“It’s unfortunate for the events, for the fans and at least locally, it kind of sucks,” Doug Ghim said.
SAINT SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – In reviewing this new version of the FedEx Cup Fall, the PGA Tour has to be thrilled with some of its winners: Sahith Theegala’s debut win in Napa; Tom Kim’s repeat in Las Vegas; Collin Morikawa’s winless drought ends in Japan, the country of his ancestors; Erik van Rooyen’s back-nine 28 and emotional win in Cabo; Camilo Villegas’s feel-good story in Bermuda; and capped off by Ludvig Aberg’s 61-61 weekend here at the RSM Classic. The Sunday drama didn’t disappoint.
Underneath the surface, not everyone was so happy, particularly Jimmy Walker. who vented about how he had to keep battling for three additional months to keep his card. (He slipped out of the top 125 and will have conditional status playing out of the Nos. 126-150 category next season.)
Instead of the start to a new wrap-around season, the top 50 locked up their cards at the end of the regular season and no longer had to worry about falling behind in the full slate of tournaments. Rather, those without exempt status had to play on during a seven-event points chase to retain status for the 2024 season, which begins in January. (The Fall also lost two events — CJ Cup and Houston Open — both of which joined the FedEx Cup regular season, with CJ taking over title sponsorship of the Byron Nelson in Dallas and the Houston Open being promoted to a date in the spring.)
The top players finally got the off-season they’d been begging for and the rank-and-file still got several playing opportunities with purses of at least $8 million, full FedEx Cup points on the line and a chance to qualify for two early-season Signature Events for those who finishing in ‘The Next 10’ in the final point standings. As Peter Malnati put it, the FedEx Cup Fall was “fun and exciting, unless you’re one of the ones trying to keep your job and then it’s a strain.”
Peter Malnati lines up a putt on the third green during the second round of the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda. (Photo: Marianna Massey/Getty Images)
In theory, there was something for players of all skill levels to play for – even the top 50 could earn additional years to their exempt status and qualify for tournaments such as the Masters and the Sentry with a win if not already in those fields – but was it a win-win for fans and sponsors too? Only a used car salesman could make that sell, and it begs the question: will the Tour continue to secure sponsors willing to foot the bill for tournaments where the big names barely played, if at all?
Several pros expressed their concern for the future of the fall schedule, which will become increasingly important for players fighting for status for the upcoming season.
“It’s tough for me to see how it’s going to be sustainable,” said Mark Hubbard, one of six players to compete in all seven fall tournaments. “For me, I think there was a noticeable difference in the tournaments and just like how much the course kind of rolled out the red carpet for us and whatnot, you know, just little stuff like courtesy cars or hotel room blocks or the food. Everything just kind of felt like they were probably trying to save a little bit of money because they’re not getting, you know, the turnout, they’re not getting the big names.”
He continued: “I feel bad for a lot of those tournaments like a Jackson (Mississippi, home of the Sanderson Farms Championship) that have worked so hard to become a great event and, you know, now they’re gonna get zero of the top guys coming to their event, ever. It’s just tough for me to see how those [$8 million] purses are going to stay high and, you know, those tournaments are going to want to continue to be big events and there’s just no one coming there.”
“We have a lot of great events this time of year and if they want to host a PGA Tour event they should be allowed and the membership should support it,” veteran pro Ryan Armour said. “A lot of the top guys were looking for time off and if this is what they want, they got it.”
“More guys would show up for Vegas, for Napa, it’s unfortunate for the events, for the fans and at least locally, it kind of sucks,” said Doug Ghim.
“Vegas is one of the biggest changes. Last year I wouldn’t have gotten in and this year I was in by 20 or something,” said Kramer Hickok.
But Davis Love III, who has hosted the RSM Classic in the fall for the last 14 years, said he’s seen several iterations of the fall during his 30-plus-year career that landed him in the World Golf Hall of Fame, and expects the fall portion of the schedule to continue to evolve.
“It hasn’t looked the same in any five-year period for a long, maybe my whole career,” Love said last week. “Hopefully, it just continues to improve, they come up with new ideas … I think it’s just going to continue to improve, but I don’t know what that is.”
The Tour can only hope that whatever it dreams up next will generate a collection of stories and winners as good as this year.
The cut at Sea Island Golf Club had more of a sense of finality for some.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — A prominent swing instructor summed up why he could cut tension on the range at the RSM Classic with a rusty nail.
“Some of these guys don’t know whether they will ever tee it up at a PGA Tour event,” he said.
This week is the 54th and final Tour event of the 2022-23 season and so the 36-hole cut Friday had more of a sense of finality for some, especially those battling to make the top 125 and full status for next season or Nos. 126-150 and secure conditional status.
Peter Malnati, who entered the week at No. 116, shot 69-71 (140) and missed the cut and said he’ll be playing the waiting game all weekend. He’s projected No.122. Two three-putts in the first round was uncharacteristic of Malnati and the putter remained cold in the second round. But at least he had the right perspective.
“With or without a Tour card, I’m going to be awesome but I’d rather have one,” he said.
Harry Higgs, who started the week at No. 132 and had missed three straight cuts, made birdie on two of the last three holes to shoot 70 on Seaside Course and make the cut on the number.
All told, 78 golfers shot 4-under 138 or better at Sea Island’s Seaside and Plantation Courses. Higgs didn’t need anyone to let him know what what at stake when he made an 11-foot birdie putt on 18 at Seaside to make the cut.
“No, I know. I know it all too well after this year. Oddly, I wasn’t really that worried about it or focused on it,” he said. “For the last two years I’ve been stressing, worrying about all this shit. And for some reason, I don’t know why, I don’t know that I even said it aloud, I might have just thought it briefly, like I’m just not really going to worry about it this week.”
Patton Kizzire, who entered the week at No. 130, channeled the same philosophy and made birdie on his final two holes at the Plantation Course to make the cut and give himself two more rounds to jump up a few more spots. He’s projected No. 129.
Four players ranked between No. 120 and No. 126 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings entering the week missed the cut: No. 120 Matti Schmid, No. 121 Doug Ghim, No. 123 Troy Merritt and No. 126 Henrik Norlander.
Here’s more about them and some other pros who weren’t so fortunate and had their season come to a premature end. And here are the Saturday tee times for those who did make the weekend.
For the first time, the top 125 for 2024 will be finalized at the RSM Classic.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The view of St. Simons Sound from the driving range at Sea Island Resort is one of the most idyllic settings on the PGA Tour. Yet this week at the RSM Classic, tensions are high, jobs are on the line and not everyone will leave with a smile on their face.
“You don’t want to come in here worn out and grinding and trying to keep your job and not get to enjoy the islands,” World Golf Hall of Fame member Davis Love III, the tournament host, said Tuesday during a pre-tournament press conference.
The RSM Classic has a different feel this year. In the past, it has been the final tournament of the fall schedule before the Tour’s wrap-around season resumed in the first week of January, giving it a last-day-of-school feel. But the wrap-around season is no more and players outside the top 50 in the regular season have had seven tournaments in what was dubbed the FedEx Cup Fall to earn their way into the top 125. For the first time, the top 125 for the following season will be finalized at the RSM Classic.
