Bryson DeChambeau polished off his six-shot victory in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot and followed the script of winners. The trophy presentation. A series of interviews with various media. What typically follows for major champions are promotional appearances, especially being in New York.
Except this isn't a typical year with COVID-19.
“He did ask, ‘What do we have tomorrow?'” said Brett Falkoff of GSE Worldwide, who manages DeChambeau. “I said, ‘If you want to be on your phone all day, that’s your option.'"
Sei Young Kim, of South Korea, waves to the gallery after making a birdie putt on the 14th hole during the final round of the LPGA Pelican Women's Championship golf tournament Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020, in Belleair, Fla. (AP PhotoChris O'Meara)
DeChambeau loves to talk about what he's done and how. In this case, he headed to Denver to meet with trainer Greg Roskopf and get back to work.
The trophy, along with the title as major champion, is ample. What's lacking this year are those media opportunities that raise the profile of the champions and doesn't hurt the exposure for their sponsors.
The PGA Tour often arranges media tours in New York, even photos atop the Empire State Building if the player is willing (not all of them are).
Ian Poulter, of England, watches his drive down the 10th fairway during third round of the RSM Classic golf tournament, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020, in St. Simons Island, Ga. (AP PhotoStephen B. Morton)
The tour still put together plenty of options, just none in the studio. In some cases, it helped with exposure because some shows might only be interested if the player could be in the studio. Now, everything is virtual.
Collin Morikawa stayed plenty busy the day after the 23-year-old won the PGA Championship in August.
Attention was high beyond his age and the shot he hit that set up the victory at Harding Park, a driver to 7 feet for eagle on the 16th hole. The PGA Championship was the first big event since the Daytona 500 in February with the Final Four being scrapped, the Masters moving to November and the NBA and NHL stretching into the fall.
Morikawa never had to leave home, however.
Andrew Kipper of Excel Sports Management said existing sponsors still got involved in the wake of his victory, and that would be the case even without a pandemic.
“The only thing that was different was instead of flying to New York for a media tour, he did it from his living room,” Kipper said. “It was having the ability to still gain interest and time with media outlets from home.”
That meant seven appearances on Monday after his victory, including “CBS This Morning,” “Good Morning America,” the “Today” show and CNBC's “Power Lunch.” He had nine more appearances the next day, two on Wednesday. That included CNN International and a few national radio hits.
Nothing really changed for Masters champion Dustin Johnson, who doesn't have media tours at the top of his priority list, especially when the Caribbean is calling.
David Winkle, his manager at Hambric Sports, said Johnson had set aside the week after the Masters for a vacation to St. Barts, and that wasn't going to get interrupted even without a pandemic. Johnson didn't do much after his U.S. Open win in 2016, either, but that's another vacation that falls around his birthday.
“He appreciated the interest but said, ‘I’ll stick to my plans,'” Winkle said. “I think at some point he'll consider doing that. But I don't ever see him doing 24 stops in two days as part of a whirlwind media tour. That's not too much his style. I think he'd some day take advantage of a select key opportunities.”
When that happens next, the question is whether it would be in a studio or in front of a computer at home.
POULTER PLANS
Another example of time moving quickly is the fact Ian Poulter's oldest daughter is now a freshman at Clemson.
That also was a reason time seemed to stand still.
Poulter typically plays the Houston Open before the Masters, but he had back spasms that were acting up and he decided to practice at home. But then daughter Aimee decided to come home .
“I decided to get out of the home because she came home from Clemson,” Poulter said, alluding to a one of the more important COVID-19 tests he faced later in the week. “I went to Augusta on Tuesday, practiced at the country club a couple of days, practiced at Sage Valley. It was a long nearly two weeks.”
He shot par or better all four rounds at Augusta National for the second time in 15 appearances, this during a soft year of record showing, so it netted him only a tie for 25th.
SURGING SEI YOUNG
Sei Young Kim made the richest putt in LPGA Tour history last year, a 25-foot birdie on the final hole to win the CME Group Tour Championship and the $1.5 million prize.
That was the start of a stretch that was interrupted by the pandemic, kept her in South Korea for an additional month after the LPGA Tour resumed and now leaves her on the cusp of reaching No. 1 in the world.
Kim has won her last two LPGA events, starting with the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Aronimink, and then last week in Florida. Next up is the U.S. Women's Open in three weeks at Champions Golf Club in Houston.
Dating to the CME Group Tour Championship, Kim has three victories in her last 12 starts on the LPGA Tour and Korean LPGA, along with nine top 10s.
Jin Young Ko has been No. 1 for the entire year, even though she didn't return to the LPGA Tour until last week. Ko is playing next week in the Volunteers of America Classic, and then the No. 1 ranking likely will be up for grabs in Houston.
Ko is trying to become the first woman since Lydia Ko in 2016 to stay at No. 1 for an entire year.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
The PGA Tour Champions have a 25-event schedule for 2021 that concludes a “super season” because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 15 events this year, and points earned in the Charles Schwab Cup will carry over to 2021 with a champion being determined in November.
Missing from next year's schedule are overseas tournaments in Morocco and Japan (the latter was canceled this year), along with the tournament in Mississippi.
Added to the schedule are new tournaments in St. Louis (which was canceled this year) and a tournament at Timuquana in Jacksonville, Florida, that will be hosted by Jim Furyk.
Also, the Chubb Classic in Naples, Florida, moves from February to a week after the Masters in April. The majors not run by the tour are at Southern Hills (Senior PGA), Omaha Country Club (U.S. Senior Open) and Sunningdale (Senior British).
The Charles Schwab Cup playoffs feature three tournaments, though the second one has not been determined. This year it was in Boca Raton, Florida, with TimberTech stepping in as a title sponsor.
DIVOTS
The BMW Championship is going to Wilmington Country Club in 2022, the first PGA Tour event in Delaware. That will make it seven golf courses in seven years for what began as the Western Open — Crooked Stick, Conway Farms, Aronimink, Medinah, Olympia Fields, Caves Valley (2021) and Wilmington. ... U.S. Amateur champion Tyler Strafaci and Davis Thompson, the No. 2 amateur in the world, are among 16 players invited to a Walker Cup practice session Dec. 16-18 at Bay Hill and Lake Nona in Orlando, Florida. The Walker Cup is scheduled for May 8-9 at Seminole. ... Corey Conners won $300,000 for the charity of his choice by having the most sub-par holes over the first 11 events of the season in the “RSM Birdies Fore Love” competition.
STAT OF THE WEEK
Dustin Johnson is the fifth player to surpass $70 million in career earnings. Total prize money on the PGA Tour in 1996 when Tiger Woods turned pro was $65.9 million.
FINAL WORD
“World ranking No. 1 is my wish list in this year, so that's my biggest goal. Before, Olympic gold medal was my biggest goal in this year, but it was canceled.” — Sei Young Kim.
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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