Category: PGA Tour Champions

Until there’s a PGA Tour-LIV Golf resolution, Padraig Harrington suggests player transfers, outside teams in LIV events

“It doesn’t look like there will be any sort of golfing marriage in the near future,” said Harrington.

TUCSON, Ariz. — There appears to be no end in sight to the PGA Tour-LIV Golf rift and this past weekend was just another example of the prolonged standoff.

It was one of the four weekends in 2024 where a LIV event overlapped a signature event. There are 12 times in all this year where the two leagues will intersect.

Scottie Scheffler won the Arnold Palmer Invitational – a PGA Tour signature event that took some criticism for only having 69 players – and banked $4 million.

Meanwhile, Abraham Ancer hoisted a trophy after winning the LIV Golf Hong Kong event and pocketed $4 million.

“It doesn’t look like there will be any sort of golfing marriage in the near future,” said Padraig Harrington ahead of the 2024 Cologuard Classic on the PGA Tour Champions, who had some general thoughts about what can be done in the meantime.

“Why not have it a little bit like the old European Tour-PGA Tour, where there’s a little bit of competition. Certainly it’s good for the fans when there’s rivalries.”

Harrington played both tours for several years. Nowadays he plays mostly on the Champions tour but does dabble in some PGA Tour events. He’s already played twice on the “regular” tour in 2024 and so he sees firsthand the fallout.

“I go back to the PGA Tour and I’m right in amongst it,” he said. “A lot of my friends went to LIV, so I also have a good few guys out there who I would be friendly with.

“So I can see both sides of it. You know, in the end of the day, I played the majority of my career when there was two strong tours and there was a bit of rivalry and a bit of competition, so I’m not, I wouldn’t be averse to that being in the future where there’s two tours and who doesn’t love a little bit of competition?”

It could be argued that it’s not really a competition. The PGA Tour is a league that had to make its own money to pay its bills, whereas LIV Golf has a seemingly endless cash stream from the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund.

“I think the biggest thing going forward for the PGA Tour, there has to be some way of capping, you know, can’t just steal all our players,” he said. “Players will always make a choice individually what’s right for them, but I think the Tour has to, there’s very few businesses in this world where there isn’t some sort of a noncompete sort of clause.

But until things are sorted out, Harrington pondered, why not have some kind of system of player movement.

“I’m not against, you know, some sort of a transfer back and forth,” he said. “I’m not against having a small amount of invites, and that cuts both ways. … maybe an outside team playing every week in LIV, why not. But again, not too sure how they’re going to come together as one tour, so why not have an agreeable two tours where there’s a bit of rivalry.”

Photos: 2024 Cologuard Classic by Exact Sciences on PGA Tour Champions

La Paloma has three courses and parts of all three were combined to make a composite layout.

TUCSON, Ariz. — The PGA Tour Champions returned to Southern Arizona for the Cologuard Classic but at a new venue.

La Paloma Country Club, a Jack Nicklaus design that opened in 1984, hosted the senior circuit for the first time in 2024 after nine years at Tucson National. Cologuard came on as title sponsor in 2018.

La Paloma has three 9-hole golf courses and parts of all three were combined to make a composite layout for the tournament, which played at 6,856 yards and had a par of 71.

It’s the first year of a three-year deal for the venue, which is also famous for being used for some of the scenes in the hit golf movie Tin Cup.

The total purse is $2,200,000 with the winner earning $330,000.

Steve Stricker says some LIV golfers want to come back to PGA Tour; are player transfers an option?

The golf conversation continues to be dominated by the PGA Tour-LIV Golf rift.

TUCSON, Ariz. — While player movement at the top level of men’s professional golf usually involves LIV recruiting yet another PGA Tour player, Steve Stricker said he knows that some LIV golfers want to return to the PGA Tour.

“I know that for a fact,” he said Thursday after his pro-am round ahead of the 2024 Cologuard Classic at La Paloma Country Club. “And so it’s kind of a wait and see game.”

With much of the golf conversation dominated by the rift, there doesn’t see to be much oxygen left to talk about the other tours but players on the PGA Tour Champions are paying attention to the goings-on in the world of professional golf.

“Of course I’m very interested in what happens,” said Stewart Cink, who turned 50 last year but still plays on both PGA Tour circuits. “I hope that we can get back together as like one sport in golf, but it’s a complex situation.”

With the PGA Tour holding a big-money signature event at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and LIV Golf playing for a fourth time in 2024 in Hong Kong, the Champions circuit is about to stage the first of three straight West Coast events.

“Ultimately, I hope someday we all can play nice together again and have the best players in the world playing and competing against one another,” said Stricker. “I think that day will come and I think there will be some circumstances, you know, where those guys that left are going to have to do something, I don’t know, a penalty of some sort, I don’t know what that means. I hope some day it all comes back together and the guys are playing all together again.”

Whether the rival tours coexist, merge or simply allow some crossover, many feel that there should be no easy path back to the PGA Tour for those who left.

“I wouldn’t let the LIV guys come right back, I don’t think. I think there needs to be some way of, you know, just another way to say thanks for the guys that didn’t leave and just kind of abandon our standards and rules,” Cink said. “I think there needs to be some form of like delayed, I don’t know if it’s delaying some of their performance bonuses or if it’s some kind of a suspension that maintains itself, I don’t know exactly, but something.”

Big names on the PGA Tour leaving for LIV Golf is having a ripple effect on the Champions tour.

“It’s unfortunate, because when [Phil] Mickelson came out, it was a jolt for our tour and it was great,” David Toms, the defending champion of the Cologuard Classic, said during a media day Monday at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, for the upcoming Galleri Classic.

Mickelson won his first two – and four of his first six – starts on the PGA Tour Champions in 2021 but seven months after rolling in a birdie putt on the 18th hole at Phoenix Country Club to end that season, he was off to London for the first-ever LIV Golf event.

“And so then all of the sudden he’s not a part of us anymore. So that’s unfortunate,” Toms said.

The drain of veteran golfers with name recognition means the Champions circuit also lost out on Lee Westwood, who turned 50 in April of 2023 and it won’t be able to welcome Ian Poulter, who turned 48 in January 2024, nor Henrik Stenson, who turns 48 this April, in the coming years. The PGA Tour losing a bit of name recognition eventually means a weakened Champions tour.

As long as the PGA Tour and LIV exist, perhaps there’s some middle ground that can be found.

“I’m not against, you know, some sort of a transfer back and forth. I played (Mexico Open) there on the PGA Tour a couple weeks ago, and I’m sure they would have loved to have Abraham Ancer play. So I’m not against having a small amount of invites, and that cuts both ways,” said Padraig Harrington, who compared the situation to the rivalry the PGA Tour used to have with the European Tour. “When the European Tour is in Spain this year, we would love to have Jon Rahm play the Spanish Open. I’m not against a small amount of transfer of players playing events and maybe a couple of invites going each direction. Maybe an outside team playing every week in LIV, why not.

“But again, not too sure how they’re going to come together as one tour, so why not have an agreeable two tours where there’s a bit of rivalry.”

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Padraig Harrington insists his instructional videos can get ‘every golfer in the whole wide world to a single figure handicap’

“It’s hard to be a scratch golfer, but to get to 9, it’s not that hard.”

TUCSON, Ariz. — For golf nerds, Padraig Harrington is a must follow on social media.

If you watch his instructional videos enough, you might even get really good at the game.

“I should be able to get every golfer in the whole wide world to a single figure handicap. I think that’s a very reasonable goal,” Harrington said after his pro-am round at La Paloma Country Club, host venue for this week’s Cologuard Classic on the PGA Tour Champions.

“I’ve always liked coaching,” he said, his words coming from a place of truly trying to help the “weekend warriors” get better as this difficult game. Harrington started making videos during the COVID shutdown. He was actually kept from traveling home to Ireland for several months during 2020, so he just kept playing golf but he also started pointing the cellphone camera towards himself to create content that just might help someone out there learn the game.

Cologuard: Steve Stricker says ‘it’s fun thinking about’ pairing up with Tiger Woods for team event in New Orleans

“I tried to post a video every day, then obviously we expanded to now doing it on YouTube on Paddy’s Golf Tips. It’s enjoyable. It’s a great way to get access to the public directly.”

Chris DiMarco, a five-year veteran of the Champions circuit, says it’s “fun watching them and it’s not just something he’s doing to be funny.”

But is it realistic to turn Joe Sixpack, who goes through two sleeves of balls each round, into a single-digit handicapper?

“I think that’s a very reasonable goal,” he insists. “It’s hard to be a scratch golfer, but to get to 9, it’s not that hard.

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“When I say it’s not that hard, there’s some simple things you can do to get there and that’s what my videos are mainly focused on. I’m really just trying to help the weekend warrior get to a level where if you’re a single figure golfer, you can walk into any clubhouse with your chest expanded. It’s a level of achievement.”

