of a year and drew the top players and big crowds. Then the FedEx Cup Playoffs were incorporated into the PGA Tour schedule, creating a big climax to each season, and the Disney tournament became an early event in the following year’s schedule.

“In the first events of a new season there were not big names,’’ said Forsyth, “and without big names there weren’t big crowds. We relinquished our spot on the PGA Tour calendar, and that’s worked out well for us.’’

The resort’s attention shifted from big money tournaments to recreational players, and that has proved a good thing for all concerned. The glory days of tournament play, though, are fondly remembered.

Golf very much remains a part of the Disney experience, as does its golf history. Credit the late Arnold Palmer for much of that. Palmer’s role in the development of Disney World Golf started before the first tee shots were hit on the Magnolia and Palm courses and evolved into his firm, Arnold Palmer Golf Management, operating the Disney golf properties long after his death. The resort and APGM signed a 20-year agreement in 2011.

Palmer and Disney World arrived in the Orlando area at roughly the same time. Palmer was making plans to purchase the Bay Hill Club the same year that Disney World opened. Palmer, who didn’t complete the purchase until 1975, had big plans of his own for Bay Hill, but he was willing to meet with Sandy Quinn , the resort’s director of marketing prior to the grand opening. Quinn was assigned the task of getting a PGA Tour event on the new courses, and Palmer was willing to help.

His interest in the resort didn’t start with golf, though. It started with a ride on the Monorail, but he brought some friends together and the World Disney World Golf Classic was held for the first time in December of 1971. Jack Nicklaus won the tournament the first three years. The format was switched to a team event from 1974-81 and then reverted back to its original format until its farewell in 2012.

Two of the most memorable events in tournament golf at Disney World are remembered in signage — Jack Nicklaus’ three victories and the eight holes-in-one at Magnolia’s third hole in the 2002 tournament.

The tournament grew with the times, changing sponsors and titles along the way. Nicklaus’ winning prize was $30,000 in 1971, and Charlie Beljan – the winner of the final tournament in 2012 — earned $846,000. Tiger Woods won titles in 1996 and 1999. Other champions included Larry Nelson, Payne Stewart, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh David Duval, Lanny Wadkins, Ben Crenshaw and Luke Donald.

Magnolia, longest of the Disney courses at 7,516 yards from the tips with 97 bunkers and water on 11 of its 18 holes, was the layout most in the spotlight when the PGA Tour visited simply because the final round was always played there. TV coverage was basically a weekend thing back then, so the cameras weren’t at Palm, which was also used for early rounds in all 42 stagings of the tournament, and Lake Buena Vista, which was used 17 times.

The tournament’s rich history is chronicled at the Champions Pavilion beside the first tee of the Magnolia. That course was also used for the Senior PGA Championship, and it had some well-known winners, too. Charlie Sifford, Pete Cooper, Julius Boros, Joe Jimenez and Jack Fleck won at Magnolia from 1975-79.

When the PGA Tour stop completed its 42-year run it was the longest-running tournament on the circuit’s calendar. Lake Buena Vista also has a notable historic reference; it was the site of the HealthSouth Classic from 1996-97 and that tournament was the first event on the Ladies PGA Tour to be broadcast live on The Golf Channel. Karrie Webb and Michelle McGann won those tournaments at Lake Buena Vista. Pat Bradley won her title at Eagle Pines, a Pete Dye design that closed in 2007.

Back to Palmer. He competed many times in Disney’s PGA Tour stop but never won. Even with the PGA Tour event established at Disney World, he wanted an event at Bay Hill and convinced the circuit to move the Florida Citrus Classic from another Orlando course, Rio Pinar, to Bay Hill in 1979. Now called the Arnold Palmer Invitational, It’s had been held 44 consecutive years there.

Palmer’s design company also renovated Disney’s Palm Course, a six-month project in 2013 climaxed by the course winning Renovation of the Year honors that year.

Disney World’s fourth course, and only nine-holer, has an interesting history as well. It started as a six-hole course in 1982, called Wee Links. The course was built in conjunction with the PGA Tour as a base for affordable junior golf. The course had artificial tees and greens, a unique concept at that time.

Wee Links consisted of the present holes 1-4 and 8-9. It expanded to nine holes when Florida-based designer Ron Garl built three holes, all much stronger than the other six, in 1991.

