Tag: 2024 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open

Padraig Harrington pulls off three-peat at Dick’s Sporting Goods Open: ‘It’s very exciting’

As for Padraig Harrington’s body of work through Sunday’s closing round? Let’s label that appropriately workmanlike.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The outcome, of course, made for a magnificent third consecutive Dick’s Sporting Goods Open victory. As for Padraig Harrington’s body of work through Sunday’s closing round? Let’s label that appropriately workmanlike.

The affable Irishman played En-Joie’s back nine in even-par, nevertheless posted a single-stroke win over Mike Weir to leave him 3-for-3 in Endicott since celebrating a 50th birthday.

Harrington closed with 4-under 68 to finish the 54-hole event 15-under, with Weir coming in at 67. Third place was shared by Mark Hensby (66), Ken Duke (68) and Ken Tanigawa (70) at 13-under.

Stephen Ames, 36-hole co-leader on rounds of 64 and 69, faded from realistic contention on the back and shared sixth after a 71.

“It’s very exciting,” Harrington said. “Coming into the week people say, ‘Oh, are you going to do a three-peat,’ and it’s a lot easier to say it than do it. So yeah, I was trying to keep my expectations dab even though I do like the golf course. I know it suits me. I think it was managing other people’s expectations and trying to keep myself in a nice place.

“I probably didn’t play as well on Wednesday and Thursday as I would have wanted it, but I got gradually better as the tournament went on. Certainly today on a windier day it was a tricky day to be out in the last group. I certainly got a few good breaks. A few things went against me, but I got a few good breaks as well to even out the day. It was just my day.”

As for that back nine?

He opened by inexplicably chopping his second from the middle of the 10th fairway into the drink and made bogey, and his lone birdie thereafter came via a superb drive and approach finessed prudently to a bit above the hole at 15.

At the come-and-get-me 16th, he ground out par from well past the green near the 17th tee box. At 17, he yanked a 9-iron tee ball but got up and down from nasty rough left, holing a putt of seven or so feet. At the last – with Weir having posted 14-under – Harington carried his drive 317 yards to an ideal position and proceeded to uneventfully two-putt.

“I was really trying to make one more birdie,” he said. “I knew I had a one-shot lead, but if I could get it to two shots, I felt that’s comfortable. I was going after it on 16 and we were thinking 3-wood. Then we said, ‘Well, get driver to the back of the green.’ And obviously I pitched on hardpan rather than the soft part, went long and I was in – I wasn’t in the worst place in the world, but it was awkward when you’re leading the tournament.

“I think if I was one shot back, I would have given that a much better effort to get that up and down, but I was more concerned about not taking 5. And 17 was a little lapse in concentration; I was just drawing it into the pin, and I changed my target at the last moment and snatched that a bit.”

Weir, who assuredly will rue a shorty for par misfired at the 13th, made six birdies against that lone toe-stub. He has finished second in two goes at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

Harrington, who made eagle at the third and birdies on the sixth, eighth and ninth:

— Made it eight wins on PGA Tour Champions in his 41st start at the age of 52 years, 9 months, 23 days.

— Joins Ames (2) and Ernie Els (2) as multiple winners this season.

— Became the first player to win the same PGA Tour Champions event in three consecutive seasons since 2014 DSGO winner Bernhard Langer at the Kaulig Companies Championship (2014-16).

Endicott, no doubt, will remain special to Harrington.

“This is what the Champions Tour is all about,” he said. “When we come to venues like this, Broome County, old PGA Tour stops, dare I say it being outgrown or forgotten about, they really come out for the Champions Tour. They love their golf, they come out, they have a great sponsor in Dick’s. The whole community, the fans come out, and we love being here.

“It’s great for us as players, we get to relive our past glories, hit shots under pressure, under stress, some good, some bad, so it’s really a perfect Champions Tour event. You have the atmosphere, you feel like you’re a kid back in the old days.”

Odds & Ends

— With birdies on six of his first nine holes (1-3 and 7-9), Hensby closed his first Dick’s Open with a 6-under 66 to finish T3 at 13-under. He played En-Joie’s front nine holes in an aggregate 12-under.

— Following a 7-under 65 in Round 2 to share the 36-hole lead at 11-under, Tanigawa closed his sixth Dick’s Open with a 2-under 70 to finish T3.

— In his sixth Dick’s Open start, 36-hole co-leader and Charles Schwab Cup No. 1 Stephen Ames shot 71 to finish T6 at 12-under. The finish becomes his ninth top-10 of the season (13 starts) and first in the Dick’s Open.

Top of The Board

Padraig Harrington 68-65-68 – 201

Mike Weir 68-67-67 – 202

Mark Hensby 70-67-66 – 203

Ken Duke 69-66-68 – 203

Ken Tanigawa 68-65-70 – 203

Billy Andrade 69-67-68 – 204

Miguel Angel Jimenez 68-68-68 – 204

Steve Allan 65-69-70 – 204

Stephen Ames 64-69-71 – 204

Robert Karlsson 70-71-64 – 205

Doug Barron 68-71-66 – 205

Bob Estes 70-64-71 – 205

Padraig Harrington is looking for a third straight Dick’s Open title on Sunday

Check out who’s in the lead group Sunday seeking to enhance a spectacular track record.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Surprise, surprise. Check out who’s in the lead group Sunday seeking to enhance a spectacular track record in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

Padraig Harrington closed a spotless round of 7-under 65 with birdies on En-Joie Golf Course’s final three holes Saturday to take a share of the 36-hole lead. Ken Tanigawa (65) and overnight leader Stephen Ames (69) will accompany Harrington in a group scheduled to leave the first tee at 10:36 a.m. Sunday.

Next-best through two rounds are Bob Estes, Paul Stankowski and Steve Allan, sharing fourth a shot off the top spot, with three others at 9-under. If a quartet at 8-under is within reach, perhaps keep an eye on Miguel Angel Jimenez, whose second-round 68 began with five successive birdies.

Sunday’s weather may not be pretty. Thunderstorms have been forecast with varying degrees of likelihood from early afternoon through the night. Due to that threat, it’ll be a two-tee start with the last groups off at 10:41 a.m.

Harrington’s eight senior tour rounds at En-Joie have all been in the 60s, with a high of 69 to open the 2023 event and a low of 63 to round out his second-consecutive win here. Entering Sunday, he is an aggregate 45 under par – the kind of comfort zone that figures to serve him well in the thick of the moment Sunday.

“Both rounds this week I finished strong. It’s been a bit of a surprise,” he said. “I was a little frustrated probably through nine holes today. My playing partners were going so low, I wasn’t holing the putts. Then, I don’t know if I was patient or things happened to go my way, but it was really nice to come home 5-under.

“This is one of those – there’s obviously a big bunch of people up on the leaderboard, but sometimes you’re three or four shots off the lead, you have a chance going into Sunday, but with so many people on the leaderboard, you really want to be very tightly up there. You want to be if not in the lead, close enough. One of those guys is going to go low tomorrow, so hopefully it will be me.”

Harrington is seeking to become the first player to win the same PGA Tour Champions event three consecutive seasons since Bernhard Langer achieved the feat at the Kaulig Companies Championship (2014-16).

Ames made five birdies – one of the gotta-be-kidding variety from rough left and perilously to the drink at the par-4 15th – against 10th- and 13th-hole bogeys. When holding a 36-hole lead/co-lead in 54-hole events, he is 6-for-9 converting for a win.

“Everything was pretty solid,” he said. “I didn’t make as many putts that I’d like to, not like yesterday, but I think a little bit of the rain kind of changed the greens a little bit because they got a little softer, so we had more footprints through the greens. So, I guess altogether it was a solid round, got it around nicely.”

As for Sunday, given anticipated inclement weather?

“Well, another early start to the week, which is kind of interesting because they said rain today, too, and we never got it, and it had the same on Friday, and we never got it. But we’re getting some tomorrow apparently, so I’m not going to elaborate on that one.”

Round 1 leader Stephen Ames finished 3-under for the day and in a three-way tie for first at 11-under for the Dick’s Open, June 22, 2024.
Tanigawa, who stood 9-under for the day with two eagles through 13 holes, stumbled with a bogey at the 14th and a double at the 15th. He rebounded with birdie at 16.

“I started out great, I got it to 9-under and just hit a lot of good shots, made the putts to capitalize on those good shots,” he said. “Overall, very happy, very good round for myself.”

He hit the first 12 greens in regulation.

“Ball in the fairway, for sure. That always helps, right?,” he said. “I had probably good numbers, which helped. Just when you attack the pins, it kind of makes sense with those numbers, and if not, just kind of hit middle of the greens if you can.”

Odds & Ends

— The start of Round 2 was delayed 45 minutes because of fog.

— Tanigawa’s lone top-10 finish in five previous Dick’s Open starts was a T6 in 2022

— As a PGA Tour rookie, Estes lost in a playoff to Mike Hulbert in the 1989 B.C. Open at En-Joie.

— Chad Campbell withdrew following an opening-round 68 that featured eagles on two of his first five holes, citing the illness of a family member. The 50-year-old Texan was playing his third senior tour event.

