Although Bryson DeChambeau has clinched one of six automatic berths on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, it appears he’ll be excluded from a PGA Tour event that American captain Keegan Bradley has targeted as a warm-up for his squad ahead of the late September matches against Europe at Bethpage Black.
As a LIV Golf competitor, DeChambeau is ineligible to play in the PGA Tour’s Procore Championship, scheduled for Sept. 11-14 at Silverado Resort in his native California, a tour spokesman told Sports Illustrated.
“That’s up to the tour and their decision to make,” the two-time U.S. Open champion told SI at last week’s LIV Golf Indianapolis event. “It’s on them if they don’t let us become together as a team and play.”
DeChambeau would need a sponsor exemption to play at Silverado. Bradley’s agent, Brett Falkoff, told SI via text that DeChambeau had made no formal inquiry into playing the tour event and that he “plans to participate in every team gathering that he is permitted to attend.” READ MORE
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McILROY DEFENDS DECISION TO SKIP PLAYOFF OPENER
Returning to action last week after skipping the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Rory McIlroy made no apologies for his decision to sit out the PGA Tour’s first FedEx Cup playoff event.
McIlroy’s absence – he was the only player in the top 70 not in the field for the Memphis tournament – raised eyebrows and fueled talk about changing the playoff format to make it more difficult for top players to forgo postseason events. But while acknowledging a new playoff format might be a good idea, McIlroy suggested that greater consequences for missing an event wouldn’t necessarily have changed his decision.
“I’ve heard this idea kicked around, where everything resets after Wyndham and then the top 70 just play for the top 50 spots to get into the next week, and then everything resets again here, and then the top 30 from this week then make it to the Tour Championship,” he said in advance of the BMW Championship last Wednesday.
“If you want to try to make it straight playoffs and elimination, I think that would be a good way to go. [But] you’re trying to balance a lot of different things. You’re trying to balance the competitive integrity of what the playoffs are, but you’re also trying to keep the media rights partners happy, and you’re trying to keep the sponsors happy – they’re the people that are paying the big bucks and expect the big names to be playing in their golf tournaments, and that’s a delicate balance.”
McIlroy, 36, added that he valued rest given that he plans to play nine more tournaments this season, including events in the United Kingdom, India, Dubai and Australia as well as the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. “That extra week off will do me good with the events coming up,” he said. READ MORE
The Tour Championship now has the richest individual prize fund in golf with the PGA Tour making the FedEx Cup payoff count as official money for the first time, the Associated Press reported last Wednesday. The total purse is $40 million, with $10 million to the winner.
Since the FedEx Cup began in 2007, the bonus pool at the end of the Tour Championship was unofficial money, with part of it deferred. The runner-up at East Lake Golf Club will earn $5 million, third place will bank $3.7 million and last place will receive $355,000.
The $15 million in FedEx Cup bonuses that No. 1 ranked Scottie Scheffler has received – $10 million for leading the standings upon conclusion of the regular season and $5 million for being the top seed after last week’s BMW Championship – will not be counted as official money. READ MORE
Tap-Ins
Juli Inkster, 65, fell just short of becoming the oldest player to make a 36-hole cut in an LPGA event last Friday. Playing the Standard Portland Classic as a warm-up for this week’s U.S. Senior Women’s Open, the seven-time major winner shot 69-74 and missed the cut by one stroke. READ MORE
Sepp Straka, a two-time PGA Tour winner this season, withdrew from last week’s BMW Championship, citing a “private family matter.” The 32-year-old Austrian, who was fifth in the FedEx Cup standings before the tournament, intends to play in this week’s Tour Championship, his agent said in a statement. READ MORE
PGA Tour Champions standout Steve Stricker underwent disc replacement surgery last Tuesday to address a bulging disc and bone spur and aims to return to competition in 2026, he said in a statement to Golfweek. READ MORE
Neal Shipley, who was the low amateur at the 2024 Masters and U.S. Open, clinched a PGA Tour card for 2026 via the Korn Ferry Tour points list. READ MORE
Compiled by Mike Cullity