Who knows what the PGA’s Florida Swing will produce in the next two weeks?

Scottie Scheffler may have been the only player still smiling after the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

ORLANDO, FL. – The PGA Tour’s annual Florida Swing reached the midway point on Sunday with the circuit rarely seeing tounaments unfold the way they did last two weeks.

Daniel Berger appeared a wire-to-wire winner at last week’s Honda Classic until a surprise storm hampered play in the last three holes. Berger blew a five-stroke lead and Straka became the first Austrian to win on the PGA Tour.

Sunday’s second stop in the Sunshine State, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, was much more unusual than that. University of Florida product Billy Horschel and Talor Gooch started the final round at Bay Hill tied for the lead at 7-under-par. Still, Scottie Scheffler’s 5-under 283 was good enough to win.

In summary, the scoring wasn’t good and the players were largely critical of the course setup, but the crowds were bigger than ever — though somewhat unruly in the final hours of play.

It makes you wonder what the second half of the Florida Swing will offer the next two weeks. The Players Championship tees off on Thursday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra with some notable players missing and the Valspar Championship follows the next week on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbour.

One thing is certain: the Valspar — thanks to its connection to a paint manufacturer — will remain the most colorful tournament on the PGA Tour. That probably won’t brighten how the players felt about Bay Hill in the aftermath of the API.

“The course was set up harder today (Sunday) that it was yesterday. That surprised me a little,’’ said Scheffler, who called the course “a total break-down.’’

And he was the guy who won.

“It was so challenging, a real grind. I like to challenge hard golf courses,’’ said Scheffler.

Apparently so does his 86-year old grandmother. She walked all 18 holes with Scheffler on Sunday. The victory boosted Scheffler to No. 5 in the Official World Golf Rankings and he now tops the FedEx Cup standings as well. The API was his second win of the year. He also won the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

The key to the Bay Hill win was two great scrambling pars at Nos. 15 and 16.

“It was not a comfortable position, having to hit to 50 feet and try to two-putt,’’ said Scheffler. “I trusted myself and played conservative the last two holes, and pars were good enough.’’

Gary Woodland went from ecstacy to agony in the final round of the API. At No. 16 (left) he holed a 40-foot putt for eagle to take sole possession of the lead. On the next hole he lost it when he left his second shot in a bunker (right) and took a double bogey.

Even with beautiful weather all week Bay Hill proved a monster with thicker-than-usual rough and slicker-than-usual greens for the API field. The lead got away from Horschel and Gooch in a hurry. Horschel shot 40 on the front nine and Gooch was worse, making two double bogeys and four bogeys en route to a 43.

Even after his early blowup Horschel still had a chance to win. Had he made birdie on his final hole he would have forced a playoff with Scheffler. Others had a chance, too. England’s Tyrrell Hatton, who won the tournament in 2020 despite a 73-74 weekend finish, was on the brink of bouncing back from a third-round 78 this time. He was the clubhouse leader much of the day after posting a 68 on Sunday.

Hatton wound up in a tie for second with Horschel and Norway’s Viktor Hovland. They were one stroke behind Scheffler, whose par 72 on Sunday wasn’t exactly spectacular.

Most disappointed of all the near-missers was former U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland. He took sole possession of the lead after rolling in a 40-foot eagle putt at No. 16. Then he left a shot in a bunker, leading to a double bogey at the par-3 seventeenth and made bogey at No. 18 when he needed a birdie to get into a playoff.

As if the drama wasn’t enough, there was a strange situation off the course. Bryson DeChambeau, the defending champion who has been battling injuries, made a late entry to the field and then promptly withdrew the same day. Jason Day, another former API champion, was also a late withdrawal after his mother passed away following a long battle with cancer.

This week’s Players Championship will have some highly noticeable absentees as well. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, both exempt into the field, won’t play. It’ll be the first time since 1994 that both will miss the same tournament. DeChambeau decided to take another week off and Rickie Fowler, the popular past champion, didn’t qualify. He’ll miss The Players for the first time since 2009.

It was wall-to-wall spectators all over the course on the last day of the API at Bay Hill.

It figures to be Zach Johnson vs. Luke Donald in the next Ryder Cup

Zach Johnson (left) and Luke Donald will create a good captain’s matchup in the Ryder Cup.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL. – Neither Zach Johnson nor Luke Donald looked threatening during Thursday’s first round of the PGA Tour’s traditional Florida Swing.

