Fleetwood is gaining on Cameron Tringale, the all-time leader among the PGA Tour’s winless with $16,981,931.
Just call Tommy Fleetwood the $15-million winless man.
For the second straight week, Fleetwood teed off in one of the final groups with a chance to secure his first PGA Tour title, but once again it wasn’t to be. Don’t feel too badly for Fleetwood, who finished T-3 with Jordan Spieth at the Valspar Championship on Sunday and cashed a check for $477,900.
That moved his all-time PGA Tour earnings across the $15-million mark and nary a win in 112 career starts – $15,186,842, to be exact, for Fleetwood’s accountant and those scoring at home.
Fleetwood, of course, has won six times on the DP World Tour and ranks 10th all time on its Order of Merit with another €24,153,564.80. Fleetwood is gaining ground on Cameron Tringale, who jumped to LIV Golf last season but remains the all-time leader among the winless on the PGA Tour with winnings of $16,981,931.
Fleetwood carded a final-round 1-under-70, just his second score in the 70s in eight career rounds at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Florida, for his second top-10 finish on Tour this season (T-4 at the CJ Cup in South Carolina) and fourth finish of T-4 or higher in his last nine Tour starts. He snapped a streak of 46 Tour starts without a top-three finish, dating to a third at the 2020 Honda Classic.
Fleetwood shared the lead with Spieth and Adam Schenk at 9 under until he made bogey at the par-5 14th hole and couldn’t manage another birdie.
“I love the standard of golf over here,” Fleetwood said of playing the PGA Tour. “I’ve had my chances before and it’s not happened for me, but I think I’ve got a lot of events left in me and I don’t plan on winning once I would like to win multiple, multiple times. When my day comes that will be great.”
Golf fans deserve to see their favorites stress-tested for a pay check.
Sunday will see a line drawn under the most memorable season in PGA Tour history, if not the tumult that rendered it so. At best, there’ll be a brief respite before the next announcement of defectors to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit. When it comes, it will closely resemble those that have preceded it: an accomplished player window-dressed with dross, whose bank accounts will soon be more impressive than their trophy cases ever promised to be.
The anticipated departure of Cameron Smith is the biggest coup LIV has managed and, as a fishing buddy of Tour brass, one sure to be keenly felt. The names alongside Smith’s will serve only to underline the uncomfortable reality that mediocrity pays awfully well on the PGA Tour, even for the perpetually winless. The most familiar among them might be Cameron Tringale, but only because he’s followed almost everyone on Twitter. As of Saturday, that number is 29,458, an almost incalculable multiple of the crowd he’s ever likely to draw through the turnstiles. Somewhere in Greg Norman’s conscience (stifle thy snorts!) he must dread a day when the Crown Prince Googles the achievements of the players for whom he is paying spectacularly over market value.
What distinguishes LIV’s next announcement from priors is the context provided this week at the Tour Championship. The vision outlined by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan seems to have bought, for now, the loyalty of all but one of the world’s top 15 players, so it will be difficult for even LIV’s most ardent apologists to characterize any signings as genuine momentum, even allowing for Smith.
While many particulars need to be penciled in on the future Monahan outlined, one component represents a windfall for fans: seeing the best golfers in the world compete against each other much more frequently than they do now—at least a dozen times every season, outside of major championships. A guaranteed product—knowing who’s playing, where and when—is momentous for fans and sponsors, but there’s much still to do if the commish is to secure the long-term viability of what he has promised.
Presenting Monahan with a wish list for the future feels like asking Santa for a gift when he just emptied his sleigh with the rich kid next door, but there are issues that demand his attention. Safeguarding the talent pipeline, for one. Seeing two college stars—U.S. Amateur champion James Piot and Eugenio Chacarra—sign with LIV should have triggered alarm bells in Ponte Vedra. Offering the best and brightest access only to developmental tours won’t cut it. The world’s best amateurs must be fast tracked onto the PGA Tour. (Talent being groomed on the Korn Ferry Tour would benefit from even a small subsidy to offset the cost of competing on a circuit where the average prize money this season is less than $70,000.)
The PGA Tour must also eschew insularity. The alliance with the DP World Tour can’t be neglected. On Wednesday, Monahan said the PGA Tour events being accorded “elevated” status are domestic. Tally up those weeks along with majors and it leaves precious little time for top players to compete outside the U.S. Conceding the global stage to LIV would be poor strategy, and the PGA Tour needs to boost key stops on the DP World calendar too.
Perhaps most importantly, Monahan must prevent the PGA Tour from becoming LIV-lite, cushioning elite players with an extensive roster of no-cut events. It’s clear that good performances will earn lavish rewards—heck, even middling play pays well—but the Tour can’t lose the penalty for poor showings. The highs and lows of meaningful competition ought to be preserved. There is sufficient guaranteed money in what has already been announced, and fans deserve to see their favorites stress-tested for a pay check. Someone needs to slam their trunk on Friday. The $120,000 LIV pays for DFL is a subject of mockery and disgust. The same perception can’t be permitted to take root on the PGA Tour with an over-reliance on no-cut formats in those elevated tournaments for stars.
The announcements this week will elevate transparency from wishful thinking to a necessity. For example, it remains unclear what tournament eligibility, if any, will be tied to the controversial Player Impact Program through which ‘top’ players will in part be identified. Let’s have clarity on the metrics used to calculate the PIP and how they’re weighted, and make public the monthly standings currently given to players. Don’t stop there when it comes to transparency. Dump the ingrained culture of secrecy and be candid on disciplinary issues. It’s information sports fans now expect, especially gamblers the Tour is eager to cultivate. The Tour needs to understand that its reputation isn’t tethered to its most unmoored members (less coddling might have left the certifiable inner circle of one player less emboldened to pursue frivolous litigation).
What momentum that exists in the unremitting battle for the future of professional golf seems now to be on the side of the PGA Tour. Understandably, much of the movement we’ve seen has focused on rewarding the loyalty of its top players. In the coming weeks and months, it would be fitting if the loyalty of its fans saw greater benefits too.
Now, about this staggered scoring system at the Tour Championship …
In 338 starts on the PGA Tour, Tringale has never found the winner’s circle.
In what’s expected to be a big week for the LIV Golf Series announcing its next wave of signings, the first domino has fallen.
Cameron Tringale, a 13-year PGA Tour veteran who hasn’t found the winner’s circle in 338 starts, announced on his Twitter he was not renewing his PGA Tour membership for next season and joining LIV Golf.
Since turning professional in 2009, Tringale has made $17,426,908 in 338 starts and holds the dubious distinction as the man to win the most money without ever winning a PGA Tour event. Tringale, who’s ranked 53rd in the world, has finished second four times in his career, including a tie for second at the 2021 Zozo Championship. He also finished tied for third at the Farmers Insurance Open and T-6 at the Genesis Scottish Open.
“After much reflection, prayer, and conversations with trusted advisors I have made the decision not to renew my TOUR membership for next year and join LIV Golf,” Tringale, 35, said in a statement on Twitter.
Tringale made it into the FedEx Cup Playoffs this year, missing the cut at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational. But, he was high enough in the standings to make it into the BMW Championship, where he finished 5 over after four rounds.
A report named Tringale as one of numerous golfers heading to LIV Golf this week, including Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann.
Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. And members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.
At the conclusion of the Tour Championship, expect the next wave of LIV Golf announcements to come quickly.
Cameron Smith, who has long been rumored to be heading to the Saudi-backed, Greg Norman-led series, is among at least five other players who will tee it up at LIV Golf’s fourth event in Boston next week, according to reports from Sports Illustrated and Golf Channel. Smith declined to comment on his departure at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, and Niemann told Golf Channel on Friday he had yet to make up his mind.
Joining Smith and Niemann will be Marc Leishman, Cameron Tringale, Harold Varner III and Anirban Lahiri, according to the reports. Golf Channel reported Mito Pereira is also heading to LIV Golf, but SI said Pereira wasn’t going to play in next week’s event.
Smith, Niemann and Pereira are all automatic qualifiers at the Presidents Cup for the International Team, but if they were to join the breakaway series, they would all vacate their spots and be suspended from the PGA Tour.
The Presidents Cup is set for next month at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Both Smith and Niemann are playing in the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta this weekend.
Here are five takeaways from the third round, starting with one of the hottest golfers on the planet.
Moving day held true to its mantra Saturday at Renaissance Club.
Another breezy day during the third round of the Genesis Scottish Open saw plenty of changes on the leaderboard.