Top of the Board

Padraig Harrington 68-65 – 133

Ken Tanigawa 68-65 – 133

Stephen Ames 64-69 – 133

Bob Estes 70-64 – 134

Paul Stankowski 67-67 134

Steve Allan 65-69 – 134

Ken Duke 69-66 – 135

Mike Weir 68-67 – 135

Stephen Ames blasts his way to a 64 at PGA Tour Champions’ Dick’s Sporting Goods Open

No one took greater advantage in sweltering heat than Stephen Ames,

En-Joie Golf Course was for the taking in Friday’s Round 1 of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

No one took greater advantage in sweltering heat than Stephen Ames, twice a winner this season on the PGA Tour Champions who sits atop the Charles Schwab Cup earnings list ($1,270,963). He played bogey-free golf in a round of 8-under-par 64.

Ames made birdie on four of the final six holes to pass Steve Allan, who similarly made eight birdies in his round of 65.

Rocco Mediate sits solo third after a perfectly satisfying 66. Ernie Els and Bernhard Langer share fourth with Paul Stankowski (67). Els arrived in Endicott having won each of the last two Tour events, and Langer, soon to turn 67, continues his remarkable resurgence from February surgery to repair a torn Achilles.

Langer, 2014 champion at En-Joie, made five consecutive birdies beginning at the par-5 eighth.

Two-time defending Dick’s Open champion Padraig Harrington is smack in contention again, sharing seventh on a seven-birdie, three-bogey round of 68.

Second-round play is to begin at 7:50 a.m. Saturday, with the leaders off the tee at 12:25 p.m.

“I just played golf. I hit some nice — hit some quality golf shots,” said Ames, 60, an eight-time senior tour winner. “Tough to hit a lot of fairways on this golf course — they’re extremely narrow — but I think the opportunities, when I did hit the fairway, I made some birdies on it. Other than that, putted nicely and didn’t make any mistakes.”

He concluded his lowest round of the season by holing a birdie putt of 10 or so feet at the last. As for the root of his birdies on the three front-side par-5s?

“Length, I guess. Had the advantage of that,” he said. “Also the fact that I did hit the fairway, so that kind of helped. Actually, I missed the fairway on the third, I got it up and down from about 80 yards. So, I mean overall, just like I said, just playing golf. Capitalized on situations when they arose and putted nicely.”

Allen, 50-year-old Australian with one top-10 through 11 events of his rookie season, played in the first group of the day. He was 4-under through nine and proceeded to make birdie at the 12th, 16th and 18th in a spotless back nine.

“For the most part I played pretty well. I got lucky a couple times with my drives,” he said. “Hit a few drives left in the middle of the round, and one of them kicked in the fairway, I had gaps in the other two, so I was a little lucky. I played well, I holed out well around the hole.

“Any sort of shortish putts for par or birdie, I made ’em, so that kept the round going.”

Allan added, “The conditions are perfect at the moment. The greens have a little bit of firmness to them, but they’re not too hard. The course is in great shape. A good little bit — there’s a little bit of rough, so you have to drive the ball well, but it’s not overly penal if you just miss a fairway, so I love it. It’s great.”

Mediate made seven birdies against one bogey. He was forced to withdraw from his most recent three starts with a back ailment. His top finish in four completed events this season was a second to Ames at the Chubb Classic.

“Everything worked. I drove crappy on some holes, but I drove good on the holes I needed to, I guess,” he said. “I haven’t played healthy since Tucson. I’ve been out a lot, been out for a couple two months. I’m ecstatic, ecstatic. Feel much better, yeah.”

Odds & Ends

– Chad Campbell, in his third PGA Tour Champions event, was 4-under through five without making birdie – eagles at the first (hole-out from 127) and par-5 fifth took care of that. He shares seventh after a 68.

– Ames has eight top-10s in 12 starts this season. He was T4 two weeks back in the American Family Insurance Championship.

– Els has been a second- and third-place Dick’s Sporting Goods Open finisher.

– Dick Mast, 73-year-old Monday qualifier at the Links at Hiawatha Landing, shot 72 with four front-side birdies.

– Jerry Kelly withdrew before the first round, citing a back injury.

Round 1 Results

Stephen Ames 64

Steve Allan 65

Rocco Mediate 66

Paul Stankowski 67

Ernie Els 67

Bernhard Langer 67

Mario Tiziani 68

David Brandson 68

Dick’s Sporting Goods Open crowd favorite John Daly on the tee, June 21, 2024.
Michael Wright 68

Notah Begay III 68

David Duval 68

Miguel Angel Jimenez 68

Mike Weir 68

Padraig Harrington 68

Ken Tanigawa 68

Chad Campbell 68

Tim Petrovic 68

Doug Barron 68

Cameron Percy 69

Vijay Singh 69

This PGA Tour Champions event is staying put through 2029 after new deal was inked

A five-year extension of the title sponsorship agreement was disclosed,

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott will continue to host PGA Tour Champions Golf through at least 2029.

A five-year extension of the title sponsorship agreement was disclosed jointly by Dick’s Sporting Goods and the Tour on the eve of the 17th Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

The most recent renewal before Thursday came in the form of a three-year extension in June 2021.

“They’re obviously one of the better sponsors out here,” said Padraig Harrington, two-time defending champion. “It’s a great event coming up here, it’s well supported by the fans. I think we’re delighted to be able to come back here for the next five years and certainly it would be one for me, you’ll probably see me every year.”

The 2025 edition Dick’s Open will be contested July 11-13.

The Dick’s Sporting Goods Open has been conducted annually in Endicott – but for the COVID-necessitated cancelation in 2020 – since 2007.

“Broome County is a special place for my family and for Dick’s Sporting Goods,” said Ed Stack, Binghamton native and Executive Chairman of Dick’s Sporting Goods. “It is where I grew up and our company started more than 75 years ago. I’m thrilled to have the Dick’s Open continue in Endicott and am thankful for our great partners at the PGA TOUR Champions and Broome County Community Charities who help make this tournament a world-class event.”

The inaugural B.C. Open, forerunner to the Dick’s Open, was staged in 1971 as a PGA Tour satellite event. The regular-tour event was played at En-Joie through 2005 and shifted in 2006 to Turning Stone Resort & Casino’s Atunyote Golf Club when massive flooding pummeled the Southern Tier.

Three is a magic number: Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington each looking for three straight titles

Threes are potentially wild for the 17th edition of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

Threes are potentially wild for the 17th edition of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open when tournament play begins Friday at En-Joie Golf Course.

There is Padraig Harrington, winner of each of the last two PGA Tour Champions events in Endicott. And there is Ernie Els, winner of the most recent two Tour events anywhere.

Those possibilities will assuredly be front and center as anticipation builds through the week of preliminary activity in what will be uncomfortably steamy temperatures throughout Broome County.

One annual highlight of the event will be staged Friday night following opening-round play. That’ll be a concert featuring Luke Bryan, maker of 30 No. 1 hits and five-time entertainer of the year.

“Stunningly spectacular” was applied on this website last year, when Harrington beat up En-Joie’s second nine Sunday — five birdies, one eagle for a 7-under 28 — to complete a round of 9-under 63 and become the event’s first back-to-back champion.

Joe Durant, 18-hole leader by three and Sunday’s pace-setter for much of the back nine, went 64-69-66 as runner-up, a shot better than Els, whose closing bogey left him a 68 and 16-under total.

Padraig Harrington of Ireland holds the trophy after winning the DICK’S Sporting Goods Open at En-Joie Golf Club on June 25, 2023 in Endicott, New York. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

Els won the June 7-8-9 American Family Insurance Championship in a playoff with Steve Stricker, a week after topping the field at the Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines (62-68-65). He is a five-time PGA Tour Champions winner with a stellar record at En-Joie.

“We’ve got an interesting storyline. What’s going to happen: Is Ernie Els going to win three in a row? Or is Padraig going to threepeat?” said tournament director John Karedes.

As for which would be more compelling? “I don’t know. You’ve got Padraig, who’s just an awesome guy, inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame (June 10), and you’ve got Ernie who I believe has two (top-threes) here.

“We’ve had guys like Ernie and Miguel and Darren Clarke who’ve come just oh so close. Oh, and let’s not forget about the sixty-some-year-old, Bernhard. When I went on social media and saw he’d gone a six-week period and all he could do was chip and putt, I told my colleagues, ‘You guys watch out. If this guy can only work on his short game for six weeks, you think about what that short game is going to be like when he comes back and he starts playing.’ What’d he shoot, 17-under a couple weeks ago?

“This is a course you know he can play well, it’s relatively flat so that should take pressure off any residuals he’s got from the injury.

“There are some great potential stories.”

Odds & ends

— Stephen Ames, who’ll play his sixth Dick’s Sporting Goods Open this week, has won events this season by four- and three-stroke margins, respectively. That ranks him co-first and co-second in 2024. Ames has also built the largest 36-hole lead (three strokes).

— Low start by a winner this year? Els went 10-under 62 in the Principal Charity Classic and Harrington went 8-under 63 in the Hoag Classic.

— Most consecutive years with a win on Tour? Harrington and Steven Alker (2022-24).