The PGA Tour no longer starts its season with a Tournament of Champions. The field at last week’s Sentry event in Hawaii, for better or worse, was dominated by players who got in by finishing in the top-50 finish in last year’s FedEx Cup. The LPGA, though, will again celebrate its recent winners at its…
Author: lenz
McIlroy is changing his tune as Sentry opens PGA Tour season
The first event on the pro golf tours teed off at The Sentry tournament in Hawaii, on Thursday. Formerly the PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions, it had a new format, with 35 winners on the PGA Tour in 2023 and the top 50 in the 2023 FedEx Cup Playoffs eligible to compete. It’s a good…
Men’s pro golf faces another year of turmoil
It’s most appropriate to wish all our golf enthusiasts a happy holiday season. This is a season-ender is like no other, however. Only the much-debated “Framework Agreement,’’ that is to bring together the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Tour, is left among major golf developments in 2023. The agreed upon deadline for…
Rahm’s jump to LIV puts the golf world in a tizzy
What? Jon Rahm has jumped to LIV? Who woulda thunk it?’’ Certainly not me, at least not until the rumors of his signing dragged on long enough to make the actual event almost anticlimactic. This development made it emphatic that the Saudi-backed circuit is here to stay. So, how big was it? Too big for…
PGA Tour Champions now has its own World Cup
BRADENTON, Florida — Who says who can’t teach an old dog new tricks? In the case of the wonderful world of tournament golf the “old dog’’ is PGA Tour Champions, and the 50-and-over circuit has never been reluctant to try something new. This week, though, it may have gone overboard with its World Golf…
Price, Leadbetter will be a great team in creating Soleta course
MYAKKA CITY, Florida – When you put Nick Price and David Leadbetter together on a golf project you most likely will have a winner. This week those two were in the spotlight at the ground-breaking for the Soleta Golf Club on the outskirts of Sarasota, FL. Soleta’s expected opening is in late 2024 and…
CDGA gives Illinois Women’s Amateur a big boost
The Chicago District Golf Association won’t announce its 2024 tournament schedule until Dec. 6 but it will include two major additions. For 90 years the Illinois Women’s Golf Association, a group based downstate, conducted the Illinois Women’s State Amateur as well as its state championship for senior players. With IWGA membership dwindling, those events would…
LPGA changes are imminent as season winds down
BELLAIR, Florida – Changing times on the LPGA Tour are unlike the PGA-LIV soap opera on the men’s circuit, but the women are in the progress of some adjusting, too – starting with the name of the season’s penultimate tournament. Instead of using the name of the host club in the title, what was the…
Illinois Golf Hall of Fame will get six new members
The Illinois Golf Hall of Fame will induct its 20th class on Friday, Nov. 10, and selection committee chairman Tim Cronin says “it couldn’t be more diverse or vibrant.’’ Heading the six-member class are two long-time club professionals, Tim O’Neal and Bruce Patterson, and Dr. Randy Kane, who served as the first Chicago District Golf…
LIV’s second season is over; now the fun begins
LIV Tour’s second season is history. The team championship at Doral created great drama and was an appropriate ending to the 2023 campaign. Now, however, the real fun begins. LIV chief executive officer Greg Norman took at least a brief look ahead during lulls in the action at Doral.. He started by confirming that…