Tag: 2022 Hero World Challenge

Hero World Challenge: Viktor Hovland’s eagle, Sepp Straka’s whirlwind week replacing Tiger, newlywed Collin Morikawa and Tom Kim ‘officially meets’ Tiger

The four-way tie for the lead in The Bahamas is the most after any round in tournament history.

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Hero World Challenge defending champion Viktor Hovland picked up where he left off, shooting 3-under 69 on Thursday at Albany Golf Club to share the opening-round lead with a trio of players. The four-way tie for the lead is the most after any round in tournament history.

On a warm, windswept day, Hovland continued his magic at the drivable par-4 14th, registering his fourth eagle of the hole in five attempts – and noted the one time he didn’t make eagle was a bogey.

“That green obviously is not the biggest green, but with how soft it is, if you land it on the green, you can keep it on the green whereas if it was really firm, you kind of have to land it up in the slope and stuff,” said Hovland, who nearly aced the hole.

Hovland had never held the 18-hole lead or co-lead in an official stroke-play event on the PGA Tour. The Norway native clearly enjoys playing golf in warm weather, having won the Puerto Rico Open, the Dubai Desert Classic and the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba twice in addition to his Bahamian conquest.

When asked on Wednesday for his reaction to Mayakoba’s El Camaleon Course deciding to host a LIV Golf tournament in February, Hovland didn’t see why it couldn’t continue to host a PGA Tour event too.

“If not, then I’ll try to find other places that I can win on,” he said.

No better place than in the Bahamas.

 

Sepp Straka makes most of Tiger Woods’ withdrawal, tied for lead after opening round at Hero World Challenge

There’s a four-way tie at the top, including last year’s champion.

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Hero World Challenge defending champion Viktor Hovland picked up where he left off, shooting 3-under 69 on Thursday at Albany Club to share the opening round lead with a trio of players.

While it is no surprise to see Hovland, who shot 18 under en route to victory a year ago, get off to another good start, Austrian-born Sepp Straka wasn’t even in the 20-man unofficial event until Monday around lunchtime when Tiger Woods withdrew with a foot injury. Straka was about to tee off at Shoal Creek in a three-day Ryder Cup-style match back home in Birmingham, Alabama, when he was informed he was the next man up.

“I got the call, so I had to change my schedule up,” he said.

Straka had other plans to scratch, too. He was supposed to attend the Friday wedding of fellow PGA Tour pro J.T. Poston – “which was unfortunate but he understood. It was a huge opportunity and just awesome to be here,” Straka said – and the former Georgia golfer was headed to Atlanta on Saturday to watch his top-ranked Bulldogs play in the SEC Championship game.

“Just have to watch that from here,” he said.

Did he have plans for Sunday, too?

“That was going to be recovering from that game,” he said.

Straka arrived in time to play only 15 holes in Wednesday’s pro-am, which was cut short due to inclement weather, but it didn’t seem to bother him on Thursday.

“I really didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t play much last week just trying to recharge the batteries a little bit,” he said.

Straka is guaranteed a minimum of $100,000 – last-place money – but could make a whole lot more if he keeps playing like he did in the first round, making six birdies against three bogeys. For one day, he played a bit like the man he replaced in the field.

“I mean, the iron game wasn’t as good as his,” Straka said of Woods, “but maybe rubbed off a little bit on me, so yeah, that was nice.”

Collin Morikawa, who got engaged in the Bahamas during this tournament a year ago and married last week, also shot 69 along with South Korea’s Tom Kim. Two years ago at the 2020 PGA Championship, Kim asked Woods to take a photograph with him, which Kim’s caddie snapped. But he counts talking with Woods this week as their first “official” meeting.

“We didn’t talk about anything serious, it was just a lot of small talk,” Kim said. “I told him we really would have loved it if he played this week, and we’re really going to miss him. He was like, he was really trying to prepare hard for it and unfortunately he couldn’t make it. But it was really nice, it was the first time I officially got to meet him and talk to him a little bit. It was really cool, I have to kind of pinch myself a little bit.”

Hovland continued his magic at the drivable par-4 14th, registering his fourth eagle of the hole in five attempts – and noted the one time he didn’t make eagle was a bogey.

“That green obviously is not the biggest green, but with how soft it is, if you land it on the green, you can keep it on the green whereas if it was really firm, you kind of have to land it up in the slope and stuff,” said Hovland, who nearly aced the hole.

