No fans in Los Angeles. No amateurs in Palm Springs. Those were the latest announcements on PGA Tour stops in California as golf heads back to the mainland next week.
The Genesis Invitational at Riviera on Feb. 18-21 was predictable. COVID-19 cases are raging in the state with the nation's largest population. California's death toll reached 30,000 on Monday.
“Throughout our extensive planning, it became clear that due to the pandemic the best way to ensure the safety for all involved is to hold the tournament without spectators,” tournament director Mike Antolini said Tuesday.
Justin Thomas waits to hit from the first tee during the final round of the Tournament of Champions golf event, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021, at Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. (Matthew ThayerThe Maui News via AP)
The first stop is next week in the California desert for The American Express, typically played over three courses and one of two tournaments that feature amateurs during the competition. The other is the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
It now will be played on two courses at PGA West (Stadium Course and Nicklaus Tournament Course). The pro-am format for 54 holes, a part of the tournament since it began in 1960, has been eliminated. It's expected to return next year. There will be a Wednesday pro-am at The American Express, typical of regular events since last fall.
Even so, there are signs of improvement.
The Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines follows The American Express and will not have fans. Then it's over to the Phoenix Open, which is planning for roughly 8,000 people a day — it usually draws in the neighborhood of 600,000 fans for the week — and a single-story structure around the usually rowdy 16th hole.
Pebble Beach will have no fans but stick to its fabled amateur format, a blend of entertainers, Fortune 500 executives and athletes. Pebble at least as a small idea what to expect from having hosted a PGA Tour Champions event last fall.
“We're forging ahead,” tournament director Steve John said.
John said Pebble Beach was adding vans to shuttle players, caddies and tournament personnel to the three courses used in the rotation. He said the hard part was telling longtime volunteers — they come from all over the country for a week on the Monterey Peninsula — that their services are not needed.
The four tournament directors for the West Coast Swing stay in touch because they have a lot in common.
“We talk about what we're doing. Everyone is in the same boat, with limited access to the golf course,” John said.
The PGA Tour is working on plans for the World Golf Championship in Mexico City, which is not likely to be held this year without any fans allowed. And then it's off to Florida and Texas in the five weeks leading to the Masters.
The Players Championship is planning for limited fans, though details are still in flux.
The Honda Classic, held after The Players this year, says it will have limited fans, but there will be room for them around the closing stretch and on the 18th green.
“We are the first really big tour to come out here and do this stuff, so I think we still need to watch ourselves on what we do and where we’re going to be going,” PGA champion Collin Morikawa said. “But for the most part, you know, slowly to start seeing fans, it’s going to be really exciting.”
KEEP PLAYING
Lee Westwood once played 16 consecutive weeks on the European Tour, not stopping until he broke through with his first victory in the Volvo Scandinavian Masters. Was the idea to keep playing until he won? No.
“I was 23,” Westwood once said.
It's that kind of approach that Charles Howell III suggests young players take. The topic was sponsor exemptions for players fresh out of college who are trying to get PGA Tour cards. The idea behind an exemption is to do a favor to a young player now with hopes that when they make it big, they'll return to the tournament as stars.
But when a player wins, and his schedule changes, that can be difficult.
“A lot of the young guys now, they are ready to win sooner," Howell said. “It's really tough for them to balance the schedule, because as soon as you win, you're in everything.”
Howell didn't win right away, but he did well enough on sponsor exemptions that he didn't have to go Q-school. Then again, he was someone who always played a big schedule.
“Looking back, I would encourage them to play a lot of golf,” Howell said. “You don’t have the obligation of a family. You don’t have kids. You don’t have a school schedule that you’re dealing with, you’re not booking a father-daughter dance and this and that. So while you’re young, my advice is play a lot. It’s what you do.”
END OF A DROUGHT
Harris English is part of a curious trend this season on the PGA Tour. He is the fifth player to have gone at least six years since his last tour victory.
English won in November 2013 and then won a playoff Sunday at Kapalua in the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
“You definitely have some inspiration out here from guys,” English said.
Stewart Cink started it off by winning the Safeway Open, his first victory since the 2009 British Open at Turnberry.
Martin Laird won in Las Vegas, his first title since the Texas Open in 2013. Brian Gay won the Bermuda Championship after having not won since the Humana Challenge in 2013. And then Robert Streb won at Sea Island for the second time. He won his other PGA Tour event at Sea Island in 2014.
The difference? English was No. 29 in the world when he finally broke through again. The other players were all outside the top 300 in the world ranking.
DATE CHANGES
The USGA is moving up the U.S. Senior Women’s Open by three weeks, another change in women’s golf to avoid competing events.
The Senior Women’s Open, canceled last year because of the pandemic, was originally scheduled for Aug. 19-22 at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Connecticut. That’s the same week as the Women’s British Open at Carnoustie. Laura Davies, who won the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open, typically plays in the Women’s British Open, along with a few others eligible for both events.
Now it will be July 29 through Aug. 1.
“After listening to player feedback and consulting with our new broadcast partner (Golf Channel), it was clear that separating the dates from the week of the AIG Women’s Open was important to the overall success of the championship,” said John Bodenhamer, the senior director in charge of USGA championships.
It was the second time in the last six months that golf organizations showed a willingness to adjust schedules. The Curtis Cup was originally to be held Sept. 3-5 in Wales until the R&A realized that was the same weekend as the Solheim Cup, and amateurs might have to choose between the Curtis Cup and Junior Solheim Cup. The Curtis Cup moved to Aug. 26-28.
DIVOTS
Justin Thomas last year shot 278 and won at Kapalua in a playoff. Without the wind, and the soft turf from overnight rain, he shot 268 this year and missed a playoff by one shot. ... Every winner of the Sony Open since 2010 has finished among the top 10 in the key putting statistic. ... Webb Simpson has shot 63 or better 18 times since 2009, the most of any player on the PGA Tour.
STAT OF THE WEEK
Sergio Garcia made birdie or better on all but one of the par 5s he played at Kapalua. He was 17 under on the par 5s and finished 18 under for the tournament in a tie for 11th.
FINAL WORD
“You’re trying to get on the other side of your lull and one bad shot is like, ‘Here we go again, I’m back in the same spot, I’m not getting any better.’ It's really tough to get out of it.” — Harris English, who ended more than seven years without a victory at Kapalua.
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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