New York Golf Club is the latest TGL team to be announced.
The New York TGL team has one player on its roster from the Empire State, but it also has two California boys and an Englishman.
New York Golf Club is the latest TGL team to be announced, and it will compete in the league beginning in January 2025. Its four-player roster is comprised of Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young and Rickie Fowler.
“New Yorkers expect and deserve the best, and we couldn’t be more excited to have four of the best players in the world serve as an extension of the thriving golf and sporting culture of our city and region,” said Steve Cohen, owner of the NYGC and the New York Mets. “Rickie, Xander, Matt, and Cameron’s unwavering dedication to the sport, successful track records, and passion for winning is undisputable, and we look forward to watching them compete on golf’s newest stage.”
Per the release, “NYGC’s logo is inspired by New York’s state bird, the Eastern Bluebird. These birds are commonly found where forests meet fields, and particularly on golf courses. Our design features a dynamic swinging club crafted into the form of a wing with four grooves, one for each of our players. The circle pays homage to the circles on our scorecards and the iconic NYC Subway circle.”
Since turning professional in 2009, Fowler has recorded 10 wins, including the 2015 Players Championship. His most recent title came at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic last July.
Schauffele has been a top-10 player in the world for the better part of the last five years. Since turning professional in 2015, he has recorded seven PGA Tour titles, two DP World Tour wins and an Olympic Gold Medal in Tokyo.
Fitzpatrick became England’s first major champion since 2016 when he won the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, joining Jack Nicklaus as the only players to win a U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur at the same venue.
In 2022, Young earned Rookie of the Year honors when he became the seventh player since 1980 to collect five runner-up finishes in a season on Tour, including a second-place finish at the Open Championship and T-3 at the PGA Championship.
The 36-year-old journeyman won the 2024 Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Florida, after a 4-under 67 in the final round on Sunday to claim his second PGA Tour victory at 12 under and his first win since 2015.
For his efforts, Malnati will take home the top prize of $1,512,000. Cameron Young finished runner-up for the seventh time in his young career on Tour and earned $915,600.
With $8 million up for grabs, check out how much money each PGA Tour player earned this week at the 2024 Valspar Championship.
The win is the second of Malnati’s PGA Tour career and first since 2015.
March Madness crowned another Cinderella on Sunday, only not on the basketball court but rather at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course Palm Harbor, Florida.
Peter Malnati, who hadn’t won in nine years, drilled his tee shot at the 17th hole to 6 feet and rolled in the putt to assume a one-stroke lead. With a finishing par, he closed with a final-round 4-under 67 to finish at 12-under 272 and win the Valspar Championship by two strokes over Cameron Young.
All the emotions poured out of Malnati, who held his four-year-old son Hatcher, and with watery eyes and a wide smile, said, “You wonder if you’re ever going to do it again.”
He had seen that winning moment on the PGA Tour so many times before where the family rushes on to the green and the victor gets a hug and kiss and lifts his child.
“That’s something that I’ve seen other families have and that has been my dream,” Malnati said. “If I had never had the moment I had today, I would have been completely fine. But, man, was that special.”
Indeed, it was. Malnati, a 36-year-old pro in his 10th year on Tour, had one career victory to his credit at the 2015 Sanderson Championship. He had to battle during the fall to maintain full exempt status this season by finishing 120th on the season-long points list. He’s ranked No. 184 in the world, the second-highest world ranking for the winner of the Valspar in tournament history and he drew the angst of his fellow pros who felt he was unworthy when he was awarded a sponsor invite into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February. Moreover, winning at the Copperhead Course, where he had missed the cut in six of his seven starts at the Valspar Championship, with a career-best of T-60, seemed a pipe dream. To make matters worse, he entered this week coming off a final-round 81 at the Players Championship.
“I just kind of had to chalk that up as just one of those days you get in golf …I was off on all facets of the game,” he said. “When I got here and got to work on Tuesday I was really pleased, everything felt kind of as it had most of the week at Sawgrass, not how it did on Sunday. So I just haven’t missed a beat.”
Peter Malnati accepts the Valspar Championship trophy after the final round of the Valspar Championship at Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club on March 24, 2024 in Palm Harbor, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
His first-round 66 was a career-best at the Copperhead Course and just his second in the 60s in 17 career rounds at Innisbrook Resort. But despite his choppy record, it never diminished his appreciation of the course.
“I love this kind of course because I think it really distinguishes good ball striking from mediocre ball striking,” he said.
He followed with an even-par 71 during difficult weather on Friday and shot 68 on Saturday to trail 54-hole leader Keith Mitchell by two strokes. Malnati reveled in the opportunity to be in the trophy hunt.
“It’s why I play and practice, to come out here on the PGA Tour and have a chance to win golf tournaments. This is my 10th season. I can’t think of very many times where I’ve actually teed off on Sunday realistically thinking of winning the tournament,” Malnati said.
The former Missouri Tiger is a career grinder, who works as hard as anyone on his putting routine and has added the responsibility of serving as a player director on the Tour policy board during a critical time in the Tour’s future. It’s been a lot to balance but through it all family always comes first for Malnati. Take his explanation on Saturday for why he plays with a yellow golf ball, which he began using at the 3M Open in July.
“The reason I switched to it is because my, at the time, 3-year old, who is now 4, liked them. And so, he’s kind of over it now, but it still makes me think of him, and that’s worth a smile or two, which is worth a lot out there for me,” he said.
Alicia Malnati and Peter Malnati pose with the Valspar Championship trophy at Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club on March 24, 2024 in Palm Harbor, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
On Sunday all of Malnati’s discipline and hard work paid off. He overcame a slow start, missing a 5-foot par putt at No. 4 and nearly cold-topping a fairway wood at the fifth, which didn’t cost him. He sank a 14-foot birdie putt at the sixth and made his move with three straight birdies to start the second nine. That included making a 15-foot putt at No. 12 that he was convinced he’d missed.
“The minute I hit it I thought I had left it short,” he said. “I wasn’t watching the ball roll because I knew it was going to stop this far short and I was going to tap it in. And then I heard the crowd go nuts.”
He added: “I always hear people say, like, sometimes when you win, some things have to happen and go right.”
Six different players held or shared the lead during the final round and 10 players were within three shots of the lead on the back nine, but ultimately several players took themselves out of the running with an assortment of mistakes and the tournament turned into a two-man race between Young, the Tour’s Rookie of the Year two years ago who was seeking his first PGA Tour win, and Malnati, winless for the last 3,058 days.
Young hooked his tee shot into trouble at 18 and by the time he assessed the situation, Malnati had pulled ahead at 12 under with birdie after his clutch 5-iron from 208 yards at 17. Young managed to find the green but left his 51-foot birdie effort nine feet short and missed for par.
“I just over read it a hair,” said Young, who recorded his seventh runner-up finish, the most of any player without a win in the last 40 years.
For Malnati, he earned his first berth in the Masters, a spot in the PGA Championship, all of the remaining Signature events this season and the Sentry in January.
“He played incredible. He deserved to win,” said Mackenzie Hughes, who finished T-3 with rookie Chandler Phillips, who notched his best finish on Tour. “He played better than I did. He was in control of his golf ball.”
Young’s closing bogey gave Malnati a two-shot cushion. He had always dreamed of his wife and kids running on the green to celebrate his victory and now the moment he waited for was upon him.
“I don’t think I saw ’em until after I hit the first putt, but I definitely saw ’em before I tapped in, and I was, man, I had lost it before I had hit my last shot of the tournament, for sure,” he said, “but luckily it was like literally 2 inches from the hole. But, yeah, that moment’s pretty amazing.”
Today the cuts continued, as the team announced nose tackle Bryan Mone has been released.
The Seahawks front office is in a slash and burn mood this week. Yesterday the team announced that safeties Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams as well as tight end Will Dissly had been released. All together those three moves saved Seattle around $24 million in cap space of the 2024 season.
Today the cuts continued, as the team announced nose tackle Bryan Mone has been released.
Cutting Mone saves another $5.39 million in cap room for 2024. Seattle now has around $41.6 million in cap space. Only 11 teams have more.
