Kirk Triplett will face a legendary field at the PGA Tour Champions Pure Insurance Championship this weekend at Pebble Beach.
The 2020-21 PGA Tour Champions season continues this weekend with the Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Since 2014, the tournament has been played at both Pebble Beach and the neighboring Poppy Hills Golf Course, but due to COVID-19, it will be limited to a single venue this time around.
Kirk Triplett won this event last year, defeating Billy Andrade in a playoff after both finished the final round 9-under par. Having also won in 2012 and 2013, Triplett will look to add a fourth Pure Insurance title to his name. He has eight PGA Tour Champions wins and 62 top-10 finishes in total.
Pebble Beach holds a great deal of sentimental value for the 58-year old from Moses Lake, Washington, who became acquainted with the course nearly four decades ago.
“The first time I played it, we started at the bottom of Carmel Avenue over there at about nine o’clock at night, and jumped up and played six or seven holes in the dark ahead of the sprinkler guy,” Triplett recalled with a laugh. “A college teammate and I did that, probably 1981, ’82. I just fell in love with it down here.”
Ever since, Triplett has made it a point to compete in as many Pebble Beach golf tournaments as he can, from the U.S. Open to the AT&T Pro-Am. Yet he is disappointed that, due to COVID-19, this year’s Pure Insurance Championship will run without Impacting the First Tee, a unique pro-am event that sees each participating Champions Tour pro team up with a 14- to 18-year old junior and two amateurs.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to have some great relationships with the kids that I’ve played with through the years,” said Triplett about First Tee, which has taken place since 2004. “I mean, to a person, the 81 kids that come through here, they get it. They’re hard workers, they come from all different backgrounds. There’s something about the game of golf that just brings out character.”
Despite the absence of the First Tee juniors, there will still be plenty of names to watch, including Andrade. The 56-year old from Rhode Island failed to break into the winner’s circle last year, but his second-place finish to Triplett was one of three such performances he managed in 2019. Andrade owns three PGA Tour Champions wins and 44 top-10 finishes.
Triplett and Andrade’s previous meeting at Pebble Beach was certainly memorable. Triplett overcame a four-shot deficit with three birdies at the 14th, 15th and 18th holes to shoot 67. Andrade bogeyed 14 and 15, but forced a playoff with a birdie at 18. Triplett won the playoff with a 10-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole.
Nine members of the World Golf Hall of Fame will be in action as well: Fred Couples, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Davis Love III, Colin Montgomerie, Mark O’Meara and Vijay Singh. They will be joined by former Pure Insurance winners Jeff Sluman, Ken Tanigawa, Bernhard Langer, Paul Broadhurst and Esteban Toledo. The victor will take home $330,000 from a purse of $2.2 million.
After the pandemic-related cancellation of 13 tournaments, the PGA Tour Champions has combined the 2020 and 2021 seasons into a singular campaign. This weekend’s field has been reduced to 80 professionals and 80 amateurs. Golf Channel’s live coverage of the event will run 4-7 p.m. ET on Friday and 3-6 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.
Little John, son of John Daly, won a junior tournament three days after Daly revealed he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer.
Former PGA champion John Daly may not be out of the woods yet when it comes to his illness, but at least he has something to cheer about.
John Daly II, otherwise known as “Little John,” is Daly’s 16-year old son. He is also the newly-crowned winner of the International Junior Golf Tour’s Fall Kickoff event, which took place Sunday at Bishops Gate Golf Academy in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida.
Daly II held off the charge of Filip Jakubcik, birdieing his last hole to finish 12 under. His final-round 4-under 68 kept him one shot ahead of Jakubcik for the win.
Three days prior to Little John’s victory, Daly announced in an interview with Golf Channel that he had recently undergone a procedure to deal with bladder cancer. However, doctors informed the 54-year old that there was “an 85 percent chance” of the aggressive cancer returning. Daly has resolved to change his eating habits, attempt to quit smoking and visit his doctor frequently in the wake of his diagnosis.
John Daly II (left) and his father, John Daly, at Carmel’s Crooked Stick three decades apart.
Three days prior to Little John’s victory, Daly announced in an interview with Golf Channel that he had recently undergone a procedure to deal with bladder cancer. However, doctors informed the 54-year old that there was “an 85 percent chance” of the aggressive cancer returning. Daly has resolved to change his eating habits, attempt to quit smoking and visit his doctor frequently in the wake of his diagnosis.
Displaying the heart of a champion, the five-time PGA Tour victor does not fear what the future may hold.
“Well, you know what, I always tell people I’ve lived one hell of a life. No matter what happens, I’m not scared to die or anything,” Daly said in the interview. “It would have been nice to play the last seven or eight or 13 years of my career a little more healthy. But hey, I’m still working, I’m still living life, I’m still doing the things I need to do. … I can accept the challenge. I’m not scared of that. I just want my kids to be OK and everyone else in my family.”
Daly has not seen Champions Tour action since mid-August, when he withdrew after two rounds of the Charles Schwab Series at Bass Pro Shops Big Cedar Lodge due to illness. Earlier that month, he finished T-70 at the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.
“The doctors aren’t saying it’s too late. Unfortunately, it’s a cancer that keeps coming back. But I’m going to listen to them, and I’m going to try and quit smoking,” Daly said. “If it comes back, it comes back. Six months to a year, if it doesn’t go away, I’m going to live my life. I’m gonna have some fun.”
Miguel Angel Jimenez entered Sunday’s final round of the Sanford International tied for the lead with Steve Stricker, the winner in 2018.
Miguel Angel Jimenez entered Sunday’s final round of the Sanford International tied for the lead with Steve Stricker, the winner of the 2018 debut of the tournament.
The 56-year-old Spaniard was placed in a final group with Stricker and Darren Clarke, who’d shot a tournament-record 62 in the second round to get within a stroke of the leaders.
Jimenez continued playing like a man with designs on hoisting a trophy through the first half of the day, maintaining his lead alongside Stricker, though staying mindful of the hard-charging Steve Flesch and Scott Parel, a pair of Americans who would vault themselves into contention with a stellar third day.
Jimenez had a one-stroke lead at 11-under after 11 holes when his group arrived at the 12th tee box, which sits on an overhang far above the fairway below. The course had become a little congested here, and Jimenez, Stricker and Clarke faced a wait before they could tee off.
So Jimenez found some shade with roped off lawn chairs near a concession canopy, and lit up a cigar while his wife joined him for a 10-minute cool off.
“You have to enjoy yourself and relax yourself,” Jimenez said. “There’s tension. I had 15 minutes to sit there, so I wanted to have a couple puffs, ya know. I wasn’t super nervous, just tense. You feel that pressure, but it’s nice to feel it.”
Feeling the pressure and then taking the edge off with a stogie served Jimenez well.
Andy North hands Miguel Angel Jimenez the Sanford International trophy after winning with a final score of -14 on Sunday, September 13, at the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls.
Nicknamed “The Mechanic” for his interest in high performance cars, Jimenez got back to work after the layoff, using a gorgeous approach shot over water to set up a 10-foot eagle putt, which he sank, extending his lead and putting him on the path to being crowned 2020 Sanford International champion.
Flesch continued to come on strong, eagling No. 16 to pull even with Jimenez at 13-under, but Jimenez would birdie the same hole moments later to get to 14-under, and Flesch couldn’t muster another birdie to answer.
Jimenez knew going to the final hole he only needed par to win, and after a shaky tee shot put him in the rough, his second shot set him up for a 35-foot birdie putt. He didn’t need to make it to win, but doing so would’ve brought the house down at the first tournament to allow fans since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Jimenez read the putt perfectly but left it just an inch short, allowing him to tap in and doff his cap to the gallery in appreciation, knowing the trophy and $270,000 prize was secure. It’s the 10th Champions Tour win for Jimenez, making him the 39th player to reach double figures in tour wins.
Following Flesch in the final standings were Stricker and Bernhard Langer at -12, followed by Parel at -11, Jerry Kelly and David Toms at -10 and Ernie Els, Brandt Jobe, Scott McCarron and Glen Day at -9. John Daly had a strong showing in his first event since making his bladder cancer diagnosis public, finishing his 8-under round with a birdie on 18 that resulted in a lengthy and emotional ovation from the fans.
“The tournament was very good – Flesch, Stricker, Bernhard – it was a very good field, tough,” said Jimenez, who went 65-66-65 on the weekend. “I was feeling the pressure at the end. Having fans on the golf course is something we were missing.”
When the final group was done and PGA officials descended on the green for the celebratory festivities, Jimenez was greeted with a hug and kiss from his wife, and after giving a brief speech thanking the fans, held the trophy aloft, kissed it, and lit a cigar, blowing puffs of smoke skyward in celebration. He took the podium for a press conference with a glass of wine and the still-lit cigar.
This was Jimenez’s first trip to South Dakota (though he promised it won’t be his last), and he made sure to enjoy himself.
“You only get one life,” Jimenez said. “You’re dead for a lot longer than you’re alive. All you can do is enjoy yourself. That’s the big thing. Take what’s coming, try to be good and enjoy the people around yourself. That’s life.”
Jack Nicklaus and Andy North took on Hale Irwin and Tony Jacklin in an exhibition as part of the Sanford Invitational with fans on hand.
If you attended the second day of the Sanford International at Minnehaha Country Club (and the improved weather resulted in a far larger crowd Saturday than for Friday’s opener in Sioux Falls, South Dakota), you might have found yourself with a difficult decision by the end of the afternoon.
Who to follow around the course at the PGA Tour Champions event, the first golf event with fans since the pandemic began?
You had the threesome of Steve Stricker, John Daly and Robin Byrd, with Daly clearly asserting himself as the people’s choice after this week’s bladder cancer diagnosis, which he’s promptly responded to with a stellar first two days, checking in at 6-under, three strokes off the lead heading into Sunday.
Stricker, the 2018 champion, shot a 64 Saturday to vault himself into a tie for the lead at 9-under.
Or you could’ve followed the threesome of Miguel Angel Jimenez, David Toms and Dicky Pride, who are all playing spectacular golf this weekend. Pride shot a 5-under 65 on Friday to take the early lead, while Jimenez produced a second straight brilliant round that puts him atop the leaderboard with Stricker at 9-under. Toms is not far behind at 7-under.
Then there was Darren Clarke, who carded a tournament-record 62 on Saturday to pull within one stroke of Stricker, tied with Kevin Sutherland and Fred Couples, who shot a 64 on Saturday, including the shot of the day when he eagled No. 9 with a “slam dunk” chip directly into the hole.
Jack Nicklaus dons a hat with a golden bear on it, emblematic of his nickname, in the EMC Legends Series at the Sanford International on Saturday, September 12, At the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
And still, with all that going on, it was hard for the spectators not to turn their attention to the back nine at around 4 p.m., when the Legends Series teed off for their nine-hole charity exhibition.
Jack Nicklaus and Andy North took on Hale Irwin and Tony Jacklin. Nicklaus, considered by many to be the greatest golfer of all time, teaming with the two-time U.S. Open winner, and Irwin, the winningest player in PGA Tour Champions history teaming with Jacklin, a British legend and 1970 U.S. Open champion.
Steve Stricker tees off during the Sanford International on Saturday, September 12, At the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls.
Nicklaus is 80, Jacklin 76 and Irwin 75, while North was the young pup of the group at 70, and the foursome put on a memorable show that left onlookers in awe throughout their 2½ hour round.
Jacklin and Irwin ended up winning the match play event, their prize being $20,000 to Sanford Children’s Hospital. It dropped North and Nicklaus to 0-3 in the event, a number they were having fun with in a group media session before the round and continued to joke about throughout their trip through Minnehaha’s back nine.
But while fun, camaraderie and charity were clearly the top priorities for the foursome, the exhibition of golf they put on, even in their 70s and beyond, was impressive in its own right.
Jack Nicklaus plays in the EMC Legends Series at the Sanford International on Saturday, September 12, At the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls.
Nicklaus, who won a battle with COVID-19 earlier this year, doesn’t move very quickly and his swing is an abbreviated version of itself, and that limited his distance off the tee. But the Golden Bear still put virtually every drive right down the middle, and saw a handful of difficult putts just miss giving the throng of fans that surrounded the greens the chance to erupt in celebration (as they so clearly wanted to).
Irwin, who was an all-Big 8 defensive back for the Colorado Buffaloes and later a three-time U.S. Open winner, looks about a dozen years younger than his 75 years and spent his round ribbing the other golfers, chatting with fans and media and making friends with Ben Wieman, the 10-year-old from Madison who was named the Sandford Children’s Hospital Ambassador.
Miguel Jimenez talks with his caddy before teeing off during the Sanford International on Saturday, September 12, At the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls.
Wieman had been diagnosed with leukemia in 2017 and rang the ball at the Children’s Hospital on April 10 to mark the end of his cancer treatment. North had Wieman take his final putt on No. 18, and the youngster’s presence was extra special when the Legends finished their round and the gift to the Children’s Hospital was made official.
“I think it’s one of the highlights of the week to get three of the greatest players to ever play this game to come in here and spend nine holes having some fun and some laughs and get a chance to compete at whatever level we can compete now,” said North, who nearly chipped one in from 20 yards outside the green on No. 12. “We really do appreciate it.”
Mark Calcavecchia hopes he’s on the mend, but he wouldn’t wish COVID-19 on anyone. The PGA Tour Champions veteran and former British Open champion tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, and drove his 45-foot Tiffin motor coach 1,800 miles from …
Mark Calcavecchia hopes he’s on the mend, but he wouldn’t wish COVID-19 on anyone. The PGA Tour Champions veteran and former British Open champion tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, and drove his 45-foot Tiffin motor coach 1,800 miles from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, site of this week’s Sanford International, to his home in South Florida.
“Driving with COVID wasn’t that much fun,” Calcavecchia said after being reached via telephone. “Somehow I did it in 3 ½ days, but when I got home everything just kind of fell apart.”
Calcavecchia, 60, played in the Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National event and finished T-15, his best result of the season. He and wife Brenda drove to Omaha, Nebraska, for a couple of days, where he conducted a clinic for members at The Players Club on Sept. 4. Longtime caddie Troy Martin, and his wife, Mary, are members there and 40-50 people attended with social distancing practices in place, Calcavecchia said. Attendees wore masks, but two days later, Martin and his wife, Mary, tested positive after she suffered from headaches.
Update from Covid-19 Ville. This shit is very real! And it sucks. I’ve never had so many symptoms hit me all at the same time. I keep moving around the house trying to escape it. Please be safe and wear ur mask. I thought I was but with this evil shit you never know 🤬🤬🤬🤬
Calcavecchia continued on where he played Sand Hills (“my favorite”), The Prairie Club and Dismal River with fellow pro Lee Janzen, who tested negative.
“I sent a spit-test in nine days ago and it came up positive. I went to Sioux Falls and the test was positive on Sunday. I started feeling crappy on Sunday,” Calcavecchia said.
Wife Brenda tested negative three times. Calcavecchia said he’s been taking Tylenol for his fever, which he said hasn’t gotten worse than 101.
“I had a little runny nose at first and just thought it was allergies,” he said. “When the fever goes away for awhile I feel OK. It’s aches and pains, can’t get comfortable, the whole nine yards.”
He also tweeted: “I’ve never had so many symptoms hit me all at the same time.”
Calcavecchia hopes that he will only have miss this week’s event and the Purse Insurance Open at Pebble Beach next week. The Champions Tour takes a two-week break before returning for its final four events of the season.
On Saturday, PGA Tour pro Kevin Kisner apologized for an insensitive tweet in response to a post by former NBA player Rex Chapman.
The original tweet referenced that a friend’s parents died from COVID-19 and that Chapman’s family also had been personally affected by the pandemic. He expressed his frustration with President Donald Trump’s handling of COVID-19.
Kisner responded, saying, “Guess they can’t follow the guidelines.”
After social media erupted against him, Kisner deleted the tweet and posted an apology.
Earlier this morning, I made a reckless comment. I diminished the real experience of pain and loss suffered by many during the pandemic. I am not without empathy, but I certainly exercised poor judgement. I apologize to @RexChapman and anyone else that was hurt by my comment.
When asked what he thought about Kisner’s comment, Calcavecchia said, “To each their own. I don’t know him, but until you have it you shouldn’t really say anything.”
John Daly teed it up at the Sanford International Friday after news broke of his bladder cancer diagnosis.
The week after John Daly had surgery to remove the recently diagnosed cancer in his bladder was brutal.
Eight days of chemotherapy and surgery left the 54-year-old feeling tired Friday at Minnehaha Country Club. Despite his fatigue, Daly chose to compete at the Sanford International this weekend.
“(My doctor) didn’t really say just sit at home. He didn’t really recommend I be playing, either,” Daly said. “I figure I can’t just sit at home, it’s just going to get in my mind and it’s going to make me feel worse, so going to try to keep playing as much as I can. I’m going to go back home after this week and go see the doc again.
“I hate missing PURE Insurance and Pebble, but he wants to go and sit down with me and go through everything and set up an appointment sometime early November, right after the season, and go back in and check it out again.”
Daly played pretty well Friday, considering the physical and mental stress of the past few weeks.
He finished the first round 2-under 68 to sit T-11, one shot behind Steve Stricker and three behind a three-way tie for the lead. Daly, who won the 1991 PGA Championship and 1996 Open Championship, said the cold, rainy weather in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was “brutal” and the course didn’t play easily, but he was satisfied with his performance.
Daly, who withdrew from the field at the PGA Championship in early August due to health concerns, last competed on the Champions Tour in mid-August at the Charles Schwab Series at Bass Pro Shops Big Cedar Lodge. He withdrew from the tournament after two rounds due to illness. The last full event Daly played was the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, where he finished T-70.
