Notre Dame will have a representative overseas during the upcoming golf season. [autotag]Palmer Jackson[/autotag], perhaps the best golfer in Irish history, has earned conditional status for the 2025 DP World Tour, also known as the European Tour.
Jackson finished this year’s DP World Tour Qualifying School in a tie for 30th by shooting a 16-under-par 412 over six rounds. That left him two strokes short of earning full-time status for the DP World Tour. So he will spend most of this upcoming season on the Challenge Tour, the European developmental tour for the DP World Tour.
This achievement comes five months after Jackson placed eighth at the national championship, the best finish ever for an Irish golfer at that event. While it already was obvious his career would go beyond his time with the Irish, that moment for him erased any lingering doubts one might have had.
Also, just because, here’s a putting lesson from the man himself:
Congratulations to Jackson, and we wish him well as a professional golfer.
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Charlie Woods, son of legendary golfer Tiger Woods, wrapped up his first round.
HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Florida – Charlie Woods, son of legendary golfer Tiger Woods, wrapped up his first round of the Class 1A Florida high school state championship on Tuesday at Howey-in-the-Hills.
Woods shot a 78, six shots over par, finishing with the 55th-best individual mark at states.
Defending state champion Benjamin golf, composed of Woods and teammates Pavel Tsar, Andrew Tsar, Brooks Colton, and Jake Valentine, ended the first day in a three-way tie for 9th place with Lake Mary Prep and Lake Highland Prep.
Woods made a birdie on the 14th hole, a par 5, while bogeying on holes 7, 8, and 15.
He ran into some trouble on the 5th and 17th holes and ended those with double bogeys.
Entering state play, Woods tied four golfers for sixth place with a 71 at the regional championship. He, along with the other Benjamin golfers, are back at states trying to defend their Class 1A state title, though the first day leaves the Buccaneers with some ground to make up on Wednesday.
Alex Peterman covers high school sports for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at apeterman@gannett.com.
Caitlin Clark is good at golf, but on the first day at the LPGA Pro-Am known as The Annika — the legendary Annika Sorenstam is host — she nearly nailed the patrons watching her tee off while hitting her shot into the water.
What’s wild about that is that Clark had one stated goal before the tournament, per Golfweek: to avoid hitting anyone in the gallery.
But she calmly took a ball out of her pocket after that shot and hit another one that looked much, much better.
It doesn’t matter how we get what we want, as long as we get it.
My dearly departed colleague and mentor, Jock MacVicar, was a tremendous creature of habit.
Most Sundays, for instance, he would toddle off to his local driving range to hit 50 balls. “It’s just a bit of exercise,” he reasoned, but the true motivation behind his routine was the fact that the café at said facility produced terrific scones.
Jock loved his grub. The rampant devouring of a quite delightful lemon meringue pie at the Sleive Donard Hotel in County Down during an Amateur Championship one year could’ve been accompanied by the triumphant finale of the William Tell Overture.
While a bucket of 50 balls would always be more than enough for Jock – the scone was probably calling after 22 dimpled orbs had been gently swept off the mat to be honest – I prefer to arm myself with a haul of 100.
The reason? Well, it’s purely down to simple mathematics. It adds up to the same number of separate, negative thoughts that course through my feeble mind during the swing.
I don’t know why I actually keep going back to the range. But, for whatever reason, I still do. As Churchill once observed, “success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Perhaps he too was driven on by the prospect of a scone?
In this game, there’s always food for thought. With the wider world girding its various bits and pieces for the onset of another Donald Trump presidency, the world of golf was left mulling over the impact another Trump term will have on merger talks involving the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund that fuels the LIV gravy train.
Forget the trivialities of global conflict and issues surrounding national security, immigration, the climate or the cost of living. Just how will men’s professional golf benefit from Trump’s return? Who said the game in its upper echelons was out of touch with the real world, eh?
And don’t worry, I find that phrase boring too. In fact, I just let out a gaping yawn right there, halfway through typing the word ‘Framework.’
