Grayson Murray sustained serious injuries in a scooter crash in Bermuda, prompting his withdrawal from the PGA Tour’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship and leaving his competition status uncertain as the tour winds down its calendar year.
Murray, 29, a one-time winner on tour who would have been making his first start of the 2022-23 season, was driving a rental scooter when he collided head-on with a car on a winding island road, according to a report in The Royal Gazette newspaper. He reportedly was unconscious after the crash and was transported to a local hospital, where he was treated for his wounds, which required 50 stitches, including 25 to his face, according to later reports.
His caddie, Doug Schwimer, riding another scooter and trailing Murray, also was injured in the incident. READ MORE
In a response to the big-money allure of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour is looking to establish a faster route for elite college players onto the top U.S. tour. Proposals to offer direct access for one or more collegians to the PGA Tour via the PGA Tour University ranking have been forwarded to the tour’s Policy Board for approval, GolfChannel.com reported. Two months ago, the PGA Tour announced enhanced benefits for the program, which debuted in 2021. READ MORE
The PGA Tour sent a memo to tournament directors seeking to calm emotions and coordinate the response in the wake of four tour stops having been promoted to “elevated” status next year, Golf Digest reported. The memo, a copy of which was obtained by the magazine, outlines talking points in anticipation of media questions for the tournaments that were not granted exalted status as the tour attempts to raise purses and retain players in the face of LIV Golf’s threat. READ MORE
TAP-INS
Despite claims made by former President Donald Trump, whose golf business owns and operates former Open Championship site Turnberry, the R&A has no immediate plans to return the Open to the acclaimed Scottish links. At least, not until some things – read: ownership – should change. In response to Trump’s claims at the LIV Golf finale that “the Open wants to come back,” the R&A put up a stop sign. R&A CEO Martin Slumbers said his group “had no plans to stage any of our championships at Turnberry and will not do so in the foreseeable future. We will not return until we are convinced that the focus will be on the championship, the players and the course itself, and we do not believe that is achievable in the current circumstances.’’ Turnberry has hosted four Opens, most recently in 2009, when Stewart Cink defeated a 59-year-old Tom Watson in a playoff. READ MORE
CBS Sports icon Jim Nantz will mark a significant anniversary for his NCAA basketball sign-off in the spring, but it will have no effect on his work with the Masters or PGA Championship. Nantz will call his last NCAA Final Four in Houston, 40 years after his alma mater, the Houston Cougars, were defeated by North Carolina State in the championship game in one of American sports’ all-time stunning upsets. Nantz will be succeeded by Ian Eagle after the April 1-3 weekend that precedes the Masters at Augusta National, where Nantz, 63, has anchored the coverage for CBS since 1989. READ MORE
The PGA Tour Champions will play 28 tournaments for a record $66 million-plus in prize money in 2023, the parent PGA Tour announced. The 50-and-older tour, in its 43rd season, will begin in January in Hawaii and conclude in November in Arizona, visiting 17 U.S. states and three foreign countries. READ MORE
The LPGA will make a second stop in Los Angeles in the spring. Officials announced via Twitter that the DIO Implant LA Open will be played March 30-April 2 at Palos Verdes Golf Club. Wilshire Country Club, which had hosted the first four editions of the LA Open, will be the site of a new tournament in the spring, the JM Eagle LA Championship, on April 27-30. The LPGA’s complete 2023 schedule has not been released.
John A. Solheim, the executive chairman of Ping, has been named the winner of the 2022 PGA Distinguished Service Award by the PGA of America. He will be honored Nov. 2 at the PGA Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. In kicking off its annual meeting a day earlier at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort, the PGA will honor 12 of its most accomplished members. READ MORE and MORE
Asheville Municipal Golf Course, a 1927 Donald Ross design that has fallen into disrepair amid a legal squabble with its former operator, has been given a financial lifeline. The course, one of the oldest munis in the Carolinas and a leader in racial integration, will receive a $1.64 million grant from the local tourism board for renovations, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported. Earlier this month, the city of Asheville sued the former course manager, Pope Golf, alleging $340,830 in outstanding payments. READ MORE
The 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur will be played at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia, officials announced. The winner earns exemptions into the Masters and Open Championship. READ MORE
Staff and wire reports