Hovland, a Norway native, clearly enjoys playing golf in warm weather, having won the Puerto Rico Open, the Dubai Desert Classic and the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba twice in addition to his Bahamian conquest. When asked on Wednesday for his reaction to Mayakoba’s El Camaleon Course deciding to host a LIV Golf tournament in February, Hovland didn’t see why it couldn’t continue to host a PGA Tour event, too.

“If not, then I’ll try to find other places that I can win on,” he said.

No better place than in the Bahamas.

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2022 Hero World Challenge Friday second-round tee times, TV and streaming info

The 2022 Hero World Challenge features a $3.5 million check for the winner.

Thanksgiving is in the rear-view mirror. Now it’s time to get back to some golf with the 2022 Hero World Challenge, where a $3.5 million check awaits the winner.

The 20-man field, however, does not include tournament host Tiger Woods this year. On Monday, Woods withdrew but he is on hand for the festivities. Sepp Straka took his spot in the field, and he’s tied for the lead after the opening round.

Straka is at 3 under, along with Tom Kim, last year’s champion Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa.

The Albany course is a par 72 that measures 7,414 yards.

Here’s a look at Friday’s second-round tee times. All times ET.

1st tee

Tee time Players
10:30 a.m.
Corey Conners, Jordan Spieth
10:41 a.m.
Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry
10:52 a.m.
Sungjae Im, Kevin Kisner
11:03 a.m.
Billy Horschel, Jon Rahm
11:14 a.m.
Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler
11:25 a.m.
Tony Finau, Justin Thomas
11:36 a.m.
Tommy Fleetwood, Max Homa
11:47 a.m.
Sam Burns, Cameron Young
11:58 a.m.
Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland
12:09 p.m.
Tom Kim, Sepp Straka

How to watch

You can watch Golf Channel for free on fuboTV. All times Eastern.

Friday, Dec. 2

TV

Golf Channel: 1:30-3:30 p.m.

RADIO

Siruis XM: 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

STREAM

Peacock: 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 3

TV

Golf Channel: 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
NBC: 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

RADIO

Siruis XM: 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

STREAM

Peacock: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 4

TV

Golf Channel: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
NBC: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

RADIO

Siruis XM: 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

STREAM

Peacock: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

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Jon Rahm says PGA Tour players ‘should be thankful that LIV happened’

“I don’t know if those changes would have happened if LIV wasn’t in the picture.”

NASSAU, Bahamas – Jon Rahm can pinpoint when his voice in the game started to be heard.

“This is a clear moment, very clear,” he said. “The second I won the U.S. Open apparently I got all the credibility I needed. Before that, nobody cared. I got COVID, Memorial happened, then I win the U.S. Open and all of a sudden my opinion matters, that’s kind of how it went.”

On Wednesday, ahead of the 2022 Hero World Challenge at Albany Club, a course where he has notched a win in 2018 and a runner-up a year later in three career starts, Rahm spoke elegantly about the role of money in the game of golf.

“I’m in a very, very, very, very privileged position in life. I’m no one to be thinking about money,” he said. “Luckily, I’ve played really good golf and I’ve had the opportunity to earn more money than I need.”

But Rahm acknowledged that he and his fellow PGA Tour brethren have benefited from the formation of LIV Golf and the existential threat it has created to the Tour’s supremacy. He argued that LIV’s aggressive spending to attract players to the upstart league has sped up the Tour’s plans to raise purses and increase the Player Impact Program money from initially $40 million last year to $100 million split between the top 20 finishers. (Tiger Woods finished first for the second straight year despite playing just nine rounds this year.)

HERO: Tee times, TV info | Yardage book | Merchandise

“I think on this side of things we should be thankful that LIV happened,” Rahm said. “I don’t know if those changes would have happened if LIV wasn’t in the picture. So to an extent, yeah, we should be thankful.”

Rahm finished fifth and was awarded $6 million in the most recent PIP standings, which rewards the 20 players with the most positive impact on the Tour’s business.

“I’m not surprised I was in fifth place, pretty much to be expected. It’s not something I spend much time thinking about, right? I’m not going to change how I operate today to go any higher or lower on the PIP, that’s just not who I am. I’m here to win golf tournaments and I’m not going to be doing anything extra to change that,” he said. “I know in the social media aspect of things I might be a little or quite a bit behind a lot of people, but if you play good golf, things usually take care of themselves.”

Rahm also was quick to point out that money isn’t what makes his world go round.