Anyway, the influence golf-loving Trump can exert over the U.S. Department of Justice – it has threatened to block any merger on the basis that it would violate competition law – is being viewed as something of a breakthrough in the current impasse.
“Given the news with what’s happened in America, I think that (Trump’s win) clears the way a little bit,” suggested McIlroy about the route towards this tripartite coalition. He also flung in – with a smile we must add – the prospect of madcap MAGA flag-waver Elon Musk getting involved too. Crikey.
Trump trumpeted last week that he would take about “15 minutes” to get the golf deal done. Whether he does it before or after the 24 hours he said it would take him to sort out the war in Ukraine remains to be seen.
Donald Trump, Eric Trump and Larry Glick of Trump Resort greet golfers on the practice green before the final round of 2024 LIV Golf Miami at Trump National Doral. (Photo: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports)
When that aforementioned Framework thingamajig was unveiled some 18 months ago, Trump roared that it was a “big, beautiful and glamourous deal for the wonderful world of golf.”
Meanwhile, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan hailed a potential union with the Saudis as a “momentous day.”
Up until that June 2023 announcement, which was so out of the blue even the blue itself was caught on the hop, Monahan was very much against the Saudi golf revolution and even used the victims of the 9/11 atrocity to effectively shame those American players who had defected to the breakaway series.
Monahan’s subsequent volte-face was quite something as he backed out of his robust anti-LIV stance with about as much elegance as a man reversing his car into the entire peloton of the Tour de France.
It was just one of the many flabbergasting developments in an ongoing saga that has been defined by eye-popping sentiments, greed, entitlement and players demonstrating an over-inflated sense of their own worth.
McIlroy has hardly rolled out the welcome mat for Trump, and the Northern Irishman has been a great statesman-like figure in the game’s civil war over the last couple of turbulent years.
In many quarters, though, his statements last week were viewed as just another example of the blinkered, privileged and selfish bubble that golfers at the highest level exist in these days.
It doesn’t matter how we get what we want, as long as we get it.
It seems Trump and golf will continue to get on like a White House on fire.
Nick Rodger is the golf contributor and columnist for the Scotland Herald, which is owned by Gannett/Newsquest.
Everyone’s favorite nursing home employee is back.
Images were released recently from the set of “Happy Gilmore 2,” which began filming in September. The long-awaited sequel from Adam Sandler’s original movie from 1996 will debut in 2025 on Netflix, and it features plenty of familiar faces from nearly three decades ago.
One of those is Ben Stiller, who played “Hal L,” the orderly in the nursing home where Happy’s grandmother is staying. Hal’s character isn’t so innocent, though, as grandma finds out quickly in the first movie.
The plot hasn’t been released for “Happy Gilmore 2” yet, but with the released photos, Stiller is back as Hal.
It’s safe to say they won’t have a hard time finding a course.
Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office has plenty of people across the globe talking.
And in South Korea, the conversation isn’t only about policy.
NBC News reported Monday that South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol “got out his golf clubs for the first time in eight years and resumed his golf practice” as he prepares to meet Trump in person.
The report stated Yoon and Trump had a phone call for 10 minutes after the election and they “agreed that we should meet in person soon.”
The report also says Yoon’s approval rating in South Korea plunged to a record low of 17 percent last week, and he is concerned with Trump’s plan for a 20 percent tariff on all imports, thus he wants to use golf to woo the President-elect.
As for where the duo will play? It’s safe to say they won’t have a hard time finding a course.
The Tigers have now finished among the top three teams in every tournament so far this season.
The No. 2 ranked Auburn Tigers golf team continued their year-plus long run of dominance last weekend, ending the fall season by adding another trophy to this team’s ever growing resume. Led by sophomore sensation Jackson Koivun and seniors Carson Bacha and Ryan Eshlemen, the Tigers took down No. 11 Georgia Tech to claim the East Lake Cup Championship on Wednesday.
Auburn’s path to another championship was led by the same cast of characters that have provided pivotal moments on the links over the last two seasons for the Tigers. Senior Carson Bacha was the bright spot in stroke play, leading all Tigers, and finishing second among all golfers, with a 5-under-par to open the tournament. Jackson Koivun and senior Brendan Valdes weren’t quite as impressive as Bacha, but they did both shoot under par to help Auburn finish second (-7) in stroke play, setting up a matchup with the team they took down in the National Championship, Florida State, in the semi final round.
Valdes, along with seniors Ryan Eshleman and Josiah Gilbert, carried the Tigers from there, winning their respective match ups to help Auburn defeat the Seminoles by the same score (3-2) they did in last year’s Championship. Eshleman continued his fantastic week with another win in the final against Georgia Tech’s Aidan Trann, while Koivun and Bacha provided wins to help Auburn earn another 3-2 result in the final round.
The Tigers have now finished among the top three teams in every tournament so far this season. It is extremely possible Auburn re-claims the No. 1 ranking in the Polls before Koivun and company return to play in February.
Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Brian on Twitter @TheRealBHauch
Over 250 golf carts went missing in that timespan from more than 20 different golf courses.
Police in the province of Ontario hope they have cracked a case that baffled golf course operators throughout the region.
Starting in 2021, several courses started noticing golf carts turning up missing, often in significant numbers.
According to a story from the CBC, over 250 golf carts went missing in that timespan from more than 20 different golf courses.
But a raid in October in the small town of Gwillimbury, about 40 miles north of Toronto, and another in the town of Georgina, which is even further north, led to a massive discovery, according to Detective Greg Chalmers of the York Regional Police.
In these searches, they found what they describe as a large quantity of stolen property, including 18 golf carts worth almost $200,000, rare Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering trading cards worth $100,000 and more than two kilograms of cannabis.
Chalmers told CBC News police found the golf carts on a farm property in the area, taken there by an enclosed flatbed trailer. They linked the accused to at least six separate cart thefts.
“You have something stolen, you feel really violated,” said Rob Brandon, general manager of Pheasant Run Golf Course in Sharon, Ont., just northeast of Newmarket, Ont.
How were the carts found? Well, it’s not surprising, but GPS trackers on the carts were used in the recovery.
Unfortunately, since only a small portion of the carts were recovered, it’s unlikely the rest will ever be found.
Since just 18 carts were recovered, golf courses who didn’t get their property back suspect they’ve already been sold.
“I would say our cars are long gone,” said Rob Davis, sales manager with Turf Care Products, a golf cart distributor to about a third of all the courses in Ontario.
“I’m hoping … this is the end of it.”
Eight of Davis’s carts were stolen in March from his warehouse in Keswick, Ont., about 70 km north of Toronto.
In June, he told CBC News there is a thriving black market for the vehicles as prices skyrocketed during the pandemic, with many uses for them, including trailer parks, cottages and farms.
Before the pandemic, his carts sold for about $6,000 each. They now cost at least $10,000.
“Somebody has to be very organized and understand the marketplace and know where to sell that many cars at once,” he said.
“The Legend of Bagger Vance” was released Nov. 3, 2000.
It’s the fourth highest grossing golf movie of all-time. It’s ranks seventh on IMDB among the best golf movies. It features three huge Hollywood actors – Matt Damon, Charlize Theron and Will Smith – and a big-time director, Robert Redford.
And on Nov. 3, 2024, “The Legend of Bagger Vance” turns 24.
Released in theaters just after Halloween in 2000, the movie got 3 ½ stars from movie critic Roger Ebert, who wrote:
Robert Redford’s “The Legend of Bagger Vance” could be a movie about prayer, music or mathematics because it is really about finding yourself at peace with the thing you do best. Most of the movie is about an epic golf tournament, but it is not a sports movie in any conventional sense. It is the first zen movie about golf.
When and where does the movie take place?
The movie is set in Savannah, Georgia, in 1931, two years into the Depression that was gripping the country. Theron plays Adele, the daughter of a man who built a golf course but then goes broke and commits suicide. Facing financial hardship herself, Adele stages a $10,000 golf tournament and invites Bobby Jones (played by Joel Gretsch) and Walter Hagen (portrayed by Bruce McGill). She also talks local golf legend Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon’s character) into competing. He was the best golfer in the Savannah area before going off to World War I and coming back a broken man.
Where was the movie filmed?
The Legend of Bagger Vance was shot at Colleton River Club in South Carolina. The golf course’s website notes that “Colleton River was scouted for its classic and iconic courses and Lowcountry scenery.” The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island was also used in the movie.
Matt Damon did not have any previous experience playing golf; he spent a month with golf pro Tim Moss in Hilton Head, South Carolina, to prepare for the role.
The film cast includes four Oscar winners: Will Smith, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron and Jack Lemmon. It was also the last film Lemmon appeared in. He died June 27, 2001, about eight months after the movie’s release.
The last hole is actually not real. At the cost of $200,000, it was temporary, as filmmakers were trying not to disturb club activities.
How much money did The Legend of Bagger Vance make?
The highest-grossing golf movies according to box office earnings:
Tin Cup (1996) – $54 million
Happy Gilmore (1996) – $41 million
Caddyshack (1980) – $39 million
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) – $30 million
The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) – $15 million
Tom Doak has routed Old Shores on sand dunes near Panama City, Florida.
After news was reported last week that a development order had been approved by Washington County for a new course in the Florida Panhandle, Dream Golf announced Friday the name and designer for the 18-hole project.
Architect Tom Doak has routed what will become Old Shores, assuming all necessary permitting continues to be approved. The course will be built 30 miles north of the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport that services Panama City.
The course will be an easy drive from the 30A region of beaches in South Walton County between Panama City and Destin, which has grown at an astonishing rate in recent years. The property is about a 30-minute drive north of Panama City Beach.
Speculation about the course has swirled in recent years, as happens with any project by Dream Golf. The collection of properties includes Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon and Sand Valley in Wisconsin, with new projects on the way outside Denver and another in Texas.
The first step in planning for Old Shores has been approved by Washington County in Florida. (Courtesy of Dream Golf)
The development order was the first step in receiving official sign-off to build Old Shores. As reported by the Washington County News, the development order was for 80 acres for the golf course amid 1,438 acres that have been acquired. No plans for further development have been announced or approved.
The name Old Shores is a reflection of the sandy dunes on the site, which used to be shoreline before the Gulf of Mexico receded to its current boundaries to the south thousands of years ago. Dream Golf said there is no set timetable for construction or completion.
“This land just makes you want to get to the next bend or over the next hill,” developer Michael Keiser said in a news release announcing the name of the course and Doak’s involvement. “There is so much variety – it’s hard to believe you could experience so many environments in one place. Every time I visit, I discover a side I had never seen before. This is an amazing and unexpected site.”
The site for Old Shores to be designed by Tom Doak for Dream Golf, assuming all permitting is eventually approved, is about 30 miles north of the Panama City, Florida, airport. (Courtesy of Dream Golf)
Micheal Keiser is the son of Mike Keiser, the developer of Bandon Dunes. Michael and his brother Chris are the developers of Sand Valley, the in-progress Rodeo Dunes in Colorado and the in-progress Wild Springs Dunes in Texas.
“We are grateful for the reception we received from Washington County, and we are eager to continuing the process of presenting our plans for this extraordinary property,” Michael Keiser said in the release. “I’ve walked the routing with Tom Doak numerous times, and I know this will be world-class.”
Doak’s extensive resume includes building the Pacific Dunes course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, which is ranked by Golfweek’s Best as the top public-access course in Oregon and the No. 3 modern course in the U.S. Doak recently completed the now-open Sedge Valley course at Sand Valley, and he also constructed the Lido at Sand Valley, which brought back to life a famous but lost course on Long Island.
