Royal Bank of Canada, a longtime PGA Tour sponsor that has paid a reported $25 million to underwrite two tournaments this season, has put its checkbook away until the tour gets its house in order.
Mary DePaoli, the bank’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said at the RBC Canadian Open media day last week that no long-term deals will be signed until “professional men’s golf can get back on track.”
“We are all watching the PGA Tour right now trying to sort through a business model that has been under some significant strain and has still not fully resolved itself and that’s still TBD [to be determined],” she said, in reference to the tour’s ongoing player exodus to LIV Golf, falling TV ratings and struggle to finalize negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund after the announcement of a “framework agreement” last year. “It’s required a lot of patience from the players, and it’s required a lot of patience from sponsors and fans.”
The bank sponsors the $20 million RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and the $9.4 million RBC Canadian Open, which this year will be played at Hamilton (Ontario) Golf and Country Club. Both tournaments were signed to one-year contract extensions for this year. RBC also sponsors 11 prominent professionals on the PGA and LPGA tours.
RBC came to the rescue of Canada’s national open in 2008, and in 2016 helped prop up the annual post-Masters event in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. READ MORE
Dia Dipasupil, Getty Images
NBC will continue its rotating system of announcers and analysts for next month’s U.S. Open, the network announced.
Play-by-play announcers Dan Hicks and Mike Tirico will pair with analysts Brandel Chamblee and Brad Faxon, respectively, as NBC employs a rotating system for the odd- and even-numbered holes at Pinehurst (North Carolina) Resort’s No. 2 course for the June 13-16 Open. NBC has not had the traditional single analyst since Paul Azinger’s contract was not renewed last year. Roger Maltbie and Gary Koch, longtime presences at NBC who were let go in late 2022, also will return for the Open. READ MORE and MORE
Golf Channel’s Johnson Wagner responded to viewer outrage at a favorable ruling granting free relief to eventual first-round leader Xander Schauffele at the Wells Fargo Championship by re-enacting the situation. Johnson and rules official David Donnelly re-created the incident in the trees to the right of the par-4 No. 8 hole (his 17th of the day) at Quail Hollow Club and explained the decision for viewers. The drop helped Schauffele, who was coming off an eagle at the par-5 seventh, save par before he birdied the par-4 ninth, his final hole, for a 7-under 64. He finished runner-up to Rory McIlroy. READ MORE
Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee and LIV Golf’s Anthony Kim sniped at each other on social media last week after Kim used a vulgarity to criticize Chamblee for his apparent reversal regarding the rival tour’s potential future with the PGA Tour. “This is about as inaccurate as a lot of [LIV Golf’s Phil] Mickelson’s drives and sadly ironical coming two tweets after you asked for advice on raising your daughter that you would refer to someone as a female body part in a juvenile attempt to denigrate them,” Chamblee responded. READ MORE
The outspoken Talor Gooch accepted a special invitation to this week’s PGA Championship, boosting LIV Golf’s entries to 16 and tweaking some players on the PGA Tour. But it really shouldn’t come as a surprise and is in keeping with the PGA of America’s intention to showcase the best field in professional golf, Global Golf Post’s Ron Green Jr. wrote. READ MORE
Scottie Scheffler, the world’s top-ranked player and winner of four titles in his past five starts, has until 5 p.m. EDT Tuesday to commit to play in the PGA Championship, according to a report by Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard. Scheffler, the reigning Masters champion, and his wife, Meredith, reportedly celebrated the birth of their first child last week, and he is expected to play this week. READ MORE
The PGA Championship became the first men’s major tournament to establish a sports betting sponsor as the PGA of America announced a deal with Penn Entertainment. READ MORE
For the CBS, ESPN and SiriusXM broadcast schedules of the 106th PGA Championship, click HERE.
Blades Brown, a 16-year-old high school sophomore from Nashville, Tennessee, rallied to shoot 4-under 67 on Friday and make the cut at the PGA Tour’s Myrtle Beach Classic.
Brown became the second 16-year-old to qualify for weekend play in as many weeks after England’s Kris Kim made the cut at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Brown, who was playing on a sponsor exemption, described his PGA Tour debut as “all positivity and so much fun.” He shot a bogey-free 66 in the third round and added a closing 69 to tie for 26th at 10-under 274. READ MORE and MORE
Joe Gorder was elected by the board of directors of PGA Tour Enterprises to serve as its inaugural chairman. PGATE is the new for-profit company created with up to $3 billion in investment from Sports Strategic Group. Gorder, 67, is the retired CEO of Valero Energy, which title-sponsors the tour’s Texas Open. READ MORE
TAP-INS
LIV Golf opened its first midseason trading window during which teams can swap players, but modifications to contracts will not be allowed. The trading period ends June 9. READ MORE
LIV Golf appointed Adam Harter as its chief marketing officer. READ MORE
The DP World Tour announced its three-stage Qualifying School, which will include 15 sites and begin in August. The top 20 players and ties from the final stage on November 8-13 at Infinitum Golf Resort in Vila-seca, Spain, will earn tour exemptions for 2025. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon