FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay was named the 2021 PGA Tour Player of the Year as voted by his tour peers, beating out Jon Rahm for the honor.
The 29-year-old Californian became the latest recipient of the Jack Nicklaus Trophy after a 2021 season in which he won four times, including back-to-back FedEx Cup playoff victories in the BMW Championship and Tour Championship.
“The fact that it’s voted on by fellow PGA Tour players, I think that means a lot to me,” Cantlay said. “It wasn’t something I necessarily thought was on the radar, middle of the year, but then I closed really well and played lots of nice golf towards the end.”
The PGA Tour indicated Cantlay “was selected for the honor over (alphabetically) Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English, Collin Morikawa and Jon Rahm” but it was probably the Spaniard who ran him closest, although that is impossible to verify because the tour does not publish ballot results.
Rahm won the PGA of America’s player of the year the previous week, which uses a year-long points formula to determine the winner.
This marks the third consecutive year the two annual awards have gone to different players. Brooks Koepka (PGA of America) and Rory McIlroy (PGA Tour) split the awards in 2019, while the following year they went to Justin Thomas (PGA of America) and Dustin Johnson (PGA Tour).
The PGA Tour announced that Will Zalatoris was named the rookie of the year after a vote by the tour’s 2020-21 membership. Zalatoris, 25, registered a top-20 finish last week at the Fortinet Championship to open his first full season as a tour member.
Zalatoris was chosen ahead of Garrick Higgo to claim the Arnold Palmer Award that is given to the tour’s top rookie each season.
“On behalf of the PGA Tour, my congratulations to Will Zalatoris on being voted the 2021 PGA Tour rookie of the year by the tour’s membership,” commissioner Jay Monahan said. “Will’s success despite not having PGA Tour membership status at the outset of the 2020-21 season is a testament to not only his ability but also his hard work and attitude.”
Henrik Stenson was named as Pádraig Harrington’s fifth vice captain for this week’s Ryder Cup match at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin as Europe attempts to retain the trophy it won in France three years ago.
The 45-year-old joins fellow Swede Robert Karlsson, Englishman Luke Donald, Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland. The 2016 Open champion made a late bid to earn a spot on the European team but came up short.
Stenson brings a wealth of experience to Harrington’s backroom team. The two-time European No. 1 has played in five Ryder Cups – 2006, ’08, ’14, ’16 and ’18. He totaled 11 points from 19 matches, and in his last appearance in Paris he completed a 3-0 record by beating Bubba Watson, 5 and 4, in singles. He also secured the winning point for Europe in his debut at The K Club in 2006, when he defeated Vaughn Taylor, 4 and 3.
“It’s a great honor to get the call and be involved with Team Europe,” Stenson said. “Pádraig called me on Monday (last week) and it was not a long conversation. I accepted straight away and I assured him that myself, along with the other vice captains, are there to help and assist him and the team in any way we can.”
The seventh edition of the Latin America Amateur Championship will be played Jan. 20-23, 2022, at Casa de Campo Resort & Villas in the Dominican Republic. The 2021 edition of the event, originally slated to be played at Lima Golf Club in Peru, was canceled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The LAAC champion will receive an invitation to the 2022 Masters and an exemption into the Open Championship at St. Andrews. The winner also receives full exemptions into the Amateur Championship in Great Britain and into the U.S. Amateur, and is exempt into the final stage of qualifying for the 122nd U.S. Open.
Runner(s)-up will be exempt into the final stages of qualifying for the Open Championship and the U.S. Open.
It will be the third time the event will be staged at Casa de Campo’s Teeth of the Dog course.
“We are incredibly excited to welcome the region’s top amateurs back to Casa de Campo, as the Latin America Amateur Championship returns to form,” said Andres Pichardo Rosenberg, president of Casa de Campo.
There was good news for Japanese golf fans when the PGA Tour announced the 2021 Zozo Championship will be played Oct. 21-24 at Accordia Narashino Country Club in Chiba.
It followed a year when COVID-19 restrictions forced tournament organizers to switch it to the Sherwood Country Club in California, where Cantlay beat Rahm and Justin Thomas by one shot to record the first of his four victories on the 2020-21 PGA Tour.
“After moving the Zozo Championship to the U.S. last year, we are excited to return to Japan this October,” said Ty Votaw, PGA Tour executive vice president, international. “This decision is timely as it coincides perfectly with the game’s continued growth and increased participation in Japan following Hideki Matsuyama’s historic triumph at the Masters Tournament in April.”
TAP-INS
The PGA Tour announced the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour schedule will feature 26 tournaments and will include the return of early-season international events after they were canceled last season because of the pandemic (READ MORE). ... Halmstad Golf Club in Sweden was confirmed as the venue for the 2022 Scandinavian Mixed, hosted by Henrik Stenson and Annika Sörenstam, which will be played June 9-12 (READ MORE). ... The National Links Trust launched the Jack Vardaman Workforce Development Program to provide financial support for youths interested in early entry in the golf industry (READ MORE). ... Two-time PGA Tour winner Dudley Hart, 53, was named as an assistant to head coach JC Deacon at his alma mater, the University of Florida (READ MORE).
Staff and Wire Reports