“We’re the new Wyndham Championship,” Love III said, referring to the tournament that previously was the final opportunity for players to secure top 125 status, which gives players access to all full-field events and the Players Championship. (Numbers 126-150 will earn conditional status, unless otherwise exempt.)
‘Mini Q-School’
Players who finished Nos. 1-50 through the FedEx Cup Playoffs locked their position in the FedEx Cup, earned full exempt status for 2024 and qualified for all eight Signature Events in 2024. All players ranked No. 51 and beyond carried FedEx Cup points and continued to accumulate points through the FedEx Cup Fall.
All 20 players from Nos. 121-140 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings entering the week are in the field. Carl Yuan, a 26-year-old native of China who finished fourth last week at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, heads into the RSM Classic as the ‘Bubble Boy’ at No. 125.
“It’s almost like a little mini Q-School this week for those guys,” said Eric Cole, the leading candidate for Tour Rookie of the Year who already locked up his card for next season. “Depending on where you are, being right around that 125 bubble is tough.”
Veteran pro Zach Johnson, who has played in the RSM Classic 13 times, tied for the most appearances with Chris Kirk, has sensed a different vibe at his hometown event this week.
“It is the last week for some of these guys and they’ve got to make a dent. That’s golf, that’s competitive golf, that’s meritocracy, that’s PGA Tour golf and I think that’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “It’s also extremely brutal because it’s hard. Everybody’s really good and everybody essentially has the same goals and that’s to win.”
Patton Kizzire, who enters this week on the wrong side of the cutline at No. 130, said he spends too much time on Instagram and is trying to adopt the philosophical message of a Chinese proverb he read there and noted it may be for the best if he doesn’t keep his card.
“You know, the farmer’s horse dies and people come up to him and say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’ He’s like, ‘Maybe.’ Then the next day seven wild horses come up. ‘Oh, this is great.’ He’s like, ‘Maybe.’ It goes on and on down the line,” Kizzire recounted. “I’m at peace either way. I think whatever happens, happens.”
Access to Signature events
There are other consequences set to be determined at week’s end, including the “Next 10,” an eligibility pathway to earn access into Signature Events. Numbers 51-60 in the final FedEx Cup Fall standings, not otherwise exempt, will earn spots into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational with $20 million purses. Nine of the 10 players currently in position for one of the spots in The Next 10 are in the field – Beau Hossler, No. 51, has mathematically secured a place in The Next 10 and took the week off – as are seven of the players between Nos. 61-70. Sam Ryder is the bubble boy at No. 60 and knows what is at stake this week – a chance to have a head start on next season and play against the top fields.
“It’s been my very clear goal since the FedEx Cup Playoffs started,” said Ryder, who had his best regular season in six years on Tour, finishing the regular season at No. 61. “My schedule is subject to change depending how things go this week. I think it can really set me up for my whole year.”
The jockeying for position has forced Ryder to tee it up in six of the seven fall events.
“The nature of where I’m at, I felt like I had to (play),” he said.
It all comes down to this week. For those that come up short of their goal, all is not lost. This year, the Tour’s Q-School in December will offer cards to the top five and ties for the first time in over a decade. But no one wants to have to sweat out that pressure-cooker. Justin Lower, a 34-year-old journeyman pro who enters the week at No. 98, has been a poster child for the bubble boy role, and has endured the ecstasy of being on the right side of the cutline and the agony of his bubble bursting on too many occasions. Asked what he will miss about being on the bubble this week at the RSM Classic, Lower didn’t hesitate to answer.
“The only thing I do know is nothing is going to happen really fast,” Love said of the agreement announced in June.
With the self-imposed December 31 deadline looming for the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, PGA Tour veteran Davis Love III has confirmed the leader in the clubhouse for the worst-kept secret in golf – the deal isn’t getting done any time soon.
“The only thing I do know is nothing is going to happen really fast,” Love said during an interview on Friday in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where he was meeting on a golf course project.
Asked if he thought a deal beyond the framework agreement, which was announced on June 6, would be consummated by the end of the year, he said, “I don’t see any way.”
But Love isn’t discouraged. He said that the Tour has returned its focus to determining what is best for the players and he likes their options.
“It’s forced us to take a look at what has been going on for 53 years and think about what the next 50 years will look like,” he said. “How do we set up our company to be ready for the future?”
It’s also given him a fresh perspective on the players who jumped ship and accepted lucrative guaranteed money offers to join the upstart LIV Tour.
“I told some of them this in the very beginning. I’m not against you as a person, I’m against what’s happening and I think you’re making a bad business decision,” Love said. “Jay tried to explain it to these guys, you are signing with our competitor and giving our competitor leverage that is going to hurt our ability to make decisions and hurt our financial position. You don’t really understand that it is not just playing in this golf tournament versus that one.
“I’m still against the fact that this is a hostile takeover. These guys signed with a company that is trying to take us over. If a bunch of guys left Pepsi and went over to Coke and tried to take over Pepsi would you ever let them come back to Pepsi? I don’t think so. It may not be a perfect comparison but they sued us to make us change our rules so they could get what they wanted.”
But what should the future look like for the Tour? Love said that is the hot topic inside the halls of PGA Tour headquarters and with the policy board. As the longest-serving tenured member of the PGA Tour policy board and one of the Tour’s elder statesmen, Love has been called back into duty as a member of a small “ad hoc” governance committee to make sure that is top of mind.
“I’ve been drug back into the board conversations and I’m learning more and more. It’s so much deeper than should (LIV) be getting world ranking points. There’s a whole lot I don’t know but I do know there is nothing going on right now besides where do we want to go?” he said. “We might have screwed up the last three years, now how do we set up the PGA Tour for the future? Is there a different model? We’re independent contractors, maybe we’re not independent contractors? The lawsuits are dropped; now what do we want to do, what does (the PIF) want to do? Do they really want to keep blowing that much money on LIV? Probably not.”
Love suggested that the reason a deal may not be reached before the deadline is due to the Saudi’s unwillingness to negotiate.
“It’s just like the lawsuit: we’re never going to go to trial if they don’t ever do discovery. Our staff and players did discovery. They refused.
“We made an offer,” Love continued, referring to the Tour, “and if you don’t ever communicate, we can’t make another offer. It’s bizarre what’s going on. It’s a long way from anything. The sharks are circling. Now everyone wants to invest in the PGA Tour.”
It’s been reported that as many as 10 different investors have emerged as potential options for the Tour — although one company, Endeavor, reportedly said it already has been rejected — either to dilute the PIF’s ownership stake, which could make a deal more palatable to the U.S. Department of Justice and in the court of public opinion, or possibly as an alternative to Saudi money. Love said it will take time to weigh those options too.
“We don’t need money, that’s the beautiful thing,” he said. “One very smart business person said, ‘You may think you’re in a mess but I buy distressed companies and try to fix them to make money. Your company isn’t in trouble, you make a lot of money. It’s perfectly fine the way it is. All you’re trying to do is make it better. You’re in a great position.’”
Love went on to point out that it isn’t just the Saudi fund he is concerned about partnering with, but rather extends to any of the investment funds looking to pump money into the Tour.
“If it was Warren Buffett instead of PIF, do we really want Warren Buffett to control the PGA Tour just because he gave us a whole bunch of money? Shouldn’t the players control the PGA Tour and the staff that the board approved?” he mused.
Love is delighted that Tiger Woods has joined the Tour’s policy board to add another voice and said the first matter of business should be to shore up Tour governance and start rebuilding trust with key constituencies.
“How do we restructure the board – we need a new independent director – that has to happen first,” Love said. “Then we can go decide if there’s a deal somewhere.”
When asked why he thought Woods wanted to become involved in the business of the Tour at this critical juncture, Love said, “One is his injury and not playing right now but also helping a bunch of players get more involved, he loves that…Maybe he sees it as a responsibility and maybe he sees it as an opportunity, I don’t know. I’m just glad he’s doing it.”
Even as the clock ticks to make a deal with PIF, Love is looking big picture and thinking about the long term.
“I think it is going to be incredible for our business,” he said. “The only thing I do know is nothing is going to happen really fast.”
Neither event is a major force, but they lend themselves to a more laid-back, casual atmosphere.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two tournaments less than 90 miles apart have developed a sort of symbiotic relationship, mostly due to the friendship of the two hosts.
They’re on different tours with a different demographic of players and for different stakes. But they have a few things in common: they’re hosted by two of the top PGA Tour players of their generation, the old-school courses and clubhouses offer breathtaking water views and they’re all about the fan experience.
This week’s Constellation Furyk & Friends, which began on Friday, is a PGA Tour Champions event at the Timuquana Country Club. It’s in its third year and last December was voted the best tournament experience of the year by the Champions Tour membership. The tournament is hosted by Jim Furyk, a 17-time PGA Tour winner and the 2003 U.S. Open champion, and his wife Tabitha.
Forty days after the final putt on Sunday, the 14th RSM Classic will tee off at the Sea Island Club on St. Simons Island, Ga., on Nov. 16. It’s a PGA Tour event that began in 2010 and has quickly become a staple of the fall schedule. World Golf Hall of Fame member Davis Love III, who won the 1992 and 2003 Players Championships and the 1997 PGA, among 21 PGA Tour titles, is the host.
Neither event is a major force in worldwide golf. But because of that, they perhaps lend themselves to a more laid-back, casual atmosphere that appeals to some players who have been through the wringer this season with major championships, the FedEx Cup and international match play events.
Schwab Cup and FedEx Fall
The Furyk & Friends does come with a certain late-season cachet: the PGA Tour Champions Schwab Cup race has only two tournaments left for players to get among the top 72 for the Schwab Cup playoffs. But the stars, such as defending Furyk champion Steve Stricker, Ernie Els, Bernhard Langer, Stephen Ames and Steven Alker are secure and the fight is at the bottom end.
For the record, the tournament host is the bubble boy at No. 72, with a scant $2,037 lead over Jason Bohn.
The RSM Classic is the final event of “FedEx Cup Fall,” a new competitive format for the PGA Tour in which players who finished outside the top 70 (which qualified them for the FedEx Cup playoffs) have seven tournaments to earn points to stay among the top 125 and keep their PGA Tour card for 2024.
Tournament host Jim Furyk talks with caddie Mike “Fluff” Cowan ahead of the 2021 Constellation Furyk & Friends at the Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida. Photo by Bob Self/Florida Times-Union
Tournaments share best practices
Love said the tournaments have something else in common: they borrow ideas freely from each other — with never a hard feeling — and go after experienced tournament organizers.
“Jim obviously saw us pop out of the ground as a really well-run tournament because we went and stole from people like [Quail Hollow Club president] Johnny Harris and the PGA Tour and we jumped right in with good operations,” Love said. “So, Jim and Tab did the same thing, they went and found the right people [such as tournament director Adam Renfroe, who ran the Web.com Tour Championship]. Obviously being here in town with the support of the Tour is very helpful.”
Furyk has no problem crediting the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions with helping the tournament evolve from his two-day pro-am at the Sawgrass Country Club between 2010-2020 to the Champions Tour schedule.
“Having [PGA Tour commissioner] Jay Monahan and [Champions Tour president] Miller Brady give us the stamp of approval and let us go out there and find Constellation and Timuquana has been wonderful,” Furyk said. “It seems like a big mountain to climb but it goes by so fast … we have a lot of fun with it. It’s a labor of love and I’m really proud of Tab and our team. We have a very small team but they work really hard all year.”
The Furyk & Friends has a staff of six people, including Renfroe and Tabitha Furyk.
Love’s structure at the RSM Classic is similar. His brother Mark is the executive director and his daughter Lexie Whatley is the event and merchandise manager. The tournament staff consists of 10 people but Love not only plays but has been seen vacuuming the merchandise tent floor to help his daughter close each night.
Both tournaments have been tireless in raising money for charity. The RSM Classic has raised more than $35 million in charity in the first 13 years and Furyk & Friends has raised more than $2.5 million in its first two.
Jim Furyk, wife Tabitha Furyk, Nicki Stricker and Steve Stricker celebrate with the trophy after Steve Stricker won the 2022 Constellation Furyk & Friends at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
Fun outside the ropes
Then there are the activities for fans outside the ropes. Both have numerous hospitality venues, both private and public and being in the fall, neither tries to fight the pull of college football and the NFL.
A large courtyard behind the 18th green at Sea Island has huge TVs that are tuned into the games of the day on Saturday and Sunday, as well as the golf. There is also a sports bar-like venue on the back nine of the Seaside Course.
The Public Tailgate Village at Furyk & Friends offers multiple TVs to keep up with the games and it’s opening early on Sunday for Jaguars fans to watch the game against the Buffalo Bills in London.
There’s also the Kid Zone, with a petting zoo and playground equipment. And if kids want to climb one of Timuquana’s stately trees, no one’s going to stop them.
“Now I want to copy what they’re doing,” Love said. “They sell more than us, they build a lot more than us. It’s incredible. In the pro-am, I was just counting skyboxes and tents and venues. Shoot, my granddaughters want to come back because of the Kid Zone they played in last year. Little things like that, every tournament goes and looks at other tournaments and sees the successes. So we’re definitely doing that with Jim and Tab.”
Both tournaments have concerts. Both have highly successful pro-ams. And both take good care of the players.
Listening to the players
“We’ve all played many, many tournaments on the PGA Tour and around the world, so you know what works,” Ernie Els said. “They [Furyk and his wife] listen to the players. They listened to the players through the first couple of years and went from there. From day one it’s just been a fabulous experience. The venue helps so much, too. Everything works.”
Players and their families on the PGA Tour also enjoy the RSM Classic for its venue and atmosphere: in the heart of the Golden Isles, at a historic resort.
“It gets better by the year,” Zach Johnson said last year. “The community rallies behind it every year. Everybody’s just excited for RSM week. It’s a perfect synergy between the Tour, Sea Island, RSM and stewardship. That’s what the Tour’s all about.”