“It’s not why I started playing, it’s not the reason why I play. So when I’m doing my schedule, when I’m practicing and I’m getting my things done, money is not really on my mind. If it was, I probably might have gone to LIV, right? If money is your goal, that’s clearly the path to go down,” he said. “Every decision I make when it comes to golf is to become the best player I can become.”

At the 2016 Quicken Loans, Rahm’s professional debut, he finished T-3 and earned $400,000 but said all that really meant to him was that he could “go to Chipotle and order extra guac if I wanted to and not feel guilty about it.”

“I’m still mad I bogeyed 17 and didn’t birdie 18 to not win,” he said. “Yeah, I was asked when that round finished, like Jon, you could have made par‑par and finished second for $700,000, and my answer was almost I don’t frickin’ care.”

2022 Hero World Challenge
Jon Rahm watches his putt on the 18th green during a practice round ahead of the 2022 Hero World Challenge at the Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas. (Photo: Fernando Llano/Associated Press)

But when asked if he would skip playing in more than one of the mandatory 13 elevated events plus three more of his choosing during the upcoming season – a requirement to earn the PIP money – he clarified that the money is a nice byproduct of his success and it was unlikely he would forgo those riches for the flexibility to take more time off.

“Listen, I’m saying I’m not playing for money. I’m also not stupid, OK?” he said. “If I’ve earned it and all I have to do is play maybe two or three events I haven’t played before for $20 million, yeah, I might make the effort and do it. It’s an added motivation, but I’m not going to be giving away millions of dollars just because I don’t want to play one or two events.”

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2022 Hero World Challenge merchandise is heavy on Tiger Woods and Nike

The gear in the merchandise shop, which is the club’s golf pro shop, is heavy with Nike products.

When Tiger Woods has felt the need to escape the rigors of competition, he’s headed to Albany Club, the luxury resort community on the southwestern end of the island and host of the Hero World Challenge this week.

This week, the gear in the merchandise shop, which is the club’s golf pro shop, is heavy with Nike products. No surprise there.

You can get yourself a TW hat and plenty of tournament logo editions. Nothing out of the ordinary – lots of tournament flags, shirts and headcovers – but if you want to rep the logo of a club where Tiger parks his yacht, Privacy, and Adam Scott, Justin Rose and others have prepped for the Masters, this is your chance to get a casino chip ball marker for your collection.

Max Homa, as only he can, compares the LIV Golf rumors to finding out about a high school fight in math class

Homa counted himself among the “fortunate,” who didn’t get caught in the rumor mill.

NASSAU, Bahamas – Max Homa experienced pangs of guilt as he left his wife and newborn son, Cam, to compete in this week’s Hero World Challenge at Albany Club.

“Didn’t expect it to be this kind of difficult,” he said. “I feel guilty being in beautiful Bahamas while my wife’s grinding changing diapers, but here I am so might as well play well.”

Homa, who has ascended to No. 16 in the Official World Golf Ranking and won the Fortinet Championship to start the 2022-23 PGA Tour campaign, took time during his pre-tournament press conference to reflect on the year that was and compared the LIV-PGA Tour drama to being in high school all over again.

“Every week was kind of fun in a way, or funny. It got old, but every Monday, Tuesday was, ‘Did you hear so-and-so is going? Is that true? Did you hear this about this tournament? Is that true?’ It felt like you were in high school again in a way and you just got out to lunch and you got a text while you were in math that somebody got in a fight with somebody and now you’re going to go figure out what part of that was true, and rarely any of that was true, which is exactly how this season was for us. So, I think part of it is just like enjoying the little noise.”

HERO: Tee times, TV info | Yardage book | Merchandise

Homa counted himself among the “fortunate,” who didn’t get caught in the rumor mill and have to field a steady diet of questions of whether they were going to be the next player to jump to LIV.

“You know, hearing stories about certain guys saying, ‘Oh, I hear he’s gone.’ and then I’ll talk to them and they’ll say, ‘I haven’t talked to them in months,’ so this is just made up. I feel bad for them, I feel that’s a much harder gig.

“Obviously what Rory’s been doing and playing so well, kind of feels like two jobs, is tricky. Mine was just the fun end of it. Hear a rumor, joke about the rumor, forget about the rumor and move along, so it wasn’t so bad for me.”

Yet in a twisted way, Homa said he tried to insert himself into the conversation “just for the fun of it,” and cracked that it was “a huge insult” that his efforts to do so went unnoticed.