After going undrafted out of Michigan, Mone appeared in 41 games with the Seahawks from 2019-2022. He missed the entire 2023 season with a torn ACL.
As for the depth chart, Jarran Reed remains on top, but this news should guarantee more playing time for second-year tackle and primary backup Cameron Young next season.
The 15-time major champion will be joined by world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay and Max Homa.
Tiger Woods plays his second shot on the 18th hole during the third round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on February 18, 2023, in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
Course history
Course history at Riviera Country Club for the @TheGenesisInv going back to 2016.
-Includes average finish position and Strokes Gained per round in each category. Players are sorted by SG: Total.
-3rd (out of 44) most predictive annual course on Tour.
Rory McIlroy’s round was the best of the day… by four shots.
Rory McIlroy started the day 10 shots behind leader Cameron Young.
With 18 holes left at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club, McIlroy trails by only two. He shot 9-under 63 in the third round Saturday, moving into a tie for second at 12-under alongside Adrian Meronk.
McIlroy’s round was the best of the day… by four shots. His best shot was his last, an eagle putt from the fringe on the par-5 18th.
“I was walking up with the putter in my hand, and as I got closer to the ball, I saw that there was a lot of fringe to go through,” McIlroy said. “And I said to Harry, like I sort of want to chip it but the lie wasn’t great. I could just see the club bouncing. I was like, I’ll just sort of, I guess, ride my luck with the putter, and it came out perfectly. And as soon as it got on the green, it actually wasn’t as fast as I thought it was going to be once it got on the green. And it was tracking perfectly. Obviously a huge bonus for something like that to go in.
“But you know, for the rest of the day, I played some very, very good golf. Definitely better than I played the last couple of days and nice to get myself right back in the tournament.”
McIlroy went out in 5-under 30 before adding two more birdies and the eagle on the back nine.
McIlroy won the Dubai Desert Classic last year and has had plenty of success playing all over the world thanks to his incredible consistency. What is he most proud of during that time?
“I think the fact that I turn up every day still trying to get better,” McIlroy said. “I think the consistency that I’ve shown throughout my career, I’ve never lost the hunger to go out and play better. But I’ve also never lost the joy of the game, which I think is really, really important. It’s never felt like a job to me, and the day it does feel like a job is the day I need to give up.”
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland celebrates after an eagle putt on the 18th green during Round Three of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club on January 20, 2024 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Young, who held a three-shot lead heading into the day, had his most up-and-down day of the tournament yet. After an 8-under round on Friday, he shot 1 under on Saturday in a round that includes four birdies, a bogey and a double.
“The front nine, especially, is kind of one of those days when a few things don’t quite go your way,” Young said. “I didn’t putt quite as well as I have the last few days, and with a little bit more wind, it wasn’t that easy. I think all in all, it was a good battle. And not obviously trying to be winning by ten after today, but two is better than none.”
Cameron Young is hitting bombs and dropping putts.
After two rounds at Emirates Golf Club, it doesn’t look like it’s Cameron Young’s first time at the course.
The American fired the round of the tournament Friday in Dubai, shooting 8-under 64 to take a three-shot lead heading into the weekend. Young had nine birdies and one bogey on his card and sits at 13 under in his Rolex Series event debut.
“I putted fantastic,” Young said. “I made a couple long ones yesterday and then made a few more today that those had no right going in I feel like. I hit a bunch of good putts but just one of those days where you kind of have a couple 30-footers and you look up and they are going right in the middle, which doesn’t happen all that often to have a bunch of them in one round. But really nicely and putted great.”
Young leads by three over Adrian Meronk, who Wednesday won the Seve Ballesteros Award as the DP World Tour’s Player of the Year for 2023, and Andy Sullivan.
Young had four straight birdies on Nos. 16-18 and No. 1 (he started on No. 10) and also added a pair of circles as Nos. 3-4 for six in seven holes. He bogeyed his closing hole, the par-4 ninth, his second 5 on the hole in as many days.
Tommy Fleetwood, who won last week, is T-15 at 5 under. Rory McIlroy sits T-25 at 3 under.