John Daly on the 17th hole during the first round of the 2020 Sanford International at Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. (Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
The good news surrounding Daly’s diagnosis is the cancer has not spread to his kidneys, pancreas or liver. Daly said his doctors informed him the cancer is beatable if he changes some health habits.
“Learned an awful lot in the last week about it,” Daly said. “It’s something that a lot of people have beaten and can get through it but it’s going to be painful but three months, three months, six months, a year, it’s going to be pretty painful how they do the operations so 80-85 percent chance it comes back and I’ll be getting it done in November again.”
In November, Daly said he’ll check in with his doctor and if the cancer has returned, he’ll undergo another surgery to remove it.
“They’ll just cut it out again and keep cutting it out until hopefully one day it goes away,” he said.
John Daly shares details on his bladder cancer diagnosis.
One of the major changes Daly told Golf Channel he is trying to make in order to decrease the chance of a recurrence is drinking less Diet Coke and smoking less. Daly said he lit up a few cigarettes on the course Friday, but significantly fewer than usual.
“I feel confident if I do what they tell me to do — hell, I only smoked six cigarettes, not even six cigarettes out there today,” Daly said. “It’s usually about a pack and a half so I’m trying to slow everything down but I can’t just quit everything right now and (the doctor’s) cool with that.”
Same old John Daly.
Despite the uncertainty of his cancer diagnosis, the resulting surgery and chemotherapy, he’s still smiling.
The Sanford International is underway at Minnehaha Country Club and for the first time since the resumption of golf, welcomed fans on site.
Ernie Els, a four-time major winner and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, was in the first tee box at Minnehaha Country Club, about to take his first shot ever on South Dakota soil at the PGA Tour Champions Sanford International.
As Els addressed the ball and brought his body to a standstill, the crowd of bystanders fell silent.
“HOOOOONNNNK!!!”
A horn from a nearby golf cart blared, its shrill moan filling the air and surely embarrassing everyone in the gallery.
Els didn’t move. He waited a beat, then calmly went into his backswing and sent his drive down the middle of the fairway.
“Nerves of steel,” smiled 2018 Sanford International champ Steve Stricker, commending the South African for shrugging off the distraction, and Els, Stricker and 2019 champ Rocco Mediate proceeded down the fairway.
And all along the thinking had been that having fans back on tour for the first time since the start of the pandemic would be the only potential distraction.
As it turned out, the fans that showed up for the first round of the third edition of the Sanford International on Friday were not much of a factor. The crowds for both the opening ceremonies and the first players to tee off were notably smaller than in previous years, and didn’t seem quite as animated.
And all along the thinking had been that having fans back on tour for the first time since the start of the pandemic would be the only potential distraction.
As it turned out, the fans that showed up for the first round of the third edition of the Sanford International on Friday were not much of a factor. The crowds for both the opening ceremonies and the first players to tee off were notably smaller than in previous years, and didn’t seem quite as animated.
Rain water flies off of Darren Clarke’s club as he tees off during the first day of the Sanford International on Friday, September 11, at the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls. (Erin Bormett / Argus Leader)
Either way, it had the feel of a successful return to golf as we know it, with lots of white dudes in baseball caps carrying mixed drinks, smoking cigars and telling golf balls to “get in there” as they hovered near the greens.
For tournament organizers, getting the Sanford International off the ground, with fans, is a win by itself.
“There’s some opportunities here for us to show the rest of the world that you can go do this,” said tournament host Andy North. “You can get out there, you can have spectators.” Or, as he put it in the opening ceremonies: “Let’s show the world we can come out of our basements and live our lives.”
Following the Daly show
Once again, John Daly had the largest following on Friday, with a group of about 75 fans tracking the larger-than-life big hitter through what was a strong first round. Daly, wearing fluorescent Hawaiian pants under a black pullover, played fairly conservatively and avoided catastrophe on his way to being 3-under through 17 holes, two strokes off the lead.
Daly’s man-of-the-people persona will always make him a fan favorite, but that relatability took a more personal turn this week when Daly revealed to the Golf Channel that he’s been diagnosed with bladder cancer. This news came around the same time Daly was spotted at Grand Falls Casino, where he aced the 18th hole.
John Daly watches his ball land on the green ahead during the first day of the Sanford International on Friday, September 11, at the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls. (Erin Bormett / Argus Leader)
“I think I just earned $100,000 in free play here (at the casino),” Daly quipped in a video posted on the Grand Falls Twitter account.