Furyk said the key is to give hard-core golf fans what they want, and a party atmosphere for people who are only casual fans.
“It’s really just about bringing people out,” he said. “The golf tournament itself is the vehicle.”
So who’s going to be the U.S. captain in 2025 at Bethpage Black?
Speculation is ramping up but Davis Love III, who led the U.S. to Ryder Cup wins in 2012 and 2016, knows who should get a call in the immediate future.
“We’ve got to call Tiger Woods and ask him,” Love said at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida, ahead of the Furyk & Friends. “I think if he wants … obviously Tiger’s into a lot of stuff right now, but it’s kind of his call, I would say. I hate to put pressure on him, but it’s kind of his call. Obviously, with some guys out, he’s the next logical choice.”
When asked about the strategy of bringing in some new blood in the captain’s spot, Love didn’t hesitate to admit it’s time for him to move on.
“They need to get rid of guys like Davis Love and probably Fred Couples and move on. I’m lobbying for it,” he said, admitting it will be difficult to step away and let others take over the reins.
“It’s incredibly hard. I told a few people over at the Ryder Cup, I said, ‘man, this is my last time’, and they were like ‘no, no, no’, and I’m like ‘yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s time.’ I told that to Tiger in 2019, I said I’m done. He said, ‘yeah, you’re right, probably time, who do we think we ought to get, young guys,’ and then [Steve] Stricker brought me right back in the next year.
“You know, I’ll never quit helping if they want me to help, but I’d be better in logistics now, behind the scenes. Tiger’s been a big help behind the scenes. Maybe that’s what he and I want to keep doing is stay behind the scenes and help out Stewart Cink or whoever the next guy is.”
Love also mentioned Webb Simpson, an assistant captain on the winning 2022 Presidents Cup team, as a solid future choice for Ryder Cup captain.
This week’s Ryder Cup in Italy is a referendum on whether the Task Force has achieved its stated goal.
ROME – After Keegan Bradley learned he wasn’t selected as a captain’s pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, he poured his heart out to Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis.
“I’ve always been an outsider in the sport but I have tried to get closer to the guys I thought would be on the team,” Bradley said. “I feel like moving forward I’m going to have to automatically qualify for the Ryder Cup.”
For Bradley, being snubbed for the team was an extension of being left out of the meeting of the “Delaware 23” in Wilmington, Delaware, during the 2022 BMW Championship when Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler flew in to meet with roughly the Tour’s top-20 players in an effort to remake the PGA Tour.
Bradley isn’t the only one who feels as if the U.S. Ryder Cup has become a little “too clubby,” a bit “too cliquish,” too much of a “boys’ club.” Stewart Cink is the only new blood to this year’s back room for U.S. Captain Zach Johnson, but even he isn’t sure whether he would have been invited to be in the cool club if Phil Mickelson hadn’t been banished from the U.S. Ryder Cup’s inner circle for the things he said before leaving for LIV Golf.
“I have felt a little bit like that, like I was just on the outside of a certain circle,” Cink told Golfweek. “I don’t necessarily feel exactly the same way (Keegan) does, though, because I hesitate – I’ve got to be careful what I say. I didn’t feel like I was outside of any circle. I felt like there was a specific – OK, I’m not going to go there. I don’t want to say. I’ll just say this. I have felt similarly to the way Keegan says that he feels about being a little bit on the outside, a little bit maybe not in the fraternity necessarily. Just being a little bit of a different personality, plenty of experience, but not necessarily like in the club. It’s hard to get in if you’re not in.”
The fraternity that Cink refers to may be more the Tri-Lambs of “Revenge of the Nerds” fame than the bullying Alpha Betas. After all, at Stanford, Tiger Woods was nicknamed “Erkel,” a reference to the goofball character Steve Erkel on the TV show “Family Matters,” Davis Love III was called Dufus, and Mickelson Figjam – if you don’t know why, Google it. So how did all these dorks end up at the cool table?
It goes back to the 2014 Ryder Cup when the U.S. side was blown out in Scotland, its sixth loss in seven playings of the biennial event, and Mickelson publicly threw U.S. Captain Tom Watson under the bus during the post-match press conference. The result was the formation of a Task Force, which empowered the players and was designed to create continuity in the team leadership. Ted Bishop was the president of the PGA of America at the time and along with PGA CEO Pete Bevacqua assembled an 11-man Task Force, which included past captains Raymond Floyd and Tom Lehman, and active players Davis Love III, Rickie Fowler, Steve Stricker, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk.
“My vision was a reset of the U.S. side,” Bishop wrote in a text. “A succession plan of Captains from the assistant ranks. Never saw more than three picks. The whole idea was to give the players a greater voice but not control.”
Continuity in leadership has been achieved as Task Force members Love, Furyk and Stricker have taken turns as captain. Presumably, it is only a matter of time before Tiger is captain – some say this would’ve been his turn had he not been involved in a single car accident — and Mickelson was expected to take the helm at Bethpage in 2025 until he became persona non grata after joining LIV. It’s ironic that the most influential figure in the formation of the Task Force and this new era of U.S. team golf is now banished from any involvement. That may have re-opened the door for the likes of Cink. Despite being a five-time Ryder Cup member and respected veteran of the Tour policy board, Cink had been on the outside looking in for a post with Team USA. He had admitted that he thought his window for being a U.S. captain had passed.
“In my case, there’s a lot of guys that were captains and assistant captains and it was kind of a cycle of the same – once that Ryder Cup Task Force started, it kind of became like the same guys, just it was a merry go round,” Cink rightly noted.
Johnson brought Cink on board in July as his final selection as a vice captain, the lone newbie in what otherwise is the same cast of characters (Fred Couples, Furyk, Love, Stricker). Even Johnson admits that the Team USA leadership is ready for some new blood.
“I understand that,” Johnson said. “At the same time, it’s like the guys you don’t pick for the team. All are worthy to be a part of it, it’s just how it works out given all sorts of factors. And that’s unfortunate. And there’s a lot of individuals that you know, probably could say the same thing and I get that. I feel honored and humbled that I’m still a part of it to some degree.”
Love thought he had his final go-round last fall as U.S. Presidents Cup captain, his third stint in that role overall, but he and Johnson are tight and so he agreed to do one more tour of duty.
“I’ve heard a lot of chatter about ‘Oh, no, here we go, Davis Love again. What about some new guys?’ ” Love said. “And then I had one friend of mine say, ‘I’d quit worrying about it, you guys are winning.’ ”
Indeed, since the Task Force installed Love as Ryder Cup captain for 2016, Team USA has won five of its last six Cups between Presidents and Ryder Cup, with its only loss at the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris.
One person who didn’t participate in the Task Force was Paul Azinger, the winning captain in 2008, who shared his vision with the PGA brain trust individually. Azinger didn’t want to bestow too much credit to the Task Force, noting he wasn’t sure what it had really done other than mimicking the Team Euro blue print and said, “As long as past captains and future captains are being asked to be assistants. That’s the formula,” he said.
