Tiger Woods will join Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in the next edition of “The Match,” according to published reports.
Woods, who has not competed since missing the cut at the Open Championship in July, will join the three other PGA Tour stars in the seventh edition of the made-for-TV match, according to a tweet by The Fried Egg, which was confirmed by Golf Digest. “The Match” will be a 12-hole exhibition played at 7 p.m. Dec. 10 under the lights at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida.
Woods competed in the inaugural Match in 2018, defeating longtime rival Phil Mickelson in 22 holes in a $9 million winner-take-all duel at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. Subsequent editions of the exhibition have included stars from football (Josh Allen, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers) and basketball (Charles Barkley and Steph Curry).
Woods, who will turn 47 on Dec. 30, could have a busy exhibition schedule next month as he continues to recover from a horrific single-car rollover crash Feb. 23, 2021 in California. The 20-man Hero World Challenge, an unofficial PGA Tour event that benefits his TGR Foundation, is scheduled for Dec. 1-4 at Albany in The Bahamas. He has yet to confirm his participation. In recent years, Woods also has competed with his son, Charlie, in the PNC Championship, which is set for Dec. 17-18 at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, though he is yet to commit to play. READ MORE
Titleist became the first equipment manufacturer to go public with its private communications between golf’s governing bodies about the game’s distance debate, posting a plea to consumers on its website that any rollback in modern gear would reduce enjoyment in the game.
Since concluding in their Distance Insights project in early 2020 that the game was on an unsustainable path regarding distance, the USGA and R&A have solicited input from manufacturers, industry insiders and others regarding how to proceed. That open-comment period recently ended, and the next step will be for the governing bodies to introduce solutions, which might include some sort of a rollback, be it with the driver, the ball or maybe both.
Titleist published a direct response on its website headlined “Your enjoyment of the game is at a crossroads.” The company is appealing to recreational golfers with the claim that “your game will be directly impacted” with a golf ball rollback and/or driver bifurcation, noting the game’s “unprecedented growth and revenues.” The company concludes its presentation with the question, “Do you want your best shot, hole, round to have been yesterday?”
The USGA and R&A are expected to proceed in early 2023.
Top players on the PGA Tour can opt out of one tournament under a recently announced mandate that takes effect in 2023, according to published reports.
To counter the growing threat from LIV Golf, the PGA Tour announced a series of 13 “elevated” events that will offer $20 million-plus purses and attract the top 20 players in the tour’s Player Impact Program. The changes were based on recommendations made by a group of top players led by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. However, the tour’s Policy Board reportedly will allow a player to skip one of those elevated events “for personal or professional reasons only” and still be eligible for PIP bonuses. Some players, notably Spain’s Jon Rahm, according to Golf Channel, had pushed back on the number of mandatory events. READ MORE
In completing its schedule for 2023, the DP World Tour has taken a page from the PGA Tour’s playbook in the face of the growing threat from LIV Golf and announced a guaranteed-earnings program for its members.
The tour announced its full 12-month schedule for the 2023 season, which will feature at least 39 tournaments in 26 countries and a record $144.2 million collective purse outside of the major championships and WGC Match Play, marked by boosts in the first four Rolex Series events and, in a first, base pay for players.
With the Ryder Cup set for Rome in September and the tour being mindful of “elevated” events scheduled on the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour shuffled some of its key national opens. The Italian Open moved up to early May at the Ryder Cup venue at Marco Simone. The Irish Open will move from its traditional spot in early summer to the first weekend in September, allowing top Europeans to compete after the PGA Tour playoffs end a week earlier.
The tour will introduce four new events in Asia plus a three-week summer break after the Open Championship. Exempt players also will be guaranteed $150,000, provided that they compete in at least 15 events. The move follows a similar PGA Tour initiative which guarantees $500,000 to tour members. READ MORE
Lee Westwood could be the subject of one of the most perplexing situations in professional golf next year.
Westwood, an Englishman who will turn 50 on April 24, could find himself banned by the DP World Tour and yet welcomed as a potential star by the Legends Tour.
Westwood, a 25-time winner on what was known as the European Tour, jumped to LIV Golf for the Saudi-funded rival tour’s inaugural season this year. He has been banned by the PGA Tour, awaits a ruling in the U.K. in early 2023 on a potential ban by the DP World Tour and claims to be actively recruited to help the 50-and-older Legends Tour.