It was also a special round for European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, as he aced the par-3 fourth hole on Friday.
Tis the season to be jolly as well as for pro golfers to switch golf gear and change caddies.
The caddie carousel is the focus of this story. Ludvig Aberg, No. 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking, got the party started a few weeks ago by hiring Joe Skovron away from Tom Kim.
“For next year, all I’m looking for is more experience in these bigger tournaments,” he told Smylie Kaufman on his podcast “The Smylie Show.” “I wanted someone I could rely on 1,000 percent, and I think with the experience in the past that Joe has kind of speaks for itself and I think that’s mainly what I’m looking for. Playing a U.S. Open where you win with 6 under, it’s difficult to get away with mistakes and I think that’s what went into that decision.”
Golfweek has learned that Kim has hired a replacement, choosing Daniel Parratt, who formerly caddied for Kim’s International Team Presidents Cup teammate K.H. Lee.
Kim, who is ranked No. 11 in the world, won the Shriners Children’s Open twice with Skovron on the bag and was the darling of the 2022 Presidents Cup. Kim’s agent declined to confirm the caddie change.
Kim isn’t the only top-25 ranked player who will have a new caddie next season. Golfweek has learned that Cameron Young will have a new sidekick, too, when he starts the season at The Sentry in Maui.
Longtime caddie Paul Tesori confirmed to Golfweek that he has jumped ship to the bag of veteran pro Brendon Todd, a three-time Tour winner who is coming off a season in which he finished in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup and is booked for eight signature events in 2024. Tesori, who spent more than 12 years working for Webb Simpson, joined Young one of the top young players on Tour and ranked No. 21 in the world, in March at the WGC-Dell Match Play.
But with Todd’s caddie David Clark moving to LIV to work for Ian Poulter, Tesori, who has been dealing with a back injury, has opted to go with the veteran over a rising star who has seemed on the verge of reaching the winner’s circle for some time. It’s unclear who will work for Young next season. An email requesting comment was unanswered at this time. But with the new season scheduled to start on Jan. 4, it won’t be long until we find out.
Keep an eye on this mix of veterans and rising stars in 2024.
After taking a nearly two-month holiday hiatus, the PGA Tour will return to action the first week of January with the 2024 Sentry in Hawaii.
The last time we saw the boys in action, rookie Ludvig Aberg earned his first win on Tour at the RSM Classic in November. There were 13 first-time winners on Tour in 2023, up one from 12 the year prior. Golfweek predicted four of them.
So who do we have our eyes on for next year? From veterans to rising stars from the amateur ranks, here are 10 players who we predict will hoist a trophy on Tour for the first time in 2024.
We’re in for a fun week in Albany, Bahamas, for the 2023 Hero World Challenge. Why? The GOAT is back.
Tiger Woods is returning to professional golf for the first time since the Masters earlier this year, a tournament where he made the cut but withdrew on Sunday morning due to aggravating his plantar fasciitis.
Ten days later, Woods announced that he had undergone “a subtalar fusion procedure to address his post-traumatic arthritis from his previous talus fracture.”
After staying away for months, we’ve seen Woods start to return to the spotlight. He caddied for his son, Charlie, for four days while carrying the bag and walking — without a limp — every step of the way. His short course at Pebble Beach opened. So, he’s been around.
But we’ve all been waiting for him to tee it up once again, and that moment will come Thursday at the Hero, an event put on by his TGR Foundation.
Joining the 15-time major champion in the field are 19 other highly-ranked players, including his good buddy Justin Thomas, two-time defending champion Viktor Hovland, Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Max Homa and Rickie Fowler.
Woods isn’t the only player returning from an extended layoff. Will Zalatoris, who suffered a back injury at the 2022 BMW Championship and later withdrew before the 2023 Masters, will make his first start in eight months after undergoing back surgery in April.
Golf course
Albany Golf Course | Par 72 | 7,449 yards
The pin flag blows in the wind on the ninth green during the second round of the Hero World Challenge at Albany Golf Course on December 02, 2022 in Nassau, Bahamas. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