When he’s not golfing or gambling Daly dabbles in music, having recorded a pair of albums. But the most successful musician playing Friday had teed off just 10 minutes before Daly, when chart-topping country rapper Colt Ford hit the links.
Ford, who years before was a pro golfer under his real name, Jason Brown, made his Champions Tour debut at the Sanford International, and after hitting his first tee shot down the middle of the fairway, got to his ball and realized he’d left his gloves in the tee box and had to speed back in a cart to get them.
It was an up-and-down day for the “Dirt Road Anthem” author, as Ford was at 5-over through 17 holes, tied with three others for furthest from the leader.
Dicky Pride jumped out in front, at 5-under through 15 holes.
Tournament faces future
The Sanford International is in year three of a five-year contract. Sanford would love to extend the tournament’s life beyond that, and discussions to do so have informally taken place, according to Sanford executive vice president Micah Aberson.
“We want to see it continue and we’re having conversations right now about what it could look like,” Aberson said. “There’s a lot of moving pieces in getting that accomplished. Working with the tour in making sure the schedule works, we have a great host venue here in Minnehaha Country Club, we’d love to see the tournament continue on here but certainly there are conversations ongoing with their board and membership to make sure there’s an appetite from their standpoint in being the host venue. But right now (Sanford) has an appetite to see it continue because we’ve had great success with it.”
In case you were wondering, Tiger Woods will become eligible for the Champions Tour in 2026.
‘You’re gonna have to move’
No journalist ever wants to become part of the story they’re covering, so I can tell you it was more embarrassing than anything when, as I walked down the cart path that separates the first and 18th fairways Friday afternoon, I directly impacted the Sanford International.
I was walking with my head down, my face largely hidden by a baseball cap and mask, when I heard shouting.
“Heads up!” I heard, and looked up to see a white blur heading straight for me.
“Look out!” shouted a bystander, but I knew it was too late. The low line drive had already bounced on the cart path and was about to pick up speed as it rocketed towards me. I had no chance.
Sanford CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft and pro golfer Andy North greet Ben Wieman, the Sanford Children’s Hospital ambassador, ahead of the first day of the Sanford International on Friday, September 11, at the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls. Wieman, 7, is a cancer survivor. (Erin Bormett / Argus Leader)
With a Coke Zero in my left hand and my work bag in my right, I (probably hilariously to anyone watching) tried to jump over the speeding spheroid, reminding myself as I did it of a third-base coach trying to dodge a foul ball.
I, however, am 40 years old and in quarantine shape, and don’t have much of a vertical these days. So I pretty much jumped right into the ball. It clipped the bottom of my pants and came to a stop in the grass on the far side of the path.
“Zim, did you just get hit in the (redacted)?” the man behind me asked in a tone that was far more entertained than concerned.
Well, sort of. I did that thing every man understands where you wait a few seconds to assess the true damage of the impact, and determined the cold weather must have worked in my favor. I was OK.
The tee flips behind Robert Karlsson as he tees off during the first day of the Sanford International on Friday, September 11, at the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls. (Erin Bormett / Argus Leader)
The ball, I discovered, had come off the club of Bob May, who about 10 minutes later made his way over to where I was standing. He didn’t know his ball had hit me, and he seemed kind of embarrassed by his errant shot so I didn’t want to tell him. But I did stand there filming him with my camera while he assessed the ball. He finally looked at me and said, politely but a little annoyed, “You’re gonna have to move.”
I realized I was standing directly in the path of where his next shot needed to go, and sheepishly apologized and moved. I felt like an idiot for a second, but then thought, “Hey man, he’s the one whose shot was so bad I can’t even tell where the hell he’s going” and then I didn’t feel so bad. Also, Bob, your shot getting back to the fairway would’ve been a lot tougher had my, uh, midsection not gotten in the way and saved you about 20 yards. You’re welcome.
Matt Zimmer is an Argus Leader sports reporter. Reach him at mzimmer@argusleader.com
On an episode of Golf Channel’s “PGA Tour Champions Learning Center,” the 54-year-old revealed he underwent a procedure to remove the aggressive cancer. Although the procedure was successful, Golf Channel reported Daly said there is still a possibility of recurrence.
“(My urologist) said there’s an 85 percent chance it comes back. So I’ve got to go back and see him in three months. They will probably have to cut it out again,” Daly said, according to Golf Channel. “It’s probably going to come back, and then another three months that you don’t know. You just don’t know.
“Luckily for me, they caught it early, but bladder cancer is something that I don’t know all the details. But it doesn’t look like it may go away. We will just see what happens. Maybe there’s a miracle.”