The Task Force awakened changes that were long overdue but it may have given too much control to certain players and left them open to charges of favoritism to certain players such as Justin Thomas, who received one of the six captain’s picks. This week’s Ryder Cup and the U.S. bid to win on European soil for the first time in 30 years – when Tom Watson of all people was captain – is a referendum on whether the Task Force has achieved its stated goal.
As Azinger pointed out, “It’s gotten a little cliquish,” but then he added, “that’s fine as long as they win.”
As Michael Corleone in “The Godfather,” Pacino uttered one of the great movie lines: “Just when I thought I was out…they pulled me back in.” In much the same fashion, Love III thought he was done as America’s favorite cart driver after riding off in the sunset last fall as the winning captain of the American side at the Presidents Cup, but just like Corleone he has been called back for another tour of duty as a buggy driver for U.S. captain Zach Johnson next week at the 44th edition of the Ryder Cup in Rome.
“Well, I keep telling guys that I’m ready to be done,” Love said of his latest role as U.S. vice captain. “But I’ve heard a lot of chatter about ‘Oh, no, here we go, Davis Love again. What about some new guys?’
“And then I had one friend of mine say, ‘I’d quit worrying about it, you guys are winning.’ ”
Indeed, since the Task Force installed Love as Ryder Cup captain for 2016, Team USA has won five of its last six Cups between Presidents and Ryder Cup, with its only loss at the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris. Love twice has served as Ryder Cup captain, including in 2016 when he led the U.S. to a 17-11 victory at Hazeltine National Golf Club and in 2012 at Medinah Country Club when the Euros rallied from a 10-6 deficit on the final day. The 59-year-old Love also has served as vice captain in 2010, ‘18 and ‘21. Love played in six Ryder Cups dating from the last time Team USA won on European soil in 1993 (also ‘95, ‘97, ‘99, 2002, ‘04), and has 21 career PGA Tour victories, including the 1997 PGA Championship.
USA team captain for the 2012 Ryder Cup Davis Love III and his brother Mark at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois. Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Johnson said he will lean heavily on Love, someone he holds in the highest respect, next week in Rome. Love and Johnson both reside on Saint Simons Island, a picturesque corner of southern Georgia, where Love is known as “Uncle Davis” or “The Godfather” of what is affectionately known as the Sea Island Mafia. When asked to describe what Love means to the team, Johnson said, “He’s always been a role model for me on the golf course. I tend to attract myself to individuals that are slow to speak and quick to listen and he would be the epitome of that. He’s very cerebral, very wise but he also can be just one of the guys. He looks through a lens that is not about himself, ever, and is always about efficiency, effectiveness and keeping the main thing the main thing. In this day and age, it seems like he’s become a rare breed, unfortunately. He’s just a tremendous person and someone that you trust and is just a high integrity guy.”
It stands to reason to have some veteran leadership in Team USA’s backroom, but Stewart Cink, who was Johnson’s final addition as a vice captain, represents the only new blood. Love got a rare second turn as Ryder Cup captain in 2016 and guided the U.S. to victory. He remained involved in 2018 as a vice captain to Jim Furyk, with the idea that the past captain could pass down all the experience he gained in the role to his successor. But the next captain, Steve Stricker, convinced Love to serve again in that capacity at Whistling Straits. Then, Tiger Woods and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan sold Love on the fact that as a Tar Heel, he was the right man to lead the U.S. in his native Charlotte at last year’s Presidents Cup.
“I mean, at some point, he probably does have to take a backseat but the guys want to be around both him and Fred (Couples). There’s a continuity year after year right now and I understand that can be frustrating for some, like, there’s not new guys coming in,” Johnson said, “but at the same time we feel like we do have some individuals that we consult with and ones that are vice captains that can be a captain at some point whether it’s Presidents or Ryder Cup. I’m not concerned about it nor is anybody else.”
“I was the same way,” Love said. “I wanted Fred at the Presidents Cup because I hadn’t hardly been at a Presidents Cup without Fred. So there’s a comfort level for the captain. And, you know, there are a lot of guys on the team that I know, and some that are probably tired of me, but at least they know what they’re getting.”
Some of the bronze plaques for the 176 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame are better than others.
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — It’s golf’s highest honor.
To be elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame is to be enshrined among the greatest. There have been only 176 men and women to be inducted in the Hall.
When the facility opened at World Golf Village in 1998, the members were commemorated with crystals but they were mounted in the floor and took up too much space for special events. So, the crystals were removed and bronze plaques replaced them. Some are better than others. According to the Florida Times Union, the plaques will not be relocated to Pinehurst, N.C., where the Hall will take up residency again in 2024.
Some of the plaques, it really helps to have the name written below it because the resemblance is minimal at best. See if you can name the Hall member.
That might be the word used to describe your drive on the downhill – and downwind if you’re lucky – par-5 16th hole at Cove Club that races from the tee box toward the Sea of Cortez.
Booming is also the best word to describe the sheer growth of the game of golf on the tip of the Baja California peninsula.
Los Cabos, “the two capes,” is the area book-ended by the twin cities of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, neighboring towns situated at opposite ends of a 20-mile corridor. This Mexican golf mecca has only been a golf destination for about 30 years. But what’s there now combined with what’s coming guarantees this hotspot will remain a popular locale for years to come. Tourism was up double digits in 2022, a trend that continued the first part of 2023, and several new golf courses are either planned or under construction.
Cabo had but one course in 1987 and there’s 18 now. By 2030, there’s likely to be as many as 25. Almost all are top-shelf venues catering to those looking at golf as a complement to an upscale resort lifestyle.
It’s almost a chicken-or-the-egg discussion: Are golfers flocking to Cabo because of the array of great courses? Or are great courses continuing to sprout up as people seek a home-away-from-home destination with a country club lifestyle replete with all the modern amenities?
That’s most likely a question you’ll have to answer for yourself. When you plan your trip, though, you may want to leave your departure date open-ended. It’s not uncommon for a six-day Cabo trip to become nine days, 12 days, even more. You’ll see what we mean when you get there.
Ease of access
Arrival into the Los Cabos International Airport in San Jose del Cabo on a recent trip for this Golfweek staffer was a breeze. The direct flight from Phoenix was a little more than two hours. At the taxi stand, where dozens of vacationers waited for their turn to get whisked away, music was blaring and bartenders were pouring.
After finding a ride, a white Chevy Tahoe with dark-tinted windows, a tall, cold slender can of Pacifico beer became the refreshment of choice. The first stop: Diamante Cabo San Lucas.
The Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal Golf Course at Diamante Cabo San Lucas (Photo: Diamante)
Our driver, Jose, made a good call taking the Los Cabos Toll Road, which cuts across the desert a few miles north of the corridor. The toll is fairly new and makes for a quicker route to the ever-growing Pacific Ocean side of the cape.
Downtown Cabo, in the middle of the corridor, is the heart of the action with restaurants, bars, shops and the pier. This nightlife hotspot is on the agenda but reaching home base for the first part of this trip is the task at hand, with the SUV making a beeline to Diamante. About 45 minutes later, the second-floor, double sliding-glass door was opened, bringing in the cool desert air and providing an amazing view to the west, the sun beginning to set over the horizon.
The ninth green of the Davis Love III-designed Dunes course was just to the right off the patio. Looking that direction, it’s impossible not to notice the Lagoon, Diamante’s 10-acre saltwater pool, its stunning blue water contrasted against the desert terrain. For those with family in tow, the Lagoon, complete with a kids water park, is a centerpiece to your stay.
The Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal Golf Course at Diamante Cabo San Lucas (Photo: Diamante)
Farther up the landscape is El Cardonal, the second of what will soon be three 18-hole championship courses. Better known as the first golf course designed by Tiger Woods, El Cardonal will get its proper introduction to the world in November when it joins the roster of PGA Tour stops as host of the World Wide Technology Championship.
Like in so many other aspects of their golfing lives, Tiger is following in the footsteps of Jack Nicklaus, who has six courses in Cabo. The two legendary golfers are linked again here on the peninsula.
Exploding on the scene
As with many coastal Mexican locales, Los Cabos was once a sleepy fishing community. It’s also long been a renowned scuba and whale-watching spot. Situated about 1,000 miles south of San Diego, the area is Instagram-famous for El Arco de Cabo San Lucas, better known as Land’s End, the stunning natural arch that dips into the water, a must-have photo opp for all visitors to the area.
Cabo is now just as well-known for its golf but it’s a bit stunning to realize that just a generation ago, there was but one course on the peninsula. Constructed in 1987 and just a nine-holer, Vidanta Golf Los Cabos was built by the government and is still in operation. It would be another five years until the next one came online, but that course, called Palmilla, was Jack Nicklaus’ introduction to the area and signaled the beginnings of a subtropical golf destination.
“There was nothing here,” said Brian McCallen, who knows Cabo better than most. He handled golf public relations for the Los Cabos Tourism Board for eight years. Prior to that, he was the travel editor for Golf magazine for 16 years.
“There were five hotels, probably more donkeys than people.”
The private Cove Club Golf Course at Cabo Del Sol in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (Photo: Cabo Del Sol)
It was the second course Nicklaus built in Cabo that really got the ball rolling. Originally called the Ocean Course at Cabo Del Sol, Cove Club is now a private golf and beach club. It transitioned into a private residence club after operating as a public/resort facility for 25 years. Nicklaus once said it was “the best golf property I’ve seen.”
“I don’t call him a Golden Bear. I call him the Golden Amigo,” said McCallen. “He’s the dude, he’s the guy that really put this place on the map.”
The Ocean course eventually earned its accolades, but there was a time when the idea of flying to Cabo for golf only raised some eyebrows.
“Hey, you guys, you gotta be down, you gotta come down to Mexico and see this Jack Nicklaus course,” McCallen recalled telling his fellow golf course rating panelists at Golf magazine. “They said ‘We’re not going to Mexico to play golf. What are you talking about?’” So I said, ‘Look, if you don’t think it’s the best course you’ve seen, the margaritas are on me.’”
After convincing some golfers to make the trek, the course won them over. Nicklaus was right. The Ocean course was a huge hit.
“It was the game changer,” McCallen said. “That was the course that established Los Cabos as a primo international golf destination.”
To be a primo destination, you need to have primo amenities and Cove Club offers exactly that. Cove Club, now a private golf course, was redesigned in 2023, with the original 17th and 18th holes removed to make room for the Cabo Del Sol Beach Club. The 17th was a par 3 that played up the coast, but as it turns out the land along that hole was more ideal as a sandy beach area. The 17th green is now a negative-edge pool and the Beach Club has a fantastic outdoor restaurant and bar. It just made too much sense to maximize the land.
The new 18 is where the old 16 used to be, and it’s a great way to finish your round. In fact, all three of the closing holes are what’s going to make your round here memorable. You start that closing stretch at one of the highest points at Cove Club at the 16th tee box and make your way toward the ocean, each shot downhill, drawing you closer to the salty sea air.
The 18th hole at the private Cove Club Golf Course at Cabo Del Sol in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (Photo: Cabo Del Sol)
Along the way, make sure you pull into the comfort stations for a quick break, a delicious bite, maybe even a shot of Casamigos or Codigo tequila.
Cove Club Golf Course is tied for 12th on Golfweek’s Best 2023: Top 50 courses in Mexico, Caribbean, Atlantic islands and Central America list. One trip around this place will make you a believer.
Cabo Del Sol has a second 18-hole course, designed by Tom Weiskopf, called the Cabo Del Sol Course. Called the Desert Course when it opened in 2001, it ranks 42nd on the Golfweek list and it’s no slouch.
Sitting higher up on the terrain, the golf is farther away from the ocean but there are views of the deep blue water on most of the holes. Currently under a months-long renovation by the team of Dana Fry and Jason Straka, the Desert course is a great complement to Jack’s course down the hill.
Pacific views
On the western edge of Los Cabos, with the vast Pacific Ocean dominating the views in the distance, is Diamante, and once you’re here, it’s really difficult to leave. Fine dining, a sports bar, a great breakfast spot for coffee and smoothies. A workout center with basketball, tennis and pickleball. Hiking trails. Even a private yacht providing members sunset cruises two nights a week. And of course, golf, golf and more golf.
Diamante, which opened in 2009, features two 18-hole championship courses: the Dunes by Davis Love III and Tiger’s El Cardonal. Tiger also did The Oasis, a 12-hole short course that loops around a lake. A 15-hole putting course is mere steps from the clubhouse. Each day the routing is reversed, providing a different challenge from just 24 hours prior. And coming soon: the Legacy, an ultra-private course and also a Tiger Woods design.
As people around Diamante like to say: “We’re in the Tiger Woods business.”
The pro shop at the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal at Diamante Cabo San Lucas (Photo: Golfweek)
Woods’ Legacy will take things next level and further entrench his influence at Diamante. Slated to open late in 2024, The Legacy will be the eventual home of the World Wide Technology Championship. It’ll also perhaps be the most visually stunning golf course at Diamante, with Shadow Creek in Las Vegas likely to have heavy influence on the design.
While Davis Love III’s Dunes course and Tiger’s El Cardonal layout ebb and flow with the terrain, the Legacy is proving to be a major engineering feat.
It’s estimated that more than 2½ million cubic yards of dirt will be moved to create The Legacy. That compares to roughly a couple hundred thousand for El Cardonal and the Dunes.
There will be dozens of different species of plants and trees used in the landscaping, with several lakes, creeks and waterfalls meandering throughout. Like Shadow Creek, golfers will probably forget they’re even in the desert.
Membership will be exclusive and will be capped at 250. Homesites on the Legacy are extremely limited, with just 14 lots. Diamante founder and CEO Ken Jowdy has one of them. Tiger has one picked out, too.
Where the Legacy course ultimately lands in the rankings is TBD, but it’ll have some competition right there at Diamante.
The Dunes course is No. 3 on the 2023 Golfweek’s Best courses 2023: Mexico, Caribbean, Atlantic islands and Central America list; El Cardonal checks in at No. 26, up six spots from 2022.
