After having been passed over in favor of Henrik Stenson to captain the Europeans’ Ryder Cup team, Luke Donald apparently will get his shot at the job after all.
Multiple media reports in the U.K. indicate that Donald will be named to replace Stenson, perhaps as soon as today, for the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone in Rome. The Europeans sacked Stenson when he signed to compete on the Saudi-funded rival LIV Golf tour, making his debut last week at Trump National Bedminster in New Jersey.
Donald, 44, of England, is a five-time winner on the PGA Tour who added six more titles on the European Tour. He competed on four European Ryder Cup teams, all victorious, and compiled a 10-4-1 match-play record. He was the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world for 56 weeks in 2011-12 (READ MORE).
LIV Golf will be adding another former Masters champion to its roster of recruits.
American Bubba Watson, a two-time winner at Augusta National, will join the Saudi-funded rival tour, though he won’t be playing right away, the tour announced Friday. Watson, who is recovering from a torn meniscus in his right knee, will appear at the LIV Golf Invitational Boston next month as an off-course captain and be included in some of the streaming coverage.
Watson, who won the green jacket in 2012 and 2014 among his 12 victories on the PGA Tour, will join former Masters champions Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia and Charl Schwartzel on the rival tour. Watson, 43, has made only nine starts worldwide this year – none since a T30 at the PGA Championship in May (READ MORE).
In other LIV Golf news:
Next year, LIV Golf will begin its second season with 48 players and 12 established team franchises competing in a 14-tournament schedule, officials announced July 27. The rival tour also strengthened its alliance with the Asian Tour through an International Series that will provide player pathways to LIV Golf (READ MORE).
García has walked back previous comments about intending to resign from the DP World Tour. After having complained to reporters from his native Spain at the Open Championship that he “would probably leave” his home tour, García hit the pause button in an interview with ESPN’s Michael Collins, noting the potential implications for the 2023 Ryder Cup. “I’m going to hold off on that,” he said. “I want to at least see what’s happening with the Ryder Cup qualification starts. See what kind of rules and eligibilities they have in there.” García ranked only 86th in Europe’s Ryder Cup standings, but he has compiled a 25-13-7 record in 10 appearances in the biennial matches against the U.S. (READ MORE).
Charles Barkley has pivoted on any potential interest in joining LIV Golf. Barkley, the former NBA star who played in the pro-am last week at LIV Golf’s tournament at Trump National Bedminster, will remain with TNT’s “Inside The NBA” show, he told the New York Post (READ MORE).
PGA Tour Pulls LIV Defectors From Ranking
After numerous players were suspended by the PGA Tour for having defected for the riches of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour has moved to provide some clarity for eligibility ahead of next week’s FedEx Cup playoffs.
The tour has created a new ranking that lists only those players eligible to contend for the 125 spots into the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Aug. 11-14 in Memphis, Tennessee, the first of three postseason events. Ten players from among the top 125 will not be eligible for the playoffs.
In a memo to players outlining the revised ranking, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said “any suspended players will not negatively impact bonus money distributions.” (READ MORE)
Dramatic changes to Augusta National’s par-3 course, which were first revealed two months ago through aerial images on Eureka Earth, will include two new guest cabins, according to a report July 27 in The Augusta Chronicle.
The newspaper, citing plans filed with the city’s Planning and Development Department, detailed two cabins of 5,500-plus square feet apiece, requiring a redesign of the first four holes on the short course. The work is expected to be completed in time for the 2023 Masters Tournament in early April.
The nine-hole course is the site of the annual Par 3 Contest, which precedes the Masters. Other changes, according to the plans filed with the city, include a new concessions/restroom building between Nos. 8 and 18 on the main course (READ MORE).
An animated health campaign has been launched in Wales to encourage residents to play golf and improve their health and lifestyle, the R&A and Wales Golf announced.
“Golf is Good” uses creative storytelling to build on recent scientific research that promotes the game’s health benefits. The campaign tells the story of how three characters from disparate backgrounds turn to golf and enjoy the mental, physical and social benefits of the game, including research that golfers live an average of five years longer than non-golfers.
The pilot program, endorsed by the British Heart Foundation and other health-care professionals in the U.K., rolls out in Wales this summer ahead of a wider worldwide rollout and will encourage new and lapsed golfers to adopt the game (READ MORE).
TAP-INS
The Ben Hogan Company has closed, according to a report on the golf-equipment website MyGolfSpy.com, which quoted Hogan CEO Scott White. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company, which had been operating as a direct-to-consumer brand since having emerged from a 2017 bankruptcy filing, furloughed its entire workforce, MyGolfSpy.com reported. Hogan had seen its funding dry up recently after majority shareholder ExWorks Capital of Chicago filed for bankruptcy in March, according to the report (READ MORE).
Lanto Griffin will miss the PGA Tour’s playoffs and be out for 5-6 months because of recent back surgery, he disclosed on Twitter. Griffin, 34, is a one-time winner on tour but slipped to No. 124 in the Official World Golf Ranking after having missed the cut in his past three starts (READ MORE).
Champions Tour player Tom Pernice faces allegations of domestic violence with a former girlfriend, Sports Illustrated reported, calling into question the PGA Tour’s disciplinary response and its domestic-abuse policies (READ MORE).
Former touring pro Robert Gamez, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of battery after a complaint filed by a female at a pool party, Golfweek reported, citing an Orange County Sheriff’s Office report (READ MORE).
Mike Nichols, the chief business officer of the women’s developmental Epson Tour, is leaving the LPGA after 16 years. The news was first reported by Golfweek and since confirmed by Global Golf Post. Nichols had been a finalist for the LPGA commissioner’s job that opened last year when Mike Whan left to head the USGA. The LPGA’s top job went to Mollie Marcoux Samaan (READ MORE).
Staff and wire reports