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Finding a path to the PGA Tour through the Korn Ferry Tour may not have gotten any easier but it is becoming more lucrative.
The PGA Tour announced last week that purses on the Korn Ferry Tour will increase across the board across the next two seasons with every tournament having a purse of at least $1 million by 2023.
The pandemic delayed the increases, which were scheduled to have begun this season.
According to a PGA Tour release, purses will increase by 66.7 percent across a two-year period with a minimum purse of $750,000 in 2022 jumping to $1 million the following year.
“It shows the tour’s commitment to the Korn Ferry Tour,” said Scott Langley, chairman of the player advisory council for the developmental circuit. “The game has always been a meritocracy, but it’s nice to see that good play will be rewarded a little bit more over the course of a season.”
In 2023, all three tournaments that comprise the Korn Ferry Tour finals where 25 PGA Tour cards are awarded will have purses of $1.5 million, a 50 percent increase from where they currently are.
It’s a bit of a homecoming. Even though Paula Creamer has lived in Florida for more than half of her life, the 10-time LPGA Tour winner spent her formative years less than 50 miles from the first tee at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California. So, it made sense that the USGA would give its 2010 U.S. Women’s Open champion a special exemption into this year’s championship, which will be held June 3-6 at Olympic’s famed Lake Course.
“It’s home. It’ll always be home,” Creamer said of the Bay Area. “No matter where I’ve lived longer or not, whenever I’m announced on the first tee, it’s always ‘Pleasanton, California.’
“Anytime I represent the United States, my flag is always California. I’m a Cali girl, and you can’t take that away from me just because I live here in Orlando now. But I’m excited.”
Creamer will tune up at Kingsmill in the Pure Silk Championship next week. It will be her first LPGA Tour start since 2019.
“I was trying to rest my body as much as I could and talking over with all of my doctors and my physio and my trainers and everybody,” she said of her long absence from competition due to a wrist injury. “We definitely made a decision on, ‘OK, let's start off in April last year,’ and that was going to be when I was going to come back out on tour.
“Then, obviously, the pandemic hit, and, I hate to say it, but for me it was almost a blessing in disguise where we all looked at each other and we’re like, ‘OK, we’re going to use this time to really work on what we need to work on, work on where I need to get stronger, be a little bit more flexible in certain areas, and not playing.’
“Right now, sitting here, I have practiced a lot, more than I think I have in a very, very long time. And I don’t feel any pain, which to me, it’s worth it right now. So, the timing is great. I like the Kingsmill golf course, so that was another reason why I chose that to be my first event back out, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
The R&A has organised a trio of tributes to mark the 10th anniversary of Seve Ballesteros’s death
The Spanish superstar passed away on May 7, 2011, aged just 54, following a battle with cancer, having been diagnosed with a brain tumor two years earlier.
Tributes comprise a full-length documentary film, featuring contributions from his family and professional peers, a new photobook by renowned golf photographer David Cannon, and an 18-month exhibition at the British Golf Museum in St. Andrews.
“Seve always was the supreme showman and he played a huge part in deepening my love of golf,” R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers said. “I hope that fans will enjoy these wonderful tributes that tell the story of this charismatic, flamboyant and inspirational golfer who is without doubt one of the greatest of all time.
“Sadly, he was taken from us much too young and we must settle for the memories. But what glorious memories they are.”
A share of the proceeds from these tributes will be donated to the Seve Ballesteros Foundation, which introduces young people into golf and raises money for scientific research used for the treatment of brain cancer.
Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele have announced plans to play in this year’s Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club, July 8-11, the week before the Open Championship at Royal St George’s.
Reigning PGA champion Morikawa and world No 4 Schauffele will be joined in the field by Englishman Tyrell Hatton, who has risen to No 8 in the world ranking on the back of a series of wins including this year’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Morikawa is making his competitive debut in Scotland.
“I’m excited to play in Scotland for the first time,” he said. “I’m looking forward to making my debut in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open and playing in the Home of Golf. I’ve heard a lot about the tournament, and it will be a lot of fun to tee up on the European Tour again.”
Schauffele finished tied second behind Francesco Molinari in the 2018 Open Championship at Carnoustie, his last visit to Scotland.
Emilia Migliaccio of Wake Forest is among the standout names announced last week for the United States team for this year’s Arnold Palmer Cup. The tournament will return to a summer date – June 11-13 at Rich Harvest Farms in Illinois – after the COVID-19 pandemic affected the event in 2020.
Migliaccio will be the first United States player to participate in four Palmer Cup competitions.
The U.S. team also will include Ricky Castillo of Florida and Pierceson Coody of Texas, both of whom led the United States to victory against Great Britain & Ireland as last weekend’s Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club.
The United States will be trying to avenge last year’s defeat at the hands of the International team, 40½-19½, in December at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida.
The International side will feature seven of the players from its victory in the pandemic-rescheduled event that originally had been scheduled for July at Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland. England’s Alex Fitzpatrick and France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard lead the returning players.
Peter Forster has been named as the new captain of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.
The 70-year-old Scot was nominated by the club’s past captains and will begin his year in office with the traditional Driving-In ceremony on the first tee of the Old Course during the club’s Autumn Meeting in September.
A member of the Royal & Ancient since the early 1970s, the 18-handicapper also is a member of Ten Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotscraig Golf Club and the Seniors Golfing Society.
TAP-INS
The PGA of America announced that next months KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will be held with limited fan attendance at Atlanta Athletic Club (READ MORE). ... Division I schools Texas, Florida State, Oklahoma State, Clemson, Oklahoma and Wake Forest earn top seeds as the NCAA announces the men’s field for its 54-hole regional tournaments that begin May 17 (READ MORE). ... The Legends Tour, for senior LPGA players, announces the inaugural Land O’Lakes Legends Classic, scheduled for Aug. 5-7 at the Meadows at Mystic Lake in Minnesota (READ MORE).
Staff and Wire Reports