In a replay of his preparations for last month’s Masters, Tiger Woods has made an appearance on the grounds of golf’s next major championship.
Woods, 46, played a practice round Thursday at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of the PGA Championship on May 19-22. Wearing a compression sleeve for support on his surgically repaired right leg, Woods toured the course with head professional Cary Cozby as his caddie.
Cozby told Michael Breed on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio’s “New Breed of Golf” that Woods “walks gingerly or just kind of like he is favoring it,” but noted that he “didn’t complain about any of that.”
Woods finished 47th at the Masters in early April in his first PGA Tour event in 1½ years. He mangled his right leg in a single-car, high-speed crash near Los Angeles in February 2021. Woods recently confirmed that he will play in the Open Championship in July at St. Andrews’ Old Course, where in 2000 he won the first of his three Claret Jugs.
The state of New Jersey filed a civil-rights complaint against storied Pine Valley Golf Club, alleging a pattern of gender-based discrimination in its membership, public accommodations, employment and housing opportunities near the course.
Matthew Platkin, the state’s acting attorney general, said in a statement: “Gender-based discrimination has no place in New Jersey, period.”
Club officials did not respond to calls, texts or emails seeking comment, according to a report by NJ.com. However, the state contends that Pine Valley told investigators that the club lifted all gender restrictions on its facilities in 2021 only after the state’s Division on Civil Rights had begun an investigation.
Pine Valley, a 1918 George Crump-H.S. Colt design, ranks No. 1 on Golf Digest’s list of “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses” and No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses list. The course, about 20 miles south of Philadelphia, is the site of the annual Crump Cup amateur tournament each September and is a two-time Walker Cup host (READ MORE).
When the PGA Championship returns to Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in two weeks, the event will mark 15 years since the PGA of America debuted its Patriot Golf Days program at the 2007 PGA.
In the ensuing years, golfers have donated more than $60 million to help fund 12,000 scholarships for military veterans, their spouses and children, during play over Memorial Day weekend.
This year, the USGA, PGA Tour and LPGA have joined the PGA of America and its PGA HOPE program plus the Folds of Honor charity to promote the initiative (READ MORE).
Can faster walking lead to a longer life? One recent study in the United Kingdom certainly supports picking up the pace.
In a study of more than 400,000 adults in the United Kingdom, researchers linked faster walking pace with a genetic marker of biological age. The study, at England’s University of Leicester National Institute for Health Research, estimated that a lifetime of brisk walking could shave the equivalent of 16 years of biological age by midlife.
OK, so the study wasn’t done specifically with golfers in mind, but draw your own conclusions about the perils of lollygagging on the course (READ MORE).
TAP-INS
Atlanta Athletic Club will play host to three USGA championships: the 2025 U.S. Girls’ Junior, the 2030 U.S. Amateur and the 2035 U.S. Women’s Amateur (READ MORE).
Phil Weaver, the former chairman of the PGA of Great Britain & Ireland and the head professional at Coventry (England) Golf Club for 35 years, died after a long struggle with cancer. He was 73 (READ MORE).
Trump National Doral Miami will play host to the LIV Golf Invitational Series’ season finale this fall, according to a report by Bob Harig at SI.com. At the final event of LIV’s eight-tournament series, 12 four-man teams will compete in a four-round, match-play knockout event. The winners will share $16 million ($4 million each) from the $50 million purse. Doral’s famed Blue Monster course was a PGA Tour site from 1962 through 2016, before the tour left in favor of a now-defunct WGC event in Mexico City.
The Australian Open will be featured on the DP World Tour for the first time, debuting Dec. 1-4 at Victoria Golf Club and Kingston Heath Golf Club on the Melbourne Sandbelt. The two venues will also be hosting the Women's Australian Open in the same week (READ MORE).
The Horizon Irish Open will return to the K Club, the DP World Tour announced. Ireland’s national open will be played at the club in Straffan, west of Dublin, in 2023, 2025 and 2027. The K Club hosted the 2006 Ryder Cup, which the Europeans won, 18½-9½, and the 2016 Irish Open, won by Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (READ MORE).
“Arnie and Jack: Stories of My Long Friendship with Two Remarkable Men,” written by Charlie Mechem, the former LPGA commissioner, is available on the USGA publications website (READ MORE).
The R&A expects a record 290,000 spectators for the 150th Open Championship this summer at St. Andrews’ Old Course. That total would exceed the 239,000 who watched Tiger Woods complete the career Grand Slam at St. Andrews in 2000. More than 1.3 million fans registered for tickets to the July 14-17 tournament (READ MORE).
The Kolon Korea Open will return to the Asian Tour schedule this summer after having been scrapped in the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will be played June 23-26 at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in Cheonan, South Korea (READ MORE).
Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle will host the 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, the USGA announced. The tournament will be played Sept. 21-26. Broadmoor is a former host of the PGA Tour’s Seattle Open, with winners that included Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus and Billy Casper (READ MORE).
David Rollo, an IMG executive, has been appointed chief operating officer of the Asian Tour (READ MORE).
Staff and Wire Reports