“So let’s get this right,” Westwood told James Corrigan of London’s Telegraph newspaper. “The main tour is trying to ban me, their seniors tour is saying they’ll roll out the red carpet. It sums up the mess. I’m not sure what their plan is with all of this.”
The Legends Tour remains under the European Tour umbrella but operates independently. When contacted by Global Golf Post, a spokesman for the DP World Tour said the approach to Westwood had not come from the tour’s Wentworth headquarters. READ MORE
Before completing her rookie season, Thai teen Atthaya Thitikul added her name to a who’s-who listing of women’s golf as she assumed the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Rankings last week.
At age 19, Thitikul became the second-youngest player ever, behind only Lydia Ko, to assume the top spot in the world order. She replaced South Korea’s Jin Young Ko, who slipped to No. 2 after a 38-week reign.
Thitikul, a two-time winner on the LPGA this season, rocketed onto the world stage in 2017 when she won a Ladies European Tour event in Thailand as an amateur. At 14 years, 4 months and 19 days, she became the youngest winner, male or female, on a major pro tour. READ MORE
TAP-INS
The number of golf participants in the U.S. is projected to surpass a record 40 million in 2022, the National Golf Foundation reported during the recent NGF Golf Business Symposium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The total includes players at off-course, golf-themed entertainment venues such as Topgolf and also simulators and virtual-reality play. For the first time, such off-course players will surpass the number of traditional green-grass golfers, the NGF projected. READ MORE
Sports and entertainment legends have lined up to invest in TMRW Sports, a joint venture founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy that seeks to use new technology and new media to help reimagine sports, the company reported. Among the investors: basketball’s Steph Curry and Diana Taurasi, tennis’ Serena Williams and Andy Murray, and singer Justin Timberlake. TMRW Sports intends to team with the PGA Tour in launching a tech-heavy golf league called TGL in 2024. READ MORE
Chicago Golf Club will be the site of two of the game’s biggest men’s and women’s tournaments in the 2030s. The 2033 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2036 Walker Cup will be held at the Wheaton, Illinois, club, one of the five founding members of the USGA, the USGA announced. The 1893 Charles Blair Macdonald design, the first 18-hole course in the U.S., has hosted 12 USGA championships spanning three centuries, most recently the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open in 2018. READ MORE
Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club will host the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, the USGA announced. The tournament dates will be May 10-14. The club, a 1930 Perry Maxwell design, has hosted one USGA event: the 1953 U.S. Amateur, won by future U.S. Open champion Gene Littler. READ MORE
PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida, will host the 2023 U.S. Disabled Open Golf Championship, officials announced. Play will be May 8-10 on the club’s Ryder Course. READ MORE
John Lindert, the director of golf at The Country Club of Lansing in Michigan, was elected the 43rd president of the PGA of America. Lindert, who had served for two years as the PGA’s vice president following two years as secretary, succeeds Jim Richerson. READ MORE
Dale McNamara, a pioneer in women’s college golf who launched the program at Tulsa in 1974 and won four national championships among 81 tournament titles in a 26-year reign with the Golden Hurricane, died Oct. 30 from complications of cancer, the university announced. She was 86. READ MORE
LPGA stars Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson will join 22 PGA Tour players, including 10 of the top 50 in the world, for the Dec. 9-11 QBE Shootout exhibition at Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida. READ MORE
NBC Sports appointed Rick Cordella as president of programming and streaming service Peacock Sports, and Golf Channel’s Tom Knapp has been named executive vice president of golf, the network announced. READ MORE
The next four editions of the Betfield British Masters will be played at former Ryder Cup host The Belfry’s Brabazon Course in Sutton Coldfield, England, the DP World Tour announced. READ MORE
Eric Lee of Fullerton, California, and Kaitlyn Schroeder of Jacksonville, Florida, were named the boys and girls players of the year, respectively, by the American Junior Golf Association as the tour announced its 2022 Rolex Junior All-America teams. READ MORE
The 2023 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific will be played at Singapore Island Country Club, the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation and the R&A announced. After having been moved on the calendar because of the COVID pandemic, the tournament will return to its customary slot early in the season, on March 9-12. READ MORE
Rolex launched an online site to host its The World of Professional Golf, an annual chronicle of the game. READ MORE
Staff and wire reports