Max Homa, who after playing his second round Friday went and played 18 holes at North Berwick, tied the low round of the day with a 4-under 66 to move to 2 under for the tournament. He sits tied for ninth.
Fourteen of the world’s top 15 ranked players teed it up Thursday, and due to the wind that picked up in the afternoon, many were left behind by the early wave that was able to take advantage of better scoring conditions.
Here are five takeaways from the first round at The Renaissance. Let’s start with the man atop the leaderboard.
Names not playing the weekend include the legendary Bill Murray.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Missing the cut is bad enough.
Missing the cut on the Monterey Peninsula just makes it worse.
Driving away with the spectacular views fading in the rearview isn’t easy. Missing out on a final round at Pebble Beach has to hurt. And of course, not making a paycheck isn’t fun.
But after three Chamber of Commerce days in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, spread out over the stunning layouts at Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, and the Monterey Peninsula, many had to say goodbye.
The cut came in at 4 under, with 77 players making it to Sunday.
Here are some of the players among those who bid adios.
Keep an eye on these PGA Tour veterans and incoming rookies in 2022.
After a nearly two-month holiday hiatus, the PGA Tour returns to action with the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
The last time we saw the boys in action, Talor Gooch earned his first-ever win on Tour at the RSM Classic in November. Three weeks prior Lucas Herbert did the same at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. As the new year approaches, with the depth and level of talent on Tour at seemingly an all-time high these days, your friends at Golfweek got to thinking — who might be next to earn that first big Tour win?
From veterans to rising stars from the amateur ranks, here are 10 players who we predict will hoist a trophy for the first time in 2022.
This year, Hovland will have to fight off a solid field to repeat as champion. Former world No. 1s Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka are making the trip, both looking to jump-start their 2021-22 campaign with a win. Thomas finished T-12 at this event last season, while Koepka missed the cut. The four-time major champion hasn’t finished inside the top 35 yet this season.
El Camaleón Golf Course will play as a par 71, hovering around 7,017 yards throughout the week as the yardage is subject to change.
2021 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba: Fantasy Golf Top 10
Pat Perez (+9000)
Starting with Perez, this pick would give you some extra cap space to work with for the rest of your roster and is a bit of a flyer. This is a pure “horses for courses” play – in his last five starts here Perez has a win, two other top 10s, and hasn’t missed a cut.
Billy Horschel (+3000)
Horschel hasn’t played on the PGA Tour since the Tour Championship but won on the European Tour at the BMW PGA Championship. He’s played in this event the last three seasons, improving his finish each time: T-21 (2018), T-8 (2019), T-5 (2020). Horschel also owns the lowest cumulative score at this golf course over the last three years (43 under).
Aaron Wise (+3000)
Aaron Wise tees off on the 4th hole during the third round of the Honda Classic. (Photo: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)
Wise’s last three starts on the PGA Tour: T-26, T-8, T-5. He’s played well here in the past finishing solo second to Hovland last season, as well as a T-10 in 2018. In an event where the winning score will likely be around 20 under, Wise ranks ninth on Tour this season in birdie average (5.5).
Justin Thomas (+1200)
With Paspalum greens this week, Strokes Gained: Approach will cause more variation than SG: Putting – AKA the best-case scenario for Thomas. He finished inside the top 20 a few weeks ago in Vegas at a low-scoring event and tied for 12th last season at Mayakoba. He hasn’t won since the Players, but four of his 14 Tour wins have come during the short “wrap-around” season. Shouldn’t surprise anyone if he captures No. 15 this weekend.
Scottie Scheffler (+3000)
The Texan is giving himself a lot of chances to put circles on the scorecard, hitting 75 percent of greens this season. In turn, he ranks sixth in birdies per round (5.83), but is 175th in scoring average (72.12). In laymen’s turns, he’s making too many mistakes. If he keeps the bogeys to a minimum this week, watch out for Scheffler to earn his first win.
Viktor Hovland (+2000)
Impossible to keep the defending champion off this list. Hovland, over his last 24 rounds on courses shorter than 7,200 yards, ranks 23rd in SG: Approach. Going back to last season, Hovland ranked sixth in birdie average, again something that will come in handy this week.