The Davis Love III-designed Dunes Golf Course at Diamante Cabo San Lucas (Photo: Diamante)
Simply called the “Tiger course” by most at Diamante, it opened in 2014. Tiger was there to hit the ceremonial first tee shot and his ball ended up in a fairway bunker down the right side. His name graces numerous plaques commemorating famous shots he hit around the world and there’s a plaque here, too, right there in the sand. Not his shining moment, perhaps, but a historical first nonetheless: the first shot Tiger hit on his first course.
“I’m very excited about the opening of El Cardonal,” Woods said in December of 2014. “This is a culmination of a dream for me and my team. I’ve always wanted to be involved in golf course design.”
The second course built at Diamante was the first one on the docket on this trip. The opening hole is inviting, a downhill race track with a wide fairway, allowing golfers to ease into their rounds. Nobody’s tee shot found Tiger’s bunker, and after putting out for par, we were off and running.
The fourth hole, a par 4 that can play as long as 483 yards, features a steeply elevated green, adding to the challenge of finding the putting surface in two. You may consider two extra clubs for this approach shot.
The first comfort station is located just beyond the fifth hole, but the pre-golf smoothies were doing their jobs so it was on to the sixth. The short par-3 ninth takes you right back to the clubhouse, and while it still wasn’t quite time for lunch, it was indeed time for a snack: egg and bacon tacos.
The 10th hole plays uphill, setting the stage for many of the back-nine holes, as the course climbs the terrain. The layout is graced by countless cardons, which are similar to the saguaro cactus that dot the landscape across Arizona. Anyone who’s played desert golf in the Grand Canyon state knows the saguaro. The cardon, however, is a bigger species. And no, El Cardonal is not a play on the Cardinal mascot of Stanford, where Tiger played his college golf. The name is paying homage to this majestic desert plant, native to the Baja peninsula.
The key hole on the back nine is likely the 15th, with its severe right-to-left sloping green. The prevailing green is right to left as well so a sharp mid-iron will be required to find the proper part of the putting surface.
Whatever your score on that 15th hole, rest easy because the second of two comfort stations awaits. This one has a thatched-roof cabana and what you can’t miss is a white donkey statue wearing a colorful Mexican blanket. It’s a must-have photo opp for sure.
A comfort station near the 15th hole at the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal Golf Course at Diamante Cabo San Lucas (Photo: Golfweek)
The 16th is an interesting par 3 with a huge three-tiered green. The length is manageable, about 150 yards, but there is nowhere to miss left, right or deep. Steep slopes into gnarly desert scrub await on all sides, with the location of the pin and hint of wind likely to lead you to rethink your club selection.
Coming soon to El Cardonal, on the back side of the 16th hole, is a bakery. You read that right. A bakery. Imagine the smell of fresh-baked bread as you near the finish of your round.
The 17th tee box is near the main entrance to Diamante and you get big, sweeping views of the entire place with the Pacific off in the distance. If you’re wondering about all the green grass on these courses here, technology and gravity team up to deliver water to the Platinum paspalum turf.
Diamante’s desalination plant – a requirement for the newer developments – first pulls the salt out of the ocean water. Pumps then bring that water to the highest elevation on the property at the 17th tee box, where a gravity-fed system feeds desalinated water across the land.
Like the first hole, No. 18 is a wide, downhill par 5, which could make for exciting bookend scoring holes for the PGA Tour pros.
When golfers come off the 18th hole, they’ll soon be able to walk off Tiger’s course and into Tiger’s restaurant. The Woods Cabo will be the second in The Woods brand to come online, and it’s highly anticipated. Slated for a September opening, The Woods Cabo will likely be a hot spot for the area, and you won’t have to be a member of Diamante to enjoy it.
The restaurant features a stunning four-sided marble bar that dominates the room. There are about 30 big screen TVs in the venue and large high-backed round booths offering privacy. Large windows along three walls offer views of the course and the ocean.
The Woods Cabo at the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal at Diamante Cabo San Lucas (Photo: Golfweek)
Diamante hired Larbi Dahrouch as head chef, and he’s joined by sushi chef Jesus Humberto Villalobos Aviles whose team will prepare sushi on a daily basis. A key feature of The Woods Cabo will be the large butcher counter, where members can hand-pick steaks to take home and grill for themselves.
Where the desert, mountains, ocean meet
The landscape and climate of Los Cabos is unique. It’s considered a tropical desert, where the desert meets the mountains and together they run downhill into the ocean. If you’re playing golf, you can be poking around the desert scrub looking for a Pro V1 and then 20 minutes later have your toes dipping in the water.
Officially, there are two bodies of water that meet at the marina in the town of Cabo San Lucas, about in the middle of the corridor, with the massive Pacific Ocean is to the west, stretching on to infinity. The Sea of Cortez, meanwhile, runs up the east side of the peninsula, all the way to Puerto Penasco, aka Rocky Point, another popular Mexican beach town that’s an easy drive from various spots in the American southwest.
The vast majority of U.S. citizens visiting Cabo are coming from the western states. Direct flights – from Phoenix (two hours away), Los Angeles and San Diego (about the same), Dallas (about three hours) – make it easy. But more East Coast cities are coming online with directs, including Charlotte, New York, even Toronto. Heck, you can fly direct from Spain and soon London.
There’s already talk of a second Cabo airport, near the Pacific side of the Cape, another indication of this fast-growing area.
Love leads the way with Dunes
There are 11 golf courses in Cabo on Golfweek’s Best courses 2023: Mexico, Caribbean, Atlantic islands and Central America. Considering there are 18 courses in all of Cabo, that’s a strong field to contend with.
The Davis Love III-designed Dunes Golf Course at Diamante Cabo San Lucas (Photo: Diamante)
The best of the lot is the Dunes course at Diamante. Designed by Davis Love III and opened in 2009, it’s the closest to the ocean, with its holes winding up and back down, over and through natural dunes, created after thousands of years of wind whipping through the area. The course deserves its accolades.
Like El Cardonal, the Dunes has two comfort stations, but these are strategically placed.
Playing the Dunes on our second day of golf at Diamante had us paired with a couple of members who were keen on pointing out the tamales. Their recommendation: Get one red and one green and wash them down with a cold Pacifico.
The flow of your round at Diamante is perfect, as you’re not rushed playing your next shot nor are you quickly eating those delicious tamales. Remember you’re on Cabo time.
The tamales and beer at the Dunes Course at Diamante Cabo San Lucas in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (Photo: Golfweek)
But don’t take your focus off your game. Take the 12th hole at the Dunes, a par 3 that was playing 180 yards. Beware because danger is lurking. You will probably need one or maybe two clubs more than you think here because of the elevated green. Don’t miss left or you’ll be neck-deep in a bunker.
Your reward for reaching the green is more than the chance to use the flatstick; it’s the views. From this lofty perch you can see the ocean waves crashing – and they often do crash, loudly – onto the beach to your left.
Two holes later, as you’re standing on the 14th tee, your swing commitment here is going to be key. The hole plays 380 yards from the tips, 358 yards from the more reasonable tee box. It’s a blind tee shot with more room to the left than you might think. An odd obelisk in the fairway does give you a sense of direction but it still feels like a hit-and-hope kinda shot. More than likely, though, you’ll find your ball in the fairway. One of the members pounded his drive here and thanks to a healthy wind at our backs, found that his tee shot came to rest on the green before settling for a two-putt birdie.