Shedding bad habits is one thing. So is ignoring the so-called tips that everyone has heard.

“When it comes to golf, people who come to golf, especially athletes who come to golf, they seem to have some crazy ideas about keeping your head still or keeping your head down or swinging slowly. God, they’re like 100 percent, I think, it won’t be 100 percent, but 99 percent of golfers would be better off doing the exact opposite of what they think would be better. Just swing away, that’s probably the best advice you could give. You’ll just get used to it and time it after that rather than to try and get good too quick, too early.

“We could talk about this all day,” he said.

His playing competitors sometimes notice, too. Harrington says he was stopped by a Champions tour colleague Thursday morning about a recent video.

“I was literally walking out the door, the pro said it was really helping him,” he said before continuing his thoughts in instructor mode. “I just did a recent one with stepping in your swing, try and get the proper sequence in at the movements. Remember, I said movements. You don’t stay still when you’re swinging a golf club, you’ve got to move.

“I’m not trying to make these lessons for my fellow pros,” he added. “I’m trying to make them, as I said, for beginners and people who are kind of stuck in the game, who aren’t improving and trying to get them across that threshold of, you know, being able to break 80, be a single-figure golfer.”

Steve Stricker says ‘it’s fun thinking about’ pairing up with Tiger Woods for team event in New Orleans

So, what if Stricker formally asked Tiger, might he accept?

TUCSON, Ariz. — Tiger Woods has already made it known he’s facing a future of playing a limited schedule of the majors, the Genesis and probably the signature events when he can.

But what about the lone team event on the PGA Tour, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, alongside good buddy Steve Stricker?

Stricker floated the idea on a recent Golf Digest podcast, saying he’s a “huge Tiger fan, and I want to see him playing as much as he can.”

He then floated out an amazing prospect.

“I thought about asking him to see if he wanted to play in New Orleans at the team event,” Stricker said.

Since then, a few days have passed for Stricker to marinate on the idea. In Tucson this week for the PGA Tour Champions Cologuard Classic, he was asked to confirm whether he in fact did ask Tiger to play.

“I haven’t, no,” he said after his pro-am round at La Paloma Country Club.

Was the idea of it just something he’d thought about, not actually considered?

“We had some great times being teammates on some of those [Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup] teams over the years. I guess I blurted it out loud when I was on a podcast with somebody, I said wouldn’t it be cool to get the band together one more time, for him and I to play again,” he said, adding “I don’t think that will happen, he’s got other issues than playing with me, but it would be fun, and it’s fun thinking about it.”

Stricker is coming off a PGA Tour Champions season in which he won six times, including three majors. One of those, the Kaulig Companies Championship (formally the Senior Players), guaranteed him a spot in next week’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

So, what if Stricker formally asked Tiger, might he accept?

“You know, I’ll see him next week at the Players, hopefully he’ll be there and I’ll be there, hopefully play a practice round with him. Yeah, I’ll ask him,” he said.

Ricardo Gonzalez wins Trophy Hassan II in Morocco, Angel Cabrera T-27 in PGA Tour Champions return

He’s the fourth player from Argentina to win on the PGA Tour Champions. 

Across four PGA Tour-sanctioned tours, Ricardo Gonzalez had made 38 starts during his career, surviving the cut 28 times. He had recorded six top-10 finishes and made nearly $350,000.

On Saturday, he finally broke through.

The 54-year-old Argentinian shot 3-under 70 at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Morocco to win Trophy Hassan II on the PGA Tour Champions, his 13th start on the circuit. He did so with his son on the bag.

Gonzalez finished at 10 under, one stroke in front of Thomas Bjorn, who carded a 4-under 69 on Saturday. Y.E. Yang, a co-leader heading into the final round, finished T-3 at 7 under along with Mark Hensby.

Gonzalez is the fourth player from Argentina to win on the PGA Tour Champions.

“Very happy and very emotional,” Gonzalez said. “I worked so much to be here, and this is my trophy. I like that.”

After a bogey on the par-5 12th, Gonzalez had four straight birdies on Nos. 13-16 to take the lead and secure the victory. He earned $320,000 for his victory and moves to No. 3 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.

Stephen Ames, the event’s defending champion and last week’s winner at the Chubb Classic, finished T-16.

In his return to the PGA Tour Champions, fellow Argentinian Angel Cabrera finished T-27, with his best round of the week coming Saturday with a 3-under 70.