The veterans teed off within 20 minutes of each other, Donald starting his round off No. 1 and Johnson off No. 10 at the Honda Classic – the first of four straight tournaments in Florida. Johnson finished at 4-over-par 76 and Donald at 2-over 74 and were far back of the leaders.

Their competitiveness figures to change very soon, however, though not as players. Johnson and Donald loom to be opposing captains in the next Ryder Cup matches, to be played in 2023 at Marco Simone in Italy.

If the matchup materializes it’ll pit the most popular player over the years at Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour stop against a Northwestern alum who has remained involved in the Chicago golf scene through his philanthropic and design efforts.

Johnson’s selection as the U.S. captain will become official on Monday at a press conference at PGA of America headquarters here, the day after the Honda finishes its 72-hole run at PGA National. It won’t come as a surprise. Clair Peterson, long-time tournament director and now executive director of the John Deere Classic – Illinois’ lone annual PGA Tour event – congratulated Johnson via Facebook on Thursday and fans at the Honda Classic did the same as Johnson played his first round.

Leading the U.S. won’t be easy. The American side will be trying to end a 30-year stretch without a win on European soil, the last one coming in 1993 at the Belfry in England. Johnson will also have a tough act to follow. A U.S. squad captained by Steve Stricker handed Europe its worst beating with a 19-9 romp at Whistling Straights in Wisconsin in September. That was only the fourth U.S. win in the last 13 Ryder Cups.

Stricker was part of a six-man committee named to pick the next U.S. captain — three PGA Tour players and three PGA of America executives.

Currently battling health problems that have kept him out of tournament play the last three months, Stricker was a long-time U.S. vice captain before becoming the head man, and Johnson was a vice captain at the last two Ryder Cups after playing on five Ryder Cup teams.

A two-time Masters champion, Johnson has long been involved in the operation of the John Deere Classic, a fixture for 50 years in the Quad Cities area. The Iowa native has been a member of the tournament board almost as long as he’s been playing the tour, and he won the JDC in 2012.

Europe has yet to announce its next Ryder Cup captain but Donald has loomed as the likely choice since Lee Westwood, preferring to focus on his playing career, withdrew as a candidate. Padraig Harrington was the captain of the European side at Whisting Straits and is on a five-member committee to pick his successor.

Harrington gave Donald a resounding endorsement in January. So did Graeme McDowell, who served along with Donald as Harrington’s vice captains.

While he hasn’t won a major title Donald’s playing record stands up to Johnson’s. Donald spent 56 weeks holding the No. 1 spot on the Official World Golf Rankings and, in 2011, became the first player to win money titles on both the PGA and European PGA tours in the same year.

After Monday’s big announcement the PGA’s Florida Swing continues with the Arnold Palmer Invitational, at Bay Hill in Orlando; The Players Championship, in Ponte Vedra; and the Valspar Championship, at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbour.

Langer leads one-two Tour Edge finish in Chubb tourney

NAPLES, FL. — Tour Edge, based in Batavia, IL., isn’t the biggest golf club manufacturer, but it is the dominant one on PGA Tour Champions. That was particularly evident on Sunday when two Tour Edge ambassadors – Bernhard Langer and Tim Petrovic – finished one-two in the first full-field event of the season for the 50-and-over circuit.

Langer signed with Tour Edge last year, and the Chubb Classic was his most impressive performance since then. He shot his age (64) in the first round on the Black Course at Tiburon Golf Club and went on to win the 54-hole competition wire to wire.

“It’s great to get off to a good start in the new year and be near the top of the Schwab Cup again,’’ said Langer, who won the German championship when he was 17 and has now been a professional golfer for 50 years. “I know that (Miguel Angel) Jimenez is ahead of me, but just to have a good performance like this is confidence building.’’

Shooting 68 in the second and third rounds Langer finished at 16-under-par 200 and was three strokes ahead of Petrovic, who carded a 69 in the final round at the only facility to host tournaments on the Champions, PGA and LPGA tours in the same calendar year. The PGA and LPGA play their events on Tiburon’s Gold Course.

Though both are Greg Norman designs, the Black is much tighter than the Gold layout. The Black routing is more difficult for spectators, but they turned out in bigger-than-expected numbers to watch Langer win the event for the fourth time.

