Tom Watson will be an honorary starter at the 2022 Masters Tournament, joining Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus at the ceremony on Thursday, April 7, at Augusta National Golf Club.
Watson won green jackets in 1977 and 1981, and is one of 17 players with multiple Masters victories. He also was runner-up three times and recorded 15 top-10 showings, posting a 72.74 scoring average at Augusta National that ranks fifth in tournament history.
“I am honored that Tom has accepted our invitation,” said Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club. “I look forward to commemorating his love for the game and impact on the Masters with his millions of fans across the globe.”
Watson made 42 consecutive Masters starts from 1975 to 2016, the fifth-longest streak since the tournament began in 1934.
He holds the record for most consecutive years with at least one subpar round in tournament play (21, between 1975 and 1995), and his 58 subpar rounds are second all-time behind Nicklaus (71).
“Augusta National in April is one of my favorite places to be … I am greatly honored to join my friends and fellow competitors, Jack and Gary, as an honorary starter in this upcoming Masters,” Watson said. “In both of my victories, Jack was on my heels. And when Gary won his third tournament in 1978, I was there to help him put on the green jacket.”
The USGA announced last week a new exemption category for the U.S. Open, which will go to the previous season’s points leader on the Korn Ferry Tour.
This year’s Korn Ferry points champion will be the first player to join the U.S. Open field through this exemption, and will earn a spot at the 2023 event scheduled for the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club.
The first event of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season – the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic – began Sunday at Sandals Emerald Bay Golf Club and will conclude Wednesday. The cumulative points leader at the end of the tour’s 23-event regular season and the three-event playoff will earn the exemption.
The category will read: The points leader from the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season using combined points earned on the Official Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Points Standings and points earned in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.
“The USGA is pleased to offer an exemption to a tour that has been well-represented in the U.S. Open and has developed an accomplished group of professionals for more than three decades,” said John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s chief championships officer.
The announcement last week that the DP World Tour and the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia had extended a strategic alliance through 2026 did more than keep the two tours co-joined going forward.
It also served as a rejection of the Greg Norman-led LIV Golf Investments group, which had hoped to create a partnership between the Australasian Tour and the Asian Tour, where the Saudi-backed group has created an annual 10-event series while making plans for a global golf league.
Instead, the alliance will allow a pathway for top Australasian players to the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour). The top three finishers on the Australasian Order of Merit will earn full playing privileges on the DP World Tour.
The agreement also brings a commitment to increased tournament purses and the inclusion of the Fortinet Australian PGA Championship on the 2023 DP World Tour schedule. It will be the richest tournament played in Australia and tour officials are optimistic that many top Australian players, including Marc Leishman, Cameron Smith, Adam Scott and Jason Day, will play in what is expected to be a strong series of events in December.
The agreement is supported by the PGA Tour which has a strategic partnership with the DP World Tour, and which has been a part of three Presidents Cups in Australia.
Norman, a native Australian, is chief executive officer of LIV Golf Investments and will be commissioner of the rumored new league. The group’s ties to the Saudi Arabia-funded Public Investment Fund have made Norman’s new initiative controversial. The group has, however, attracted a collection of top players to tee it up in the Saudi International event next month on the Asian Tour, fueling speculation about what may be coming next.
TAP-INS
A partnership has been established between the Evans Scholars Foundation and the Caddie Scholarship Foundation, run by the Western Golf Association and the New Jersey State Golf Association, respectively (READ MORE). … Top-ranked amateur Keita Nakajima signed with Excel Sports Management for representation, with the agency saying, “The long-term goal is to play on the PGA Tour, and we will implement a plan to help him achieve that on a timeline that makes the most sense.”
Staff and Wire Reports