The 1991 PGA Championship winner has not posted on social media about his diagnosis.
Daly, who said he was battling kidney stones and back pain for weeks ahead of his diagnosis, said he will change his eating habits and undergo frequent check-ups as he battles the disease.
At the forefront of Daly’s health changes are cutting back on Diet Coke and attempting to quit smoking.
“The doctors aren’t saying it’s too late. Unfortunately, it’s a cancer that keeps coming back. But I’m going to listen to them, and I’m going to try and quit smoking,” Daly said in the interview. “If it comes back, it comes back. Six months to a year, if it doesn’t go away, I’m going to live my life. I’m gonna have some fun.”
Despite the diagnosis, Daly remains optimistic.
“Well, you know what, I always tell people I’ve lived one hell of a life. No matter what happens, I’m not scared to die or anything,” Daly said. “It would have been nice to play the last seven or eight or 13 years of my career a little more healthy. But hey, I’m still working, I’m still living life, I’m still doing the things I need to do. … I can accept the challenge. I’m not scared of that. I just want my kids to be OK and everyone else in my family.”
Daly last competed on the Champions Tour in mid August at the Charles Schwab Series at Bass Pro Shops Big Cedar Lodge in which he withdrew after two rounds due to illness. Daly also competed at the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship in early August, where he finished T-70.
Jim Furyk is in the field at the PGA Tour’s season-opening Safeway Open at Silverado Resort & Spa.
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NAPA, Calif. – Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson each celebrated their 50th birthday not long ago and wasted little time in becoming the 19th and 20th players to win in his PGA Tour Champions debut, respectively. But that doesn’t mean either of them is finished playing on the junior circuit just yet. Both are in the field this week at the PGA Tour’s season-opening Safeway Open at Silverado Resort & Spa, and whatever you do, don’t ask either of them if they’ve come to peace with making the inevitable transition to the senior circuit.
“Who said I came to peace with it?” Furyk said with an edge to his voice before breaking into a smile. “If you’d have asked me six months ago, I wasn’t sure. If you would have asked me literally five weeks ago, I wasn’t quite sure. I think I came to peace on it during a little reflection off of the season a little bit, where I’m at, where golf is at really in general, how we’re setting up golf courses on the PGA Tour, where equipment is at.”
Furyk is here this week because he recorded his best finish of an otherwise forgettable 2019-20 season at this tournament, finishing T-17, but he’s scheduled to play the next five Champions Tour events that follow.
“Scott McCarron probably put it best,” Furyk said. “He said the best thing I can tell you about the Champions Tour is it’s not that you can’t compete on the PGA Tour anymore, but how many times in a good year are you going to get in contention to win?’ He said, ‘You’re going to get in contention to win more often on the Champions Tour and you’ll still get just as nervous trying to win there as you do on the PGA Tour.”
For Furyk, this much is clear: he doesn’t intend to split time between the two tours. His plan is to focus primarily on the Champions Tour – 80 to 90 percent, he said – and cherry-pick a few starts at some of his favorite stomping grounds such as the Valspar Championship, RBC Heritage and Travelers Championship, places where length isn’t the key ingredient to success. Perhaps the strongest measure of his commitment to PGA Tour Champions is forming his own event, the Constellation Furyk and Friends, which will be played in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, October 4-10, 2021.
Furyk formed his foundation in 2010, and hosted his first Furyk & Friends a year later, raising about $500,000 per year the last few years, he said, during a two-day event in advance of the Players Championship.
“It was about golf and food and drinks and fun, and not always in that order. Golf was usually fourth on the list,” he said. “But realizing that eventually I’m going to transition and start playing the Champions Tour and it’s inevitable that I’m going to lose touch with the PGA Tour – it just happens – we were thinking how do we evolve?
“I started seeing, you know, Steve Stricker has the Am Fam (American Family Insurance Championship) and my good buddy Davis Love has the RSM in Sea Island, and I had a couple meetings with (PGA Tour Champions President) Miller Brady and dinner with Jay (Monahan) one night a couple of years ago and we started talking about the possibility of running a Champions Tour event. And I asked, ‘Is that possible with our foundation?’ ”
It turned out it was a good fit in the tour’s fall schedule. So, how did they settle on the course? Allow Furyk to tell the story: “Miller said, ‘Where are you thinking about having it, what course?’ And I said, ‘Well, I’ve got one in mind,’ and he goes, ‘I do, too.’ And I said, ‘All right, you go first,’ and he said, ‘Timuquana.’ And I go, ‘Great, we’re on the same page. That’s the place I would like to do it.’ ”
Furyk said the response from his fellow pros has been overwhelmingly positive and he’s working on his sales pitch to attract Mickelson and his other pals to join the field. In the meantime, Furyk’s success at the Ally Challenge has stoked his interest in making the transition to the Champions Tour.