Tour Edge boss David Glod opted to focus his player ambassador budget on Champions tour players and the staffers include much more than Langer and Petrovic. Scott McCarron, Tom Lehman, Ken Duke, Alex Cejka and Mike Weir are also officially carrying the Tour Edge banner and many more – most notably John Daly – have at least some Tour Edge clubs in their bags.

Petrovic was getting used to some new ones at the Chubb, but he knew how difficult it is to compete against Langer.

“Obviously he’s comfortable winning,’’ said Petrovic. “We already knew that. But he’s just efficient in everything he does. I want to know what his heartbeat is coming down the stretch. It’s probably half of what the rest of us have.’’

Langer, though, was a success story long before he hooked up with Tour Edge. Sunday’s win was his 43^rd on PGA Tour Champions, two short of the record 45 wins by Hale Irwin. Langer also won the Champions’ season-long Schwab Cup competition six times after winning 42 times on the European PGA Tour and three times – including two Masters – on the PGA Tour. His Chubb win extended Langer’s streak of at least one victory to 16 years on PGA Tour Champions.

This season is different from the previous ones, though, as it’s Langer’s first without his 48-year swing coach Willy Hoffman. He passed away a month ago.

McCarron was Tour Edge’s big gun before Langer signed up. McCarron has 11 Champions’ wins and was the Schwab Cup champion in 2019-20. He had a tough final round at Tiburon on Sunday, however. His 82 in the final round included a quadruple bogey nine on the par-5 fifteenth and dropped him to a tie for 71^st finish. Oddly enough, McCarron had birdies before and after the disaster at No. 15.

Florida was the 2022 starting point for the LPGA, which played its first three events in the Sunshine State but won’t play again until the HSBC Women’s World Championship tees off on March 3 in Singapore.. The PGA’s Korn Ferry circuit had three events out of the U.S. before playing its first American event – the Suncoast Classic – at Lakewood National at the same time the Chubb was in progress. Lakewood is a two-hour drive from Tiburon.

Now the PGA Tour is coming to Florida, starting with the Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens on Thursday. The Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, in Orlando; The Players Championship, at Ponte Vedra; and the Valspar Championship, at Innisbrook in Palm Harbour, follow over the next four weeks on Florida courses.

Another year hasn’t slowed down Langer on the Champions tour

A big day for Tour Edge with Bernhard Langer and Tim Petrovic both in contention at the Chubb Classic.

NAPLES, Florida – Another year of dominance for Bernard Langer on PGA Tour Champions seems a given with the first full-field tournament of 2022 still having one round to go.

Langer, 64, opened the Chubb Classic by shooting his age on Friday. He wasn’t impressed.

“It was the second time for shooting my age and I did one better once,’’ said Langer. “I should remember that stuff, but I get too caught up in the moment.’’

The first time Langer shot his age was his most memorable.

“It was fun doing it the first time on my actual birthday,’’ he said, “but it’s still special because it’s not easy to do. Hopefully it gets easier as we get older.’’

He couldn’t do it in Saturday’s second round on Tiburon’s Black Course, shooting a 68, but he was still in command throughout in a tournament he’s won three times – but not since 2016. Langer stands at 12-under-par 132 and is two strokes ahead of Scott Parel, Retief Goosen and Tim Petrovic entering Sunday’s final round.

“Yesterday I had a clean card — no bogeys,” said Langer. “Today I had seven birdies, but also three bogeys. It was a little tougher today — a different wind direction and stronger wind as well. But I’m still happy where I am.”

Former Masters champion Mike Weir, another Tour Edge player, pulled off a stunning recovery shot on Saturday, threading the needle from a difficult lie on the 17th hole. Zoom in above the last dot and you’ll see how close the ball came to clipping a tree on its way to the fairway.

The opening 64 propelled Langer to a two-stroke lead and Sweden’s Robert Karlsson, one of his playing partners, birdied the first three holes on Saturday to move into a tie for the lead.

The tie didn’t last long, as Karlsson endured a strange front nine. He didn’t make a par on that side, following the three birdies with three bogeys. Then, after making two more birdies, he took a double bogey at No. 9. The only par score for him at that point was his front nine total.

Parel, who teed off seven groups in front of Langer, shot his own 64 on Saturday and got within a shot of Langer late in the day and Goosen and Petrovic also matched his 134 total for the first 36 holes. There’ll be suspense – and probably another bigger-than-expected gallery – on Sunday when Langer tries to close in on Hale Irwin’s record 45 tournament wins on the Champions circuit. Langer has 42.