The course is a fair test, but if it’s windy it kicks things up a notch. The course was recently reworked and the original 18th hole is gone, but the current 18th hole will get your attention. Mostly straight away, your approach to the green needs to get up, up, up in the air because of a severely elevated putting surface. Get home in two here and you’re going to feel good about how your round ended.
Home stretch for the PGA Tour
Of the two courses at Diamante, the Dunes gets about 55 percent of play, but El Cardonal is closing the gap. That’ll likely continue but for now, there will be no rounds played at El Cardonal. The course closed July 15 for home-stretch preparation for the PGA Tour and all the necessary infrastructure that hosting requires.
The World Wide Technology Championship, a staple on the PGA Tour’s fall schedule since 2007, was previously held on a different Mexican coast, at El Camaleon Golf Club south of Cancun in Riviera Maya. But Mayakoba flipped to the LIV Golf League and created an opportunity for Diamante, and Tiger Woods, to fill the void.
The Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal Golf Course at Diamante Cabo San Lucas (Photo: Diamante)
Will Mazzeo was the tournament director at Mayakoba and has moved to Cabo to stay on in that role. His full team joined him in August in the walk-up to the tournament. Diamante generally closes for about a week in September anyway as the Cabo area gets 90 percent of its annual rainfall in that month, and that’s a good time to get some “rehab” work done. Some fresh paint here, a little clean up and fix up there. This extended closure of El Cardonal started July 15 with a scheduled reopen date of Monday, Oct. 30, just in time for the first of two pro-ams.
The golf course will be ready. The Woods Cabo will be rocking. The eyes of the golf world will be trained on the cape. We’ll just have to wait on that 16th hole bakery.
Closing in style
Cove Club director of instruction Carly Schneider frequently plays the two courses at Cabo Del Sol, often with students but many times with members. A former college golfer who was later a coach at Loyola University in her hometown of Chicago, Schneider grew up “on my grandfather’s golf course that he built.” She was first drawn to Cabo, at least the idea of Cabo, through Instagram, specifically Christian Hafe, a golf photographer. She found a magnetism to this subtropical locale through his images. She says she knew she wanted to find a landing spot at a private club, and Cabo Del Sol sure fit the bill.
The private Cove Club Golf Course at Cabo Del Sol in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (Photo: Cabo Del Sol)
“The weather is great 10 months out of the year,” she said. “Even in August and September [Cabo’s rainy season], I enjoy those off-season months. The surf is so good, the water is so warm. It really goes through these beautiful, magical seasons. We’ve got whales for three months and then the water warms and then everything turns green after the storms. Then in the winter we’ve got cool desert nights and 80-degree days.”
Casual golf, even barefoot, is encouraged, especially when you find yourself playing the consecutive par 3s along the ocean.
On this May visit, it was high 80s, windy but warm and dry. Coming down the stretch at Cove Club, Schneider showed off some of her golf skills. The 16th hole, which starts off on a tee box offering stunning views of the course, is the final par 5 on the course. With a little luck, there’s wind to your back on this hole and on this day, we had just that luck. Two strong shots later, Schneider found herself over the green but no worries there. She calmly holed out a wedge for eagle from a big swale behind the putting surface.
The par-3 17th is a treat, with a large green on the other side of a deep arroyo. A short iron is all you need, but be mindful of the two-tiered green.
And then there’s 18, the Cove Club’s original 16th hole. Talk about your great closing holes, as this beaut is a stunning downhill par 4 that ends at the edge of the Sea of Cortez. When you reach the putting surface, and as you wait for your group to putt out, you marvel at the views of the ocean. This spot provides one last on-course photo opp before you meander off the green and head next door for snacks and perhaps some drinks.
At the Beach Club, there’s a tremendous outdoor bar and restaurant, with views of the waves crashing against craggy rocks. Head indoors and you can see the large kitchen staff at work, preparing the day’s selections.
There’s also a private room with floor-to-ceiling windows all around for that next large gathering of family and friends.
The tequila flight at Cove Club at Cabo Del Sol in Cabo San Lucas (Photo: Golfweek)
The five-flight tequila tasting is a must-have experience, with each of the agave flavors paired with the perfect bite-sized snack. Sipping the extra anejo while noshing on the chocolate dessert is the ultimate finisher here.
It’s only going to get bigger, better
“When I first came down it felt, it really felt like a cowboy town,” said Erik Evans, PGA director of golf at the Cove Club. “It was a very small town, everybody knew everybody. You go into a restaurant or a bar, everyone knew your name. We didn’t have a lot of golf courses back then.”
Evans first arrived in 2009, and one of his early stints was at Diamante. He knows the scene about as well as anyone. “You can buy good wine down here now, which wasn’t the case here 10 years ago,” he says, a subtle yet noticeable difference.
Before 2010 there were a dozen courses in Cabo. There are 18 now and “I see us by 2030 getting to 25, 26 golf courses,” he said.
The growth of golf matches the increase in popularity of the entire area. There was a surge in the number of visitors to close out the 2022 calendar year, according to the Los Cabos Tourism Board, which called double-digit growth in tourism “unprecedented”. That hasn’t subsided, with similar numbers arriving so far in 2023.
Nicklaus got the ball rolling and many of the other big-name designers have a stake in the ground. Tom Weiskopf built the Cabo Del Sol (originally called the Desert Course), which is now in the hands of the Fry/Straka Design Group. The entire course is being redone, with six holes of the new-look layout already completed.
The Cabo Del Sol Course at Cabo Del Sol in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (Photo: Cabo Del Sol)
Greg Norman has two courses in Cabo with two more being designed. Fred Couples was involved with the Twin Dolphin Club. Tom Fazio has a project in the works. Ernie Els recently signed on to build Oleada, not far from Diamante near the Pacific.
Big brand names are indeed selling this big destination.
All this high-end golf comes with high-end resorts and residences, which makes for all-inclusive experiences for those vacationing in the area. If private, high-end golf is what you desire, there’s plenty of that. In fact, the area is becoming increasingly that, with multiple properties offering all-inclusive memberships with exclusive perks that’ll make you extend your stay or perhaps find that next cheap flight for a quick last-minute visit.
So if it’s fun in the sun with plenty of not-so-serious rounds of golf you seek, put Cabo on your to-do list.
“We have created an experience around golf you really don’t wanna leave,” said Evans.
A taco station at the private Cove Club Golf Course at Cabo Del Sol in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (Photo: Golfweek)Whenever you do stick your tee in the ground at Diamante or Cove Club or any of the other courses, remember to make the most of your time there.
“Set the pencil aside and take it all in, enjoy the whole experience,” McCallen said. “Don’t worry so much about your score. Take a couple of deep breaths.
“I would say it takes great land to create great golf and we have great land. There’s elevation change, there’s really beautiful desert vegetation.
“I will definitely say that the people are very welcoming and very warm and they always have a warm welcome here. The people make the place.”
