Majors over as players try to adjust to crammed schedule

Andrew Landry hit the opening tee shot at the Masters. Shane Lowry hit the final shot at the British Open.

All in 102 days.

The new major championship season in golf — one a month starting with the Masters in April — could take time before players can adjust. And that was just the start. Throw in the Olympics and the Ryder Cup next year, and the schedule will be relentless.

Italy's Francesco Molinari acknowledges the crowd on the 12th green after putting during the final round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, Sunday, July 21, 2019.(AP PhotoPeter Morrison)

"I felt like majors were coming almost too far, one after the others," Francesco Molinari said. "And to add the Olympic Games, too, it's not going to be an easy year for anyone. ... So that's how golf is right now, and we just need to make the most of it."

It wasn't that big of a deal for Tiger Woods, who played only 16 competition rounds in those 102 days. Woods pledged late last year that he wasn't going to be playing as much, and he lived up to his word.

"It seems yesterday we were playing in Augusta and all of a sudden the four majors are gone," said Molinari, who is skipping the World Golf Championships event this week in Memphis, Tennessee. "So I think it's something that hopefully next year we will get more used to it. But this year it's been a big change."

England's Tommy Fleetwood plays his tee shot off the 5th hole during the final round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, Sunday, July 21, 2019.(AP PhotoPeter Morrison)

The Italian wasn't alone in his thinking.

"The schedule has been tough this year," Tommy Fleetwood said. "If you're not playing great, you actually don't have time this year to develop your game because you don't have that time to take periods off, really. You're constantly playing and you always have to turn up and perform with the way that it goes."

Justin Rose touched on this at the Wells Fargo Championship in early May. He said for years, the Masters ended and players didn't have to think about majors for nearly two months. He felt the schedule was too condensed, which he attributed to the FedEx Cup wanting to finish in August ahead of American football.

Rickie Fowler of the United States plays form the 15th fairway during the third round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, Saturday, July 20, 2019.(AP PhotoMatt Dunham)

Rose won the FedEx Cup last year, along with the $10 million bonus.

"For me, a major championship should be the things that are protected the most," Rose said. "That's how all of our careers ultimately are going to be measured."

There are 263 days between the end of the British Open and the start of the Masters next year. That's the longest gap between majors since 1971, when the PGA Championship was held in Florida and moved to February. The British Open ended on July 15 that year.

Ireland's Shane Lowry holds and kisses the Claret Jug trophy after winning the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, Sunday, July 21, 2019.(AP PhotoMatt Dunham)

MAKING THE CUT

Rickie Fowler missed the cut in the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, the second straight major he had off for the weekend.

That was the last one.

Fowler was among 16 players who made the cut in all four majors this year, a list that includes the top two players in the world (Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson), along with Matt Wallace of England and Cameron Smith of Australia.

Jordan Spieth of the United States plays his tee shot on the 1st hole during the third round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, Saturday, July 20, 2019.(AP PhotoJon Super)

That was the highest number of players since 18 made all four cuts in 2015, and it was up from 11 players last year.

Koepka has the longest active streak of consecutive cuts made in the majors — 21 in a row — that dates to the 2013 British Open at Muirfield, when he qualified the morning after winning a Challenge Tour event in Europe. He wasn't eligible for the 2014 Masters, sat out the 2016 British Open with an ankle injury and missed the 2018 Masters with a wrist injury.

On the flip side was Shugo Imahira, who received a special foreign invitation to the Masters this year. He missed the cut at Augusta National, and by July had become the only player to miss the cut in all four majors. He received an invitation for the PGA Championship from being in the top 100 in the world, made it through the 36-hole sectional qualifier in Japan for the U.S. Open and was exempt for the British Open from the Japan Golf Tour money list.

BACK TO AUGUSTA

Lee Westwood was five shots out of the lead going into the final round of the 2017 Masters, closed with a 74 and tied for 18th. He had fallen out of the top 50 a month earlier and has yet to return, and returning at age 46 was not going to be easy.

Westwood went into the weekend at Royal Portrush one shot behind, only to trail by eight going into Sunday. And then he closed with a 73, which was enough for him to tie for fourth in the British Open. That was enough to send him back to Augusta National next April. The Masters invites the top four from the other three majors.

He had to wait when he finished to make sure Brooks Koepka or Rickie Fowler didn't do anything to knock him out.

"I never wish anybody ill, but it would be nice to play Augusta again," Westwood said. "I've missed it the last couple of years."

He had the 54-hole lead in the 2010 Masters and was runner-up to Phil Mickelson.

SPIETH'S PUSH

Jordan Spieth was three shots behind going into the weekend at Royal Portrush on the strength of his putting, which deserted him on the weekend.

He closed with rounds of 69-77 — he has broken par only twice in the final round this year — and fell back into a tie for 20th. Consider it another lost opportunity, not just to end his two years without a victory, but to make up ground in points.

Spieth moved up only three spots to No. 69 in the FedEx Cup and likely has only one event left — the FedEx Invitational this week — to improve his position. He missed out on the Tour Championship last year, and only the top 70 get into the second of three FedEx Cup playoff events.

"I really want on an off day to finish top 10," Spieth said. "I'm pretty bummed right now. After three weeks off, a lot of times you make some kind of rusty errors. Certainly this weekend I wasn't patient with it. Going into a pretty heavy stretch coming, and hopefully it gets better."

It's not just the FedEx Cup. Spieth is at No. 29 in the Presidents Cup standings, and the top eight qualify after the BMW Championship.

DIVOTS

This was never on his mind, but British Open champion Shane Lowry joined the list of players who halted an American sweep of the majors, which last happened in 1982. The others were Steve Elkington in 1995, Vijay Singh in 1998 and Jason Day in 2015, all winning the PGA Championship when it was the last major of the year. ... Patty Tavatanakit has won back-to-back on the Symetra Tour, and the former UCLA star now has six top-15 finishes in her last eight starts. Four of those were on the LPGA Tour, two while still an amateur. ... According to the 15th Club, Bob McIntyre's tie for sixth in the British Open was the best by a Scottish player in his Open debut since Andrew Kirkdaldy in 1879. ... This was the fourth time in the last six years a European has won the British Open.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Keegan Bradley at the 2011 PGA Championship is the last major champion outside the top 50 in the world when he won. A PGA Tour rookie at the time, he was No. 108.

FINAL WORD

"Golf is a weird sport and you never know what's around the corner. That's why you need to remind yourself — and you need other people there to remind you — to fight through the bad times." — British Open champion Shane Lowry.

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Notah Begay III is competing in a tournament for the first time in nearly 10 years, and the score isn’t what matters to him.

His appearance on the Advocates Professional Golf Association Tour in Arizona has been a mixture of inspiration and appreciation.

Begay, a four-time PGA Tour winner and now an on-course reporter for NBC Sports, was on the broadcast crew for the APGA Tour event on the Sunday after the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

Camilo Villegas, of Colombia, hits out of a bunker on the seventh green during the second round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Friday, April 15, 2022, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP PhotoStephen B. Morton)

“I was impressed by the caliber of play out there. I wanted to get to know more about the tour, the players, and what their objectives are going forward,” Begay said. “There’s no better way than to be a part of it.”

Back injuries cut short his career. Begay’s last tour event was in August 2012 at the Reno-Tahoe Open. He wasn’t sure what to expect on the Champions course at the TPC Scottsdale, though he acquitted himself nicely with a 1-over 72 on Monday and was tied for 16th in the 51-man field.

The final round was Tuesday.

Jennifer Kupcho, center, jumps in the water with her husband Jay Monahan, right, and caddie David Eller after Kupcho's win in the LPGA Chevron Championship golf tournament Sunday, April 3, 2022, in Rancho Mirage, Calif. (AP PhotoMarcio Jose Sanchez)

Begay has always been about access, which includes his NB3 Junior Golf Tour, in which kids compete in tournaments throughout New Mexico and surrounding states, culminating with regional and national championships. Financial assistance is available.

“We didn’t say ‘no’ to one player,” Begay said. “This game has been saying ‘no’ for a long time.”

The APGA Tour began in 2010, established to prepare Black golfers and other minorities to compete and build careers on tour or in the golf industry. It has gained momentum in recent years with sponsor exemptions at PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour events, and with a schedule that is starting to include TPC courses for its 36-hole events.

Patrick Cantlay watches his drive down the ninth fairway during the final round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Sunday, April 17, 2022, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP PhotoStephen B. Morton)

The one at Torrey Pines on Sunday — the PGA Tour event ended on Saturday this year to avoid conflicts with NFL conference championships — was the first one to be televised live.

Begay was working and watching.

“I’ve been doing some research, just seeing the records they’ve had and where they come from,” he said Sunday evening. “I’m just trying to be more informed.”

Plus, the competition might serve him well. He turns 50 in September and will be eligible for the PGA Tour Champions.

PRESIDENTS CUP

The leadership for the International team in the Presidents Cup now represents every continent that make up the team facing the United States.

International captain Trevor Immelman (South Africa) announced Tuesday his four assistant captains will be K.J. Choi (South Korea), Geoff Ogilvy (Australia), Mike Weir (Canada) and Camilo Villegas (Colombia).