“He’s unbelievable,” said Parel. “I told him yesterday I’m glad you’re shooting your age and not my age, because then we’d have no chance. Obviously he’s a special golfer, and a better person than he is a golfer.”

Last year Langer won the PGA Tour Champions’ season-long Schwab Cup competition for the sixth time. He’s one of seven members of the World Golf Hall of Fame and one of 19 winners of PGA Tour major titles competing here.

A winner of two Masters titles and 11 of the majors on the 50-and-over circuit, Langer’s string of accomplishments has been a long one. He was golf’s first designed No. 1 player in 1986 when the Official World Golf Rankings were announced.

Illinois-based Tour Edge added Langer to its staff of ambassadors last year and that proved a wise move in the company’s battle for attention with the bigger club manufacturers.

His success so far this week comes at the only golf facility to host all three major professional tours. The LPGA and PGA circuits have events on Tiburon’s Gold Course. Only the Champions compete on the tighter Black layout. Both layouts are Greg Norman designs.

Fans packed Tiburon for the first full-field event of the PGA Tour Champions season.

Two ex-Illinois Open champs are in the hunt at Korn Ferry stop

Deerfield’s Vince India was ready to go in Round 2 of the Suncoast Classic.

LAKEWOOD RANCH, Florida – The Korn Ferry Tour is only a pathway to the PGA Tour, but it can offer some things that the premier circuit. That clicked in during Friday’s second round of the circuit’s first tournament of 2022 in the United States.

For one thing the LECOM Suncoast Classic included three Illinois Open champions in its field. You don’t see that very often.

You don’t usually get a friendly greeting from a player on his way to the first tee, either, but Vince India felt relaxed enough to exchange pleasantries and it didn’t hurt him when the competition kicked in. He matched his first-round 66 with another in Round 2.

Two of the Illinois Open winners – former University of Iowa teammates India and Brad Hopfinger – showed they can hold their own with a strong group of players who are just a cut below those on the PGA Tour. India, at 10-under-par 132 is four strokes behind leader Zecheng Dou and tied for 13^th place. Hopfinger is two swings behind India but in a tie for 30th.

Darkness suspended play before the field could complete the second round, but the cut figured to come at 6-under par. That meant India and Hopfinger will get a check after the tourney ends on Sunday but a third Illinois Open titlist, Wheaton’s Tee-K Kelly, won’t. The Medinah member and Ohio State alum improved to a 67 after his opening round 72 but was a not-good-enough 3-under after 36 holes.

Kelly won the Illinois Open last year while Hopfinger triumphed in 2014 and India in 2018. Hopfinger and India are among only 10 players who own titles in both the Illinois State Amateur and Illinois Open. The Korn Ferry has a stop at the Glen Club in May.

India beat both his playing partners, Tommy “Two Gloves’’ Gainey and Fabian Gomez, on Friday. Both of them have won tournaments on the PGA Tour. The Korn Ferry stop had more Illinois flavor, too. India is tied with Dawson Armstrong, who scored a dramatic victory in the 2015 Western Amateur at Rich Harvest Farms, in Sugar Grove. He’ll be playing on the weekend, too, but two Michaels won’t.

Michael Feagles came right from college to the Korn Ferry Tour but hasn’t forgotten his Illini roots.

Michael Kim has been an enigma. In 2018 he dominated Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour stop. He was 27-under-par and won the John Deere Classic by eight strokes. Both the score and victory margin remain tournament records, but Kim’s hot streak was short-lived. The next year he missed 19 of 20 cuts on the PGA Tour and is still hoping to regain his magic from that great four days in the Quad Cities four years ago.

Michael Feagles, meanwhile, is just getting his pro career started after being a mainstay for coach Mike Small’s University of Illinois teams. Kim was 3-under and Feagles 2-under in the first two rounds here. Scoring was low, as expected. Of the 143 starters 116 bettered par and one was particularly sharp on Friday. Callum Tarren set the course record with a 10-under 61 while climbing into a tie for third place.

Still, Kim was loose enough to offer to shoot a selfie with Joy before he teed off and Feagles still showed his collegiately loyalty is still strong. His golf bag was emblazoned with an orange Illini logo.

Author: lenz