Angel Cabrera of Argentina in action during the final round of the Trophy Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam on February 24, 2024 in Rabat. (Photo by Phil Inglis/Getty Images)

Cabrera, the 2009 Masters champion, has been working on obtaining a visa to return to the United States and continue playing golf. He did not need a visa to travel from Argentina to Morocco for this week’s event.

“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,” Cabrera’s manager Manuel Tagle wrote in an email to Golfweek last month. “We are working on getting an appointment with the U.S. Embassy in Argentina. Probably early March as his visa has expired January 2024.”

John Daly shoots 87, Angel Cabrera T-39 after two rounds in Morocco on PGA Tour Champions

Good scores have been hard to come by this week.

John Daly had to withdraw last week after injuring his left hand, but he’s back in action this week on the PGA Tour Champions, which is in Morocco for the Trophy Hassan II.

Perhaps the hand is still a bit tender, as Daly slogged his way around Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat, Morocco, to the tune of a 14-over 87. His scorecard showed seven bogeys, two doubles and a quad. He did close with a birdie but is last in the 66-man field at 17 over.

Angel Cabrera is tied for 39th after two rounds. Playing in his first event on the Champions tour since getting out of prison, Cabrera shot 79-72 and is beating 21 others after Friday’s second round.

Good scores have been hard to come by this week. With 132 rounds played so far, there have been only eight rounds in the 60s. Meanwhile, there have been four scores in the 80s.

There’s a tie at the top of the leaderboard between Y.E. Yang and Ricardo Gonzalez, both at 7 under. Thomas Bjorn, Steve Pate and Mark Hensby are tied for third at 5 under. The final round is Saturday.

The PGA Tour Champions returns stateside in two weeks for the Cologuard Classic in Tucson, Arizona.

PGA Tour Champions event sees final round canceled because of rain; Stephen Ames declared winner

This is just the second time in the tournament’s 37-year history that the champion was decided in fewer than 54 holes.

Sunday’s final round of the Chubb Classic on the PGA Tour Champions has been canceled due to inclement weather.

Stephen Ames, who held a three-shot lead over former Naples resident Rocco Mediate following Saturday’s round, has been declared the 2024 Chubb Classic champion.

This is just the second time in the tournament’s 37-year history that the champion was decided in fewer than 54 holes. In 1995, Bob Murphy won the Chubb Classic at Vineyards Country Club in Naples after 36 holes when rain forced the cancellation of the final round.

The Chubb Classic tournament staff will be in touch with ticket holders who purchased tickets to today’s final round of play.

What can Steve Stricker possibly do for a PGA Tour Champions encore?

Last year, 56-year-old Steve Stricker turned in a season for the ages.

Last year, 56-year-old Steve Stricker turned in a season for the ages (and the aged) on the PGA Tour Champions in 2023, winning six tournaments, including three majors, notching five runner-up finishes and placing inside the top-10 in all but one of his 16 starts.

Stricker set Champions season records for both lowest scoring average (67.54) and money earned ($3.9 million). Last June, he also broke the PGA mark with his 55th consecutive round of golf at par or better on a sanctioned tour, topping a guy named Tiger Woods.

“You know, every tournament that I showed up at I had a feeling that I could get in there and have an opportunity to win,” Stricker said Thursday at the Chubb Classic in Naples. “Some of them I did; some I got close. But it was, it’s a great feeling.

“When you’re playing the game of golf, it’s a silly game where you can get on those runs and maintain them and then there are times you’re like what the heck happened and why can’t I get it in the hole,” Stricker said. “Got to ride it out and not think too much about them and keep it rolling. That’s what I did for the most part of the year.”

This weekend, the former part-time Naples and Quail West Golf & Country Club member returns to familiar territory. Stricker won the 2021 Chubb Classic at Tiburon Golf Club by one shot over Alex Cejka and Robert Karlsson and last year finished tied for second behind back-to-back Chubb champion Bernhard Langer.

“We took up residence here for a few years and it’s a nice spot, nice people,” Stricker said. “Beach is right around the corner.

“Tiburón has been a place we’ve played quite a few times over the years, so it’s always fun to come back and play and participate here.”

Stricker opened the 2024 Champions season with a third-place finish at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, five shots behind tournament champion Steven Alker, the 2022 Champions Player of the Year.