The matches are Sept. 22-25 at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Choi, Ogilvy and Weir are serving as assistants for the third time. The newcomer is Villegas, whose lone appearance in the Presidents Cup was in 2009 at Harding Park.

“Although it has been over 10 years since I played the event, I still have fond memories that are unforgettable, so joining on the other side as a captain’s assistant will be a highlight of my career," Villegas said.

U.S. captain Davis Love III last week said Zach Johnson — the next Ryder Cup captain — and Fred Couples would be his assistants. He hasn't announced the other two, though Love said Tiger Woods could have any role he wanted. Woods was captain at the last Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in 2019 and chose not to return.

The International team has only one victory, in 1998 at Royal Melbourne, since the matches began in 1994. The 2003 event ended in a tie.

MISSION HILLS REPLACEMENT

Mission Hills lost the LPGA Tour’s first major to Houston under a new sponsorship deal. In its place will be a PGA Tour Champions event next year, the first tournament in the California desert for the senior circuit since 1993.

The PGA Tour Champions announced a partnership with healthcare company Grail to sponsor The Galleri Classic, named after Grail’s multi-cancer early detection test. The tournament will be March 24-26 on the Dinah Shore Tournament course at Mission Hills, which had hosted the LPGA Tour for 51 years.

That PGA Tour Champions was last in the Coachella Valley in 1993, when Raymond Floyd won the final edition of the Gulfstream Aerospace Invitational at Indian Wells. The PGA Tour has been in the Palm Springs area since 1960 in what began as the Bob Hope Classic and now is the American Express.

WHAT A HOOT

John Daly and his son now have an endorsement deal with Hooters.

Daly has had a long relationship with Hooters. John Daly II, a freshman at Arkansas, signed as a name, image, likeness ambassador. It’s the first NIL for Hooters. The company said Daly and son, who won the PNC Championship in December, will promote the brand through various marketing activities, such as social media and other digital channels.

“Hooters is the ideal place for me to go and unwind after a long day on the course or in the classroom,” Daly II said in a release. “I have seen my father’s great relationship with Hooters over the years, and I am proud to continue my family’s association with this iconic brand.”

The restaurant, which dates to 1983 in Florida, is famous for hiring young women as servers wearing skimpy uniforms. The menu specialty is chicken wings.

LPGA DEBUT

Just over a year after Anna Davis won her first AJGA title, the 16-year-old from San Diego County is about to make her LPGA Tour debut.

Davis earned national acclaim by winning the Augusta National Women’s Amateur three weeks ago as the only player to finish under par. She has received a sponsor exemption to play in the Palos Verdes Championship next week in Los Angeles.

The exemption came from Bank of America, the presenting sponsor of the Palos Verdes Championship. Bank of America also is one of the presenting partners of the Augusta National Women's Amateur.

Also getting an exemption was Wake Forest junior Rachel Kuehn, who won the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge last month at Palos Verdes Golf Club, the host course of next week’s LPGA stop.

Davis, the left-hander in a bucket hat, has put together an impressive year. After winning that AJGA title, she recorded a seven-shot win in the Girls Junior PGA Championship at Valhalla and was named to the Junior Solheim Cup and Junior Ryder Cup teams. She has finished among the top four in all five of her World Amateur Golf Ranking starts this year.

DIVOTS

Jordan Spieth and Under Armour have extended their partnership through 2029, meaning he will be with the Baltimore-based shoe and apparel company for at least the first 17 years of his career. Under Armour also is giving $1 million to the Spieth Family Foundation over the next eight years. ... Alexa Pano has turned pro and makes her debut on the Epson Tour this week in Utah. ... Texas teammates Cole Hammer and Pierceson Coody, along with Eugenio Chacarra of Oklahoma State and Sam Bennett of Texas A&M are among the 10 semifinalists for the Ben Hogan Award that goes to the top male collegian. Three finalists will be named May 5. Coody was a finalist last year. ... Augusta National Women's Amateur runner-up Latanna Stone, Amari Avery, Megha Ganne and Emilia Migliaccio were chosen to fill out the U.S. team for the Curtis Cup at Merion on June 10-12. They join Rose Zhang, Rachel Heck, Rachel Kuehn and U.S. Women's Amateur champion Jensen Castle.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Jordan Spieth was the seventh player this season to come from at least three shots behind in the final round to win on the PGA Tour.

FINAL WORD

“There always will be exceptions — Tiger still being able to win majors in his 40s, (Tom) Brady being able to win Super Bowls in his 40s. But I think in general, as a rule, careers will be shorter and guys will play better younger.” — Patrick Cantlay.

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