Cameron Tringale (+3000)
Talk about a guy who’s due. Despite earning over $15 million over his career, he’s yet to win. In five starts this season, Tringale has three finishes of T-22 or better including a runner-up in his last start (Zozo Championship). In his last 24 rounds on the PGA Tour on courses measuring under 7,200 yards, Tringale ranks 19th in SG: Approach, and seventh in SG: Total. Could this finally be the week for the native Californian?
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Patrick Reed (+4000)
Reed struggled in his first few starts this season missing the cut at the Shriners, and finishing nearly last at the CJ Cup. But, last week he bounced back in a big way finishing in a tie for second in Bermuda. Reed ranks eighth in SG: Total over his last 24 rounds on courses shorter than 7,200 yards. In 2017, the Texan missed the cut at this event.
Russell Henley (+5000)
Henley has missed the cut in his last two appearances at this event but scored a T-29 finish in 2017. However, his stats so far this season point to a solid week. First in driving accuracy, first in greens in regulation, and ninth in birdie average. Some may worry about his length off the tee, but at El Camaleón, it shouldn’t hurt him. Finally, over his last 24 rounds on the PGA Tour on courses less than 7,200 yards, Henley is third in SG: Approach, and seventh in SG: Tee to Green.
Harold Varner III (+5000)
Varner has played great golf to start the new season: T-16 (Fortinet), T-11 (Sanderson Farms), T-32 (CJ Cup). He’s made three straight cuts at this event, highlighted by a T-6 finish back in 2018. Over his last 24 rounds on courses shorter than 7,200 yards, Varner ranks 12th in SG: Approach. If he can get it going on the greens, Varner may win for the first time on Tour.
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Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama wins in his native land for his seventh career PGA Tour title and first since claiming the Masters in April.
To hear PGA Tour veteran tell it, Hideki Matsuyama is beloved like a rock star at home in Japan.
“I played behind Hideki [on Friday], and it’s like seeing Elvis,” Perez said.
Matsuyama gave his adoring fans an unforgettable performance, making three birdies and an eagle on the back nine to overtake Cameron Tringale and win the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship by five strokes in his homeland, about 30 minutes northeast of Tokyo.
Matsuyama, who has won eight times on the Japan Golf Tour, shot 5-under 65 at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Japan, to notch his seventh PGA Tour title and win at home for the first time since the 2016 Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters.
Limited crowds of 5,000 fans were permitted at the course each day and Matsuyama had an entire country living and dying with his every swing.
“I told him I don’t know how you deal with the cameras all of the time. He said, ‘I pull my hair out sometimes,’ ” said Perez, who joined the Golf Channel’s broadcast after his third round. “He’s had it for so many years now. It’s second nature to him. I can’t believe being the guy he is in the country right now. Everybody wants him to win. And here he is leading. And the pressure … it doesn’t look like it phases him at all.”
Matsuyama’s popularity has soared since he became the first male Japanese golfer to win one of the four majors, capturing the Masters on April 11 by one stroke over Will Zalatoris.
At the Zozo Championship, Matsuyama opened with a bogey-free 64, grabbed the lead in the second round with a 68 and maintained a one-stroke advantage with another 68 on Saturday.
His lead grew to two with an eagle at the sixth hole, but a three-putt bogey at the eighth hole combined with Tringale making birdies at Nos. 8 and 9 to reach 12 under meant Matsuyama had gone from the hunted to the hunter.
Tringale was searching for his first victory in his 314th PGA Tour start, just 10 fewer than Rickie Barnes, who has made the most starts (323) without a victory. Tringale also owns the dubious distinction of being the all-time money leader without a victory. The 34-year-old entered the week with earnings of $14,522,401, 141st all time and a spot ahead of former World No. 1 and 20-time Tour winner Greg Norman.
“Winning that first one is the hardest,” said four-time Tour winner Ryan Palmer.
Just when it seemed as if it might finally be Tringale’s day, Matsuyama answered at the 11th with a 40-foot birdie left-to-right bending downhill birdie putt and pumped his fist. Two holes later, he wedged to 10 feet and sank the putt to regain the lead. He tacked on another birdie at 15 to build a two-stroke advantage. Both Matsuyama and Tringale, who settled for a tied for second with Brendan Steele, bogeyed the difficult 17th hole, and Matsuyama closed in style, ripping a fairway wood at the par 5 to within 10 feet and making an eagle at the last to finish at 15-under 265.