 Steve Stricker of the United States poses with the trophy after winning the Regions Tradition at Greystone Golf and Country Club on May 14, 2023, in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

“He hit the shots, made the putts when he had to, and neither one of us – you know, I guess we gave him a little run for a little while, but he pulled away there at the end,” Stricker said of Alker. “Yeah, he’s in shape, which means a lot out here. He’s got a good game and he putts it well. So pull all that together out here, that’s going to be a tough guy to beat.”

So too is Stricker, who said he’s looking forward to trying to build upon his amazingly successful 2023 season.

“I’m excited to play,” he said. “I’m excited to continue to work on my game to try to keep that ball rolling like I had it going last year, to try to continue that feel.

“I still have a lot of drive and motivation to prepare and get ready.”

Sister tandem wins First Tee Champions Challenge

Sophia and Stella Travlos of the First Tee – Metropolitan New York chapter captured the 17th annual Golf to Paradise – First Tee Champions Challenge, played Monday through Wednesday as part of the Chubb Classic.

The 16-year-old Travlos sisters finished with a score of 105, five shots better than Marty Burns and John Diamond of Philadelphia. Braden Miller and Harrison White, representing First Tee of Naples/Collier in the competition, shot 115 to place fourth.

Five First Tee chapters participated in the event, playing three different formats on three separate courses.  The two-person teams played a four-ball format at Tiburón Golf Club on Monday, a scramble at Wyndemere Golf Club on Tuesday, and a modified alternate shot at The TwinEagles Club on Wednesday.

The young golfers also participated in a special youth clinic with Champions player Notah Begay III and did a volunteer clean-up service at the S.S. Jolley Bridge near Marco Island.

Steven Alker seeking some PGA Tour Champions history at the 2024 Chubb Classic

Work is what’s enabled Alker to become one of golf’s greatest second acts.

With Bernhard Langer’s quest to become the first golfer to win three consecutive Chubb Classic championships derailed by an Achilles injury, Steven Alker’s quest for his own three-peat takes center stage this weekend in Naples.

The 52-year-old New Zealand native will go for his third consecutive PGA Tour Champions victory after capturing January’s season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai and the 2023 season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship last November. He would become the 10th player in Champions Tour history to win three straight events.

“Obviously the wins build confidence, so I’m just feeling good about my game,” Alker said Wednesday at Tiburón Golf Club. “I’ve worked on my game and my swing, and just everything is good, kind of where I want it. This is the strongest field we’ve had for a while, so just got some work to do and go low.”

Work is what’s enabled Alker to transform what was once a middling pro career into what’s rapidly becoming one of golf’s greatest second acts. Alker earned his PGA Tour card three times but never recorded a top-10 finish in a PGA event. He won four events on the Korn Ferry Tour but also endured a stretch where he missed the cut in 21 consecutive starts.

As he approached 50, Alker stayed in excellent physical condition and continued to work on his game in preparation for the Champions Tour. After becoming eligible in July 2021, he played his way into his first Champions event via a Monday Qualifier, which launched a run of six consecutive top-10 finishes.

Since then, he’s been one of the senior tour’s most successful players. In 2022, Alker was named the Champions Player of the Year after winning four times and finishing top-3 in 13 of his 23 starts. Overall, he’s ended up first (8) or second (10) in exactly one-third of his 54 Champions events with 40 top-10 finishes.

Along the way, Alker’s become a golfing example of the power of perseverance.

Steven Alker of New Zealand reacts after winning the PGA TOUR Champions Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Golf Club on January 20, 2024, in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

“It just goes to show if you just kind of keep dreaming and just keep chasing it then yeah, good things can happen,” he said. “I’ve been around the game a long time and gained a lot of experience. If I can pass some of those experiences on to help people speed up the process, all the better.”

Alker, who carded top-10 finishes in his two previous Chubb Classic appearances, said while the long layoff between his recent wins has been challenging from a momentum standpoint, it also has some benefits.

“It’s a little bit tough with the start-and-stop schedule at the moment, but I think having that break rather than just mentally being kind of worn down … that’s probably a good thing,” he said.

Langer, the winningest player in PGA Tour Champions history, congratulated Alker on the 18th green following his victory last month in Hawaii. Alker said he’s picked up a few key lessons competing alongside the legendary Hall-of-Famer the past three seasons.

“He’s always just striving to get his game in shape every week to try and have a chance to win,” Alker said. ”He just does that very well.

“He’s got everything, and mentally he’s very strong, so that’s a good thing to learn from, too.”

Alker hopes to utilize those lessons gleaned from Langer at this year’s Chubb Classic to make a little history of his own.

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