“I guess it would have been cool to be a part of that so I could live the life of, you know, it felt like a reality TV series for a bit,” he said. “I guess I tried. I changed my bio on Twitter once when I think Brooks changed his bio and everyone figured out he was going or something like that. I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to get in on this and see if people catch on,’ but didn’t realize that my Twitter bio doesn’t get a ton of traction, so that was news to me.

“The craziness of all of this was I feel like a little more outside than it was inside. Inside, like I said, I thought it was funny and fun, we were just trying to make light of it. It’s people’s lives, they can do what they want to do. I don’t know, I feel like a lot of us had fun with it. I had fun with it. It was taken as, like, slights to the LIV Tour, but I never meant, I just make fun of everything that I do and other people do. So it was funny. I would have liked to be caught in the rumor mill so I could have run with it for a little while, it would have been good for that PIP thing, but was not lucky enough to be caught up.”

As for the ‘PIP thing,’ Homa banked an additional $3 million for finishing 14th in the standing but was none too happy to finish one spot back of Kevin Kisner, his partner in the 2021 QBE Shootout.

“I’m not quite sure how that happened. Played better than him, carried him at the QBE last year, so not sure how I lost to him, so that was disappointing,” he said. “Just back to the drawing board, got to figure out more ways to impact the golfing world. I am surprised that I’m 16 in the world and I was 14 on the PIP. I always thought I was significantly more popular than I was good at golf, so it feels nice that those things are aligning, so that’s a little mini bonus, but at the end of the day I’ll take 14th is pretty good.”

“It is a little confusing how it works, but it does seem to work,” Homa added. “Tiger won again, so as long as he’s winning, it’s not broken, so that’s good.”

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Watch: Justin Thomas trolls Jordan Spieth ahead of 2022 Hero World Challenge

Just one friend looking out for another.

Justin Thomas is looking out for his friend.

At last year’s Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, Jordan Spieth incurred a strange penalty you simply don’t see from a PGA Tour player. He and Henrik Stenson played from the wrong tee box on the par-5 ninth hole. Even with multiple signs informing players that the tee boxes had been moved up from the previous rounds, the duo didn’t see it.

They were informed of the mistake, went back to the correct tee and re-hit their shots, taking a two-shot penalty.

HERO: Tee times, TV info | Yardage book | Merchandise

Thomas, who’s close friends with Spieth, posted a hilarious video on Twitter trying to make sure that mistake didn’t happen again.

Just one friend looking out for another.

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Check the yardage book: Albany for the Hero World Challenge

StrackaLine offers hole-by-hole maps of the Ernie Els design at Albany in the Bahamas, site of the Hero World Challenge.

The golf course at Albany in New Providence in the Bahamas – site of this week’s Hero World Challenge – was designed by Ernie Els and opened in 2010. It ranks as No. 24 on Golfweek’s Best list of courses in Mexico, the Caribbean, the Atlantic Island and Central America.

On the island of Nassau, the layout features five par 5s and five par 3s. Part of a resort community, it plays to 7,414 yards with a par of 72.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the players face this week. Check out the maps of each hole below.

Tiger Woods laments foot ailment that forced him out of Hero World Challenge: ‘I just kept making it worse’

Woods confirmed that the plantar fasciitis is related to the one-car accident in February 2021.

NASSAU, Bahamas — When asked if he could name all 206 bones in the body, Tiger Woods didn’t miss a beat in cracking — pun intended — a joke.

“I know of the ones that hurt, OK?” he said, breaking — pun intended — into a smile.

Woods, 46, announced his latest ailment in a tweet on Monday, citing plantar fasciitis in his right foot as the reason he will be unable to compete this week at the Hero World Challenge, where he also serves as tournament host and his foundation is the main beneficiary.

“It was a tough decision just because I want to play. I like playing, I like competing, but unfortunately, I can hit the golf ball and hit whatever shot you want, I just can’t walk,” he explained during a pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday. “I’ve had a few setbacks during the year that I still was able to somehow play through, but this one I just can’t. Only time can heal this one and stay off my feet and get a lot of treatment done.”

The more Woods ramped up his practice ahead of the tournament, the pain in his foot worsened.

“The worst thing you can do is walk, and I was walking more and more and more, trying to get my legs ready for this event, and I just kept making it worse,” Woods said. “So had to shut it down and unfortunately, be the host of the event and Ranger Rick out here.”

During his remarks, Woods noted that he has undergone two more surgical procedures this year, but when pressed for more basic information such as what the surgeries were for and when they happened, he demurred and only would confirm that they happened this year. (Woods did confirm that he was under the weather during the British Open in July, but that he never tested positive for COVID-19.) He also confirmed that the plantar fasciitis is related to the other injuries to his foot that he suffered in a one-car accident in February 2021.

Woods said he will require a month or two of rest to allow his foot to heal properly.

“It was the ramping up process that did it,” he said. “It’s a balancing act, right? How hard do you push it to make progress while not pushing it too hard to go off the edge and you set yourself back two, three days, and that’s been the balancing act the whole year. And trying to do that, get ready for this event, I did a lot of beach walks trying to simulate the sand out here and my foot just did not like that very much.”

150th Open Championship
Tiger Woods tips his hat to the crowd after teeing off on the 18th hole during the second round of the 150th Open Championship golf tournament at St. Andrews Old Course. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Woods competed in three majors this season – the Masters, where he finished T-47, the PGA Championship, where he withdrew after the third round, and the British Open, where he missed the cut – and he said he exceeded his own expectations, which were to simply play in the British at St. Andrews in Scotland, “the Home of Golf,” potentially for the last time. Despite the pain in his foot, Woods remains confident that he can play in The Match, a 12-hole exhibition scheduled for Dec. 10 pitting Woods and Rory McIlroy against Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, as well as the PNC Championship, a two-person team event with son Charlie.

“This will be a tough week. The Father-Son will be a very easy week, Charlie will just hit all the shots and I’ll just get the putts out of the hole, so pretty easy there,” Woods said. “But other than that, in ‘The Match’ we’re playing in, we’re flying in carts.”

Woods reiterated his stance that he won’t request to use a cart at a sanctioned PGA Tour event, noting that the PNC Championship, where he’s used a cart in the past, is sanctioned by the rules of the PGA Tour Champions.

As for his future plans, Woods made it clear that his schedule in 2023 will be — at best — limited once again.

“The goal is to play just the major championships and maybe one or two more. That’s it. I mean, that’s — physically that’s all I can do,” he said. “I don’t have much left in this leg, so gear up for the biggest ones and hopefully, you know, lightning catches in a bottle and I’m up there in contention with a chance to win and hopefully I remember how to do that.”

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2022 Hero World Challenge Thursday tee times, TV and streaming info

We are done with official PGA Tour events in 2022. Now it’s time for golf’s silly season.

We are done with official PGA Tour events in 2022. Now it’s time for golf’s silly season.

Make no mistake, though, there’s real money on the line at the 2022 Hero World Challenge, with $3.5 million going to the winner of a 20-man field.

The competition, however, won’t include tournament host Tiger Woods. On Monday, Woods announced he isn’t able to play due to plantar faciitis. Woods will still be on hand for the festivities and is schedule to conduct a 10 a.m. ET news conference Tuesday. Sepp Straka was named his replacement and will get a tee time alongside Justin Thomas in Thursday’s first round.

Other notable pairings for Thursday include the all-Texas Longhorn duo of Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth, the British pairing of Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood, newlywed Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland as well as Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm, fresh off his third DP World Tour Championship.

The Albany course is a par 72 that measures 7,414 yards.

Here’s a look at Thursday’s first-round tee times. All times ET.

1st tee

Tee time Players
11 a.m. Cameron Young, Tom Kim
11:11 a.m. Billy Horschel, Sungjae Im
11:22 a.m. Kevin Kisner, Sam Burns
11:33 a.m. Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood
11:44 a.m. Corey Conners, Shane Lowry
11:55 a.m. Max Homa, Tony Finau
12:06 p.m. Sepp Straka, Justin Thomas
12:17 p.m. Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm
12:28 p.m. Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth
12:39 p.m. Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland

How to watch

You can watch Golf Channel for free on fuboTV. All times Eastern.

Thursday, Dec. 1

TV

Golf Channel: 1:30-3:30 p.m.

RADIO

Siruis XM: 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

STREAM

Peacock: 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 2

TV

Golf Channel: 1:30-3:30 p.m.

RADIO

Siruis XM: 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

STREAM

Peacock: 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 3

TV

Golf Channel: 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
NBC: 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

RADIO

Siruis XM: 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

STREAM

Peacock: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 4

TV

Golf Channel: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
NBC: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

RADIO

Siruis XM: 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

STREAM

Peacock: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

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