The two-week period of early September known as the offseason has ended on the PGA Tour, which opens its fall schedule this week in California Wine Country.
Some vintage vino might be what’s needed for two U.S. Ryder Cup players who will headline the Fortinet Championship field beginning Thursday at Silverado Resort’s North Course in Napa. Max Homa, a Californian who played college golf at nearby Cal-Berkeley and is the defending champion, and Justin Thomas were scheduled to arrive back in the U.S. after their team’s quick weekend scouting trip to Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome, Italy, site of the Ryder Cup in two weeks.
This fall’s seven-tournament schedule takes on a new significance – notably, a pathway into the “signature events” – as the PGA Tour reverts to a calendar-year schedule for January through August. READ MORE
Nine of the 12 members of the U.S. Ryder Cup team visited Marco Simone over the weekend to get a look at the site of the biennial match that begins September 29. Only Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele did not make the trip because of “prior family commitments,” according to a PGA of America spokesman. READ MORE
All 12 members of Europe’s Ryder Cup team plus captain Luke Donald and four of his five assistants will be competing this week in the BMW PGA Championship, the DP World Tour’s premier event at Wentworth Club near London. The $9 million tournament, the fourth of the five-tournament Rolex Series, will be the final competition for the Europeans ahead of the Ryder Cup. Donald finalized his team on September 5 with six captain’s picks, which Global Golf Post’s Ron Green said gives the Europeans “a fever dream of anticipation.” READ MORE
CJ Group, a South Korean conglomerate, will title-sponsor the Byron Nelson, the PGA Tour’s long-running Dallas-area stop, as part of a five-year agreement. The CJ Group Byron Nelson will be played May 2-5, 2024, at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas. It will be the fifth PGA Tour event in as many cities in five years to be sponsored by CJ Group. READ MORE and MORE
A Senate panel will hold its second hearing on the PGA Tour’s proposed alliance with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The hearing before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, scheduled for Wednesday in Washington, follows a hearing two months ago at which PGA Tour representatives Jimmy Dunne and Ron Price were questioned about the framework agreement with the Saudis, who were found by U.S. intelligence agencies to have been involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. READ MORE
England Golf took a stand against the reduced-flight ball that has been proposed by the USGA and R&A for male professionals and elite amateurs.
In a statement outlining its opposition, England Golf, the governing body for amateur golf in the country, said it “does not believe there is an issue within the amateur game in terms of how far the best amateur players hit the golf ball.” England Golf added that the proposal, known as a model local rule, would create an “unfair” hardship for young golfers who move between MLR and non-MLR events.
Among the groups that have publicly opposed the USGA and R&A proposal: the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the PGA of America.
If adopted, the proposal, which would have no effect on recreational golf, would begin on January 1, 2026. READ MORE
Keith Gillett, Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Three American female teenagers will make golf history for their homeland next month.
Molly Brown Davidson, Mia Hammond and Chloe Kovelesky will represent the U.S. National Development Program at the World Junior Girls Championship on October 4-7 in Ontario, Canada. It will be the first step for the USNDP, which is the U.S.’s answer to national programs elsewhere in the world.
“For too long, the United States has lagged in the nurturing of junior golf talent,” Heather Daly-Donofrio, who manages the program for the USGA and was a two-time winner on the LPGA, said in a statement. “The USNDP will help ensure that the United States is the global leader in golf by identifying, training, developing, funding and supporting the nation’s most promising junior players.”
The U.S. developmental program, which was announced in February, is searching for a full-time head coach. Mo Martin, a former major champion on the LPGA Tour, will accompany the team to Canada and then in late October to the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. READ MORE
TAP-INS
Montclair Golf Club in West Orange, New Jersey, will host the 2026 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, the USGA announced. READ MORE
Pinehurst (North Carolina) Resort’s No. 10 course, a Tom Doak design, will open April 3, 2024, two months before Pinehurst hosts the U.S. Open on its No. 2 course. READ MORE
Beginning with last week’s Folds of Honor Collegiate, NBC Sports intends to air more than 150 hours of men’s and women’s college golf this fall on Golf Channel and the streaming Peacock network. READ MORE
Amer Sports, with a stake in the golf industry that features ownership of Wilson Sporting Goods, reportedly has filed for an initial public offering, according to Bloomberg, which estimates the company’s value as high as $10 billion. READ MORE
Andy Bean, 70, an 11-time winner on the PGA Tour, is recovering from a double-lung transplant in Orlando, Florida, Golfweek’s Adam Schupak reported. READ MORE
Steven Cohen, who owns baseball’s New York Mets, has secured ownership rights for TGL’s fourth franchise in the tech-infused golf league co-owned by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy and set to launch in January. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon