Category: PGA Tour Champions

Bernhard Langer suffers Achilles tendon tear, likely to miss his final Masters

Langer had previously announced that the 2024 Masters would be his last one.

The winningest golfer in PGA Tour Champions history is going to miss significant time because of an injury.

Bernhard Langer, 66, announced Friday he tore his Achilles tendon during a training exercise Thursday in Boca Raton, Florida. Two weeks ago, he finished T-22 in the PGA Tour Champions 2024 season opener in Hawaii.

“I will have surgery today to repair the injury, which will cause me to miss time playing competitive golf as I recover,” Langer said in a statement. “Throughout my career, faith and family have been my bedrocks, providing me strength and guiding me through difficult times. I will lean on both as I work towards a return to competition.

“I appreciate everyone’s support during this time, and I look forward to seeing the fans and my fellow competitors back on the course soon.”

Langer also announced last month this year’s Masters would be his last. He’s a two-time champion of the event. The 2024 Masters is April 11-14.

He has 46 wins on the PGA Tour Champions, the most all-time, and 12 senior major championships.

The Achilles is the tendon that goes up the back of the ankle and connects the foot to the leg. It runs from the heel bone to the bottom of the calf muscle. It directs movement from the leg to the foot, including pointing and flexing.

Full recovery from an Achilles tendon injury can take up to 12 months, meaning it’s unlikely we see him play at the Masters.

The odds of injuring an Achilles tendon increase with age, according to the Mayo Clinic. Most Achilles injuries happen between the ages of 30 and 40. Men are five times more likely to experience the injury than women.

Langer is the defending champion at the Chubb Classic, Feb. 16-18, at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, as well as the U.S. Senior Open, which was his record-setting Champions victory last summer.

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After strong finish in Hawaii, this PGA Tour Champions player might be due for a big 2024

He wrestled second place away from defending champion and 2023 Player of the Year Steve Stricker.

If his first start of the new year is any indication, former University of Texas star Harrison Frazar might be in for a mighty big 2024.

The Dallas native, who captured his first PGA Tour Champions victory at the end of 2023 in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic at the Country Club of Virginia when he edged Richard Green in a playoff, picked up where he left off last week at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

Although New Zealander Steven Alker cruised to a four-stroke win, Frazar came through in the clutch as he needed a birdie on the tournament’s final hole to wrestle second away from defending champion and 2023 Player of the Year Steve Stricker. His reward was a handsome $200,000 check for being runner-up.

For Frazar, whose lone victory on the PGA Tour came in Memphis, the win in October has been a big boost.

“I’ve always had confidence in my ability to play, but doing that in October has given me confidence to know that I can close it when it matters,” Frazar said in Hawaii. “These guys out here, they’re called champions because they know how to win, they’re not going to make mistakes. I need to not make mistakes. So yeah, I feel like I can do it.”

More: PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady tackles Tiger in two years, how he snared a new playoff sponsor and Paul Azinger in the booth?

Although his PGA Tour was plagued by numerous injuries, Frazar still played in 409 events on Tour, posting 19 top-5 finishes and cracking the Top 10 on 37 occasions. Not bad for a guy who was an honorable mention All-American three different times while with Texas, but didn’t plan to pursue a pro career until fellow Longhorn Mark Brooks convinced him to do so.

Of course, playing in Hawaii also isn’t a bad way to spend a week in January.

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Steven Alker’s ‘good karma’ and 63 secures victory in memory of late caddie at Mitsubishi Electric Championship

Alker won at the course where Sam Workman caddied for him a year ago for the last time before dying of cancer.

Steven Alker picked up right where he left off, winning the PGA Tour Champions’ season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii.

Alker, who won the Charles Schwab Championship to wrap up the 2023 season in November, fired a second straight 9-under 63 at Hualalai Golf Course on Saturday to shoot a 54-hole total of 25-under 191, and win by four strokes over Harrison Frazar and five over last year’s Charles Schwab Cup champion Steve Stricker.

“I knew Stricker and Harrison were going to come at me, so just kept the pedal to the metal,” Alker said.

It wasn’t lost on Alker, 52, that a year ago he finished tied for second on the Big Island with caddie Sam Workman on the bag. Less than three weeks later, the 55-year-old Workman died on Feb. 6 of cancer. When Alker arrived at the course on Tuesday, he was greeted by a rainbow in the sky and during the final round he was the beneficiary of a fortuitous bounce at the par-5 seventh hole when his second shot, a 4-iron from 218 yards, sailed right of the green, bounced off the cart path twice and ricocheted off lava and on to the green about 40 feet left of the hole. He proceeded to drain the putt for an unlikely eagle. Alker couldn’t see it from his vantage point but when he was shown video of the shot later, he credited “good karma.”

“Someone said it kind of kicked off the path and rolled up and went left. Just a fortunate break,” he said. “I was surprised to see it on the left side of the green. Thought it must have hit either someone or something. It could have gone anywhere.

“As I said in my speech, sometimes it goes one way and last year, a couple years ago it goes the other way, so it all kind of works out in the end,” he added. “Made that putt, which was huge.”

Said Stricker, who collected his PGA Tour Champions Player of the Year Award earlier in the week: “You get a bounce like that, and capitalize like that, it’s kind of your day.”

With veteran caddie Troy Martin ably filling the shoes of Workman on the bag, Alker followed up the eagle at seven with a birdie at eight to build a three-shot cushion and never looked back, matching the low 54-hole score in PGA Tour Champions history.

Steven Alker of New Zealand reacts as he sinks his birdie putt on the 18th green to win the PGA Tour Champions Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Golf Course on Jan. 20, 2024 in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Among the well-wishers to congratulate the New Zealand native on his eighth career Champions Tour win in just 54 starts was Germany’s Bernhard Langer.

“Starting off the way you finished,” Langer said. “Good for you. Pretty special.”

“We’ve got the rust off anyway, Bernhard,” Alker responded.

“Well, I’ve got work to do, but you got it,” Langer said.

Alker, who has at least one win in each of his four seasons, dating back to 2021, has found that winning way.

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PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady tackles Tiger in two years, how he snared a new playoff sponsor and Paul Azinger in the booth?

Is PGA Tour Champions ready for Tiger Woods?

KONA, Hawaii — Miller Brady points out in the distance at the Pacific Ocean as another stunning sunset unfolds and says, “Look, there’s a whale spout. It’s right in line with that palm tree.”

It never gets old for Brady, president of PGA Tour Champions, to start the new season at Four Seasons Hualalai, home of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. This is the 28th consecutive year the senior circuit has kicked off the year here in paradise and the 17th in a row for Brady, who is in his sixth year leading the Champions Tour and embarking on his 25th year with the PGA Tour, the last 18 with the over-50 crowd.

“I had the chance to go to the regular tour a couple different times,” he said. “But I just sort of like this niche.”

It’s a niche playing for some $67 million this season, and its top players don’t need signature events or bloated FedEx Cup points to show up. A couple hours later, nearly all the stars of senior golf will attend the pro-am draw party and make their way to the stage when emcee Dave Marr III calls their name.

“It’s one of the coolest pictures you’ll see,” Brady said.

During a wide-ranging conversation, Brady shared why he’s bullish on the future for PGA Tour Champions, the back story on the change in title sponsor for one of its three playoff events and prepping for Tigermania at 50.

PGA Tour Champions: Key storylines as 2024 season kicks off

Key storylines as the 2024 PGA Tour Champions season tees off in Hawaii

This will be the 45th year for the PGA Tour Champions.

Time flies.

It’s already been a month since Bernhard Langer and son Jason captured the silly season’s PNC Championship.

This week, Langer and the PGA Tour Champions are back in action.

Langer, the ageless wonder, is among the 42 golfers in the field at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in Hawaii.

“One of the great traditions on PGA Tour Champions is starting each year on the Island of Hawaii at this one-of-a-kind setting,” said PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady. This marks the 28th straight year the circuit started at Hualalai. “We are proud to continue our partnership with Mitsubishi Electric as we kick off the 2024 season.”

This will be the 45th year for the PGA Tour Champions. Here are some of the key storylines for 2024.

This former Masters champion made a crazy hole-in-one in high winds in Hawaii

It was all captured on video. 

Making a hole-in-one is an impressive feat. Doing it in 35-plus mile-per-hour winds? Even moreso.

That’s what Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champion and 2024 International team Presidents Cup captain, did Tuesday during a practice round ahead of the PGA Tour Champions season-opening event in Hawaii.

Playing in a pro-am at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Golf Course, Weir landed his tee shot on the green on the par-3 17th hole and then watched as the wind assisted in pushing his ball closer and closer to the hole before it dropped in the cup.

And it was all captured on video.

Weir got married in mid-November during the Champions tour offseason to Michelle Money, who was a contestant on The Bachelor. He has one win on the over-50 circuit.

After 30 months in prison, Masters champ Angel Cabrera will return to golf on PGA Tour Champions

“While competing in the Masters again is a dream, securing a visa is Angel’s priority at the moment.”

Former major champion Angel Cabrera’s comeback tour is beginning to take shape.

Golfweek has learned that Cabrera, who served 30 months in prison in Brazil and Argentina and last played PGA Tour Champions in 2020, is set to make his return to that circuit at the Trophy Hassan II, Feb. 22-24 at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat, Morocco. Cabrera doesn’t need a visa to travel to Northern Africa to play there.

“He’s been gone for three years and served time in jail and had time for personal reflection,” PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady told Golfweek. “It’s a bit like Jim Thorpe, who spent time in jail (for tax evasion) and was welcomed back. It’s a little different. I don’t know if he can travel in the United States because he needs a visa. I think guys forgive. I’m not sure if spouses will forgive, that’s the bigger question. But he has the right to play.”

The week after Morocco, Cabrera is expected to play in the Visa Argentina Open in Buenos Aires at Olivos Golf Club, which is being conducted for the first time as a tournament on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Golfweek also has confirmed that Cabrera has received an exemption to play in the Insperity Invitational in Houston in early May. Cabrera first will need to obtain a visa, which could also be a hang-up for him to play in the Masters, which he won in 2009, in April as a past champion.

Cabrera’s manager Manuel Tagle confirmed that Cabrera, who also won the U.S. Open in 2007, is seeking to regain a visa to travel to the U.S. and elsewhere.

“While competing in the Masters again is a dream, securing a visa is Angel’s priority at the moment so he can resume his professional career,” Tagle wrote in an email to Golfweek. “We are working on getting an appointment with the U.S. Embassy in Argentina. Probably early March as his visa has expired January 2024.”

Cabrera played his first professional event in December since being released from jail on Aug. 4 after he completed more than two years in custody over gender violence cases against two of his ex-girlfriends. Cabrera finished T-10 at Abierto del Litoral, or the Coast Open, a tournament held in his native Argentina that has been a fixture on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica Developmental Series.

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Peyton Manning continues building impressive golf resume with Ambassador of Golf award

Manning is starting to build up a golf resume that rivals the one he compiled on the gridiron.

He’s a member at Augusta National. He has a stake in Sweetens Cove, a highly acclaimed Tennessee 9-hole course that he co-owns with the likes of Jim Nantz, Andy Roddick and PGA Tour golfer Keith Mitchell. He teamed with none other than Tiger Woods to beat Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in The Match: Champions for Charity event. And he served as the honorary chairman of the 2023 U.S. Amateur, held at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado.

Suffice it to say Peyton Manning is starting to build up a golf resume that rivals the one he compiled on the gridiron.

So it seemed fitting Wednesday when it was announced that the Pro Football Hall of Famer will be named the 2024 recipient of the Ambassador of Golf Award, which will be given out in July during The Kaulig Companies Championship, a major on the PGA Tour Champions, at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.

The award honors a person “who has fostered the ideals of the game on an international level and whose concerns for others extends beyond the golf course.”

Peyton Manning Q&A: Jim Nantz narrating Sweetens Cove shots, learning bourbon and Archie’s $37 flights

“It is a privilege to be named as the recipient of this award,” said Manning. “To see my name listed alongside the many distinguished individuals who have won this before me is a tremendous honor. I’ve been able to see the impact that golf can have in a community and opportunities that we have to make a difference in people’s lives. This award is an encouragement to continue making a difference through the game of golf.”

Manning joins an impressive list of winners that includes Chi Chi Rodriguez (1981); Byron Nelson (1983); Dinah Shore (1987); Barbara Nicklaus (1990); Arnold Palmer (1991); Nancy Lopez (1992); Deane Beman (1996); Ken Venturi (1998); Gary Player (1999); Ben Hogan and Sam Snead (2000); Joanne Carner (2002); Lee Trevino (2004); Pete Dye (2005); Charlie Sifford (2008); Hale Irwin (2009); Tom Watson (2010); Nick Price (2011); Nick Faldo (2012); Jack Nicklaus (2013); Johnny Miller (2014); Judy Rankin (2015); Davis Love III (2016); Peter Jacobsen (2017); Jim Nantz (2018); Fred Couples (2019) and Stephen Curry (2023).

“Through the game we all love, Peyton Manning, one of the preeminent athletes of his generation and currently one of the most recognized personalities in sports and entertainment, has used his platform to make golf more welcoming to all,” said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. “These efforts and his values align with everything our sport stands for, and we are thrilled to honor him with the 2024 Ambassador of Golf award at next year’s Kaulig Companies Championship.”

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Annika Sorenstam’s son Will McGee once again steals show on Sunday at PNC Championship

On the 18th fairway Sunday, the 12-year-old said: “I don’t want this moment to end.”

ORLANDO — While Tiger Woods and son Charlie dominate many of the headlines at the PNC Championship, Will McGee once again won plenty of hearts. Walking down the 18th fairway on Sunday, the 12-year-old turned to his mother, Annika Sorenstam, and said,  “Slow down, Mommy, I don’t want this moment to end.”

No one loves the PNC more than young McGee, who doffed his cap for the crowd around the 18th green after hitting a beautiful bunker shot. He’d caught it thin out of another bunker on the last hole during Saturday’s round and wanted revenge.

McGee shed many tears on that final hole. When asked why he felt so emotional, McGee said, “Probably because I have to wait a year to do this again.”

McGee and his Hall of Fame mom shot 67 in the scramble format to finish in a share of 11th in the 20-team event. The duo will split $43,750 from the prize fund.

After beginning the week with an ace during a practice round at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club with his father, McGee then drained a lengthy eagle putt during Saturday’s first round.

2023 PNC Championship
Annika Sorenstam of Sweden poses for a photograph with her son Will McGee on the first tee during the final round of the 2023 PNC Championship at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando. (Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images)

A bona fide golf lover, McGee was stoked to talk to Tiger Woods several times, noting that he was “super nice.” Justin Thomas even offered a tip on playing in windy conditions. It gusted over 30 mph during Sunday’s final round.

“He keeps telling me I need to weigh more,” said McGee, the youngest player in the field. “So he put some golf balls in my pocket so I don’t fly away.”

The game doesn’t get more wholesome than that.

2023 PNC Championship prize money payouts for each team in Orlando

It pays to play well, even in silly season events.

It pays to play well, even in golf’s silly season events. Just ask this weekend’s winners, Bernhard and Jason Langer.

The father-son duo won the 2023 PNC Championship on Sunday at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando by two shots over David Duval and his son, Brady. The win is the fifth for Langer at the annual family event, tying Raymond Floyd with the most wins.

For their efforts, Team Langer will take home the top prize of $200,000, while the Duvals earned $80,000. Check out how much money each team earned this weekend at the 2023 PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando.

2023 PNC Championship prize money payouts

Position Team Score Earnings
1 Team Langer -25 $200,000
2 Team Duval -23 $80,000
3 Team Singh -22 $57,250
4 Team Goosen -21 $50,000
T-5 Team Lehman -19 $47,000
T-5 Team Cink -19 $47,000
T-5 Team Daly -19 $47,000
T-5 Team Woods -19 $47,000
T-5 Team Kuchar -19 $47,000
10 Team Stricker -16 $44,500
T-11 Team Annika -15 $43,750
T-11 Team O’Meara -15 $43,750
T-13 Team Thomas -14 $42,750
T-13 Team Korda -14 $42,750
15 Team Leonard -13 $42,000
16 Team Price -12 $41,500
17 Team Faldo -11 $41,000
18 Team Trevino -9 $40,500
T-19 Team Harrington -7 $40,250
T-19 Team Furyk -7 $40,250

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