Jim Furyk plays his shot from the first tee during the final round of the Ally Challenge presented by McLaren at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club on August 2, 2020 in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images
“It felt like the first day of school all over again,” said Furyk, who enjoyed catching up with the likes of Steve Pate and Jeff Sluman in Flint, Michigan, as well as playing on a shorter course. “My first day in Flint it had rained the night before and a couple of guys said, ‘Man, the course is playing long this year, isn’t it?’ I turned to Fluff and said, ‘What’s the longest club I hit in out here?’ Fluff said, ‘7-iron.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I can handle this.’ Medinah (site of last year’s BMW Championship) played at 7,650 last year. I’ll take my chances.
“My 4-iron is sore from the last few years and my 9-iron and wedge, they miss me. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been well-longer than average?” Furyk said. “That was kind of fun.”
The country musician is a former professional golfer who pursued his PGA Tour dream in the 1990s before striking it big in the music world.
Before he became a world-famous country-rapping musician, Colt Ford was a journeyman golf pro who chased his dream of playing on the PGA Tour in the 1990s. The Athens, Georgia, native was twice named that state’s PGA Section Assistants’ Division Player of the Year (teaching John Tillery, the instructor of Kevin Kisner and Rickie Fowler) and won several mini tour events while traveling to back water towns under his given name, Jason Brown.
“It was called the Hogan Tour when I started,” he said of the Tour developmental circuit known as the Korn Ferry Tour today. “That’s how long it’s been.”
This week, Ford, 51, who missed the cut at the 1995 South Carolina Classic, when it was the Nike Tour, is set to make his PGA Tour Champions debut at the Sanford International, playing on a sponsor invite into the 78-man field at Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Ford has stayed active in golf circles by competing in hit-and-giggle competitions such as the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in Orlando and the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in Lake Tahoe, which use Stableford scoring, and is a regular celebrity participant at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but concedes it’s been a while since he’s had to attest his score in a stroke-play competition.
“It’s one thing to play at the AT&T, where you have a partner and another when you have to put your score down no matter what in a box,” he said. “There ain’t no hiding out here.”
Colt Ford hits out of the bunker on the third hole during the third round of the 2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Pebble Beach Golf Links. (Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)
But Ford’s game may be stronger than ever. The coronavirus global pandemic has rocked the live music industry. Instead of performing an average of 125-140 concerts a year around the world as he has for the last decade, Ford expects to do less than 40 shows this year. He’s spent his downtime working on his game, including regular matches with John Daly at their club in Nashville.
“I probably wouldn’t have done this if it weren’t for COVID-19 and having the time to work at my game,” Ford said.
This isn’t the first time that Ford has been offered the opportunity to play against the pros, but the chance to play against the players he grew up competing against – Doug Barron and Dicky Pride, friends from junior golf; Jerry Kelly, who he traveled with on the mini-tours; and Chris DiMarco, Ken Duke and Jim Furyk, who beat him like a drum in his former life; was too tempting to pass up.
“I never wanted to take a spot from the Korn Ferry Tour guys. I’ve been on the side of losing a spot. I just couldn’t do it,” Ford said. “Those guys are playing for a living and having been in their shoes, I know it could be the week that guy plays great and wins or locks up his card. On the Champions Tour, it’s different. You’re either in or you’re not.
“I don’t have any delusions like I’m going to win or something but at the same time I’m hitting it really good and if I can get some more eyes looking at the Champions Tour that would be a good thing.”
Ford, who has lost more than 100 pounds in the last few years, said his ball striking, which always was the strength of his game, is as sharp as ever and there are times when his short game still resembles a Tour player.
“I’m hitting the ball good enough to break par every day. Whether that happens or not, we’ll see,” he said. “I don’t think I’m going to finish last, I can tell you that.”
Ford summed up the biggest difference between the challenge of playing golf for a living back in his pro days and the challenge of playing the Sanford International quite succinctly, saying, “At least I don’t have to worry about making a cut.”
The no-cut life of the senior circuit is something he could get used to. Then again, life has been good to Ford who went from struggling golf professional to a platinum-selling musician. Even though his career went in a vastly different direction than the one he always imagined, Ford never lost his passion for the game. Asked to describe his golf game as a country song, he played along and authored a doozy: “I ain’t as good as I once was but I’m as good once as I ever was.”
