Tag: Jason Gore

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson highlight 12 sponsor exemptions who won a PGA Tour event since 1990

There are five major champions on this list.

Every PGA Tour event has a handful or so of spots in the field to dole out to golfers who didn’t otherwise qualify.

Those spots may go to a past champion. They often are awarded to a rising star in the game. The strategy there is that perhaps the up-and-comer will remember the courtesy later in his pro career and will become a regular at that particular Tour stop.

Sometimes a sponsor exemption gets doled out to someone noteworthy as a means to drive interest in a tournament, such as former NFL quarterback Tony Romo, who got into the Charles Schwab Challenge, or LPGA star Lexi Thompson, who wowed the Las Vegas crowd last October before just missing the weekend cut at the Shriners Children’s Open.

According to the PGA Tour, since 1990 there have been just 12 golfers to win a tournament after getting a sponsor exemption. There’s been over 1,000 PGA Tour events in that time, proving the long odds a sponsor invite faces.

Here’s the list of those who won on the PGA Tour after receiving a sponsor exemption since 1990.

Report: PGA Tour evaluating alternative sources of capital beyond current framework agreement with PIF

“We put in a bid. It’s one of the great sports. I love it. You know, I think we could add to it what we’ve added to all of our sports.”

How are things progressing in the PGA Tour’s efforts to move forward on the framework agreement it signed in June with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund? It depends who you ask.

ESPN reported “that while the negotiations with PIF chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and other officials with the country’s sovereign wealth fund are ongoing, the proposed deal is far from getting done for a variety of reasons, including PIF officials wanting more control of the new for-profit enterprise. Sources said the Saudis are also digging in their heels on incorporating team golf into the sport’s future global ecosystem.”

Earlier this week, PGA Tour executive Jason Gore sent a memo to players providing an update. As first reported by ESPN, Gore wrote, “We remain focused on reaching a Definitive Agreement with PIF and the DP World Tour, but not surprisingly, these negotiations have resulted in unsolicited outreach and proposals from a number of other interested investors. All of this activity reinforces the Tour’s strong position and our potential for growth.”

Could the Tour end up going another direction and avoiding the scrutiny of the U.S. Department of Justice’sAnitrust Division? It’s a direction that Randall Stephenson, in his letter of resignation as an independent director of the PGA Tour’s board, suggested the Tour should consider. He wrote, “I hope, as this board moves forward, it will comprehensively rethink its governance model and keep its options open to evaluate alternative sources of capital beyond the current framework agreement.”

Bloomberg previously named three bidders last month, including Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. In May, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel said on the Freakonomics podcast that, at the behest of LIV’s Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, the company had been considering investing a billion dollars in LIV until Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan persuaded him to reconsider.

Speaking at a Bloomberg conference this week, Emanuel confirmed the company is interested in buying a stake in the Tour.

“We put in a bid. It’s one of the great sports. I love it. You know, I think we could add to it what we’ve added to all of our sports.”

Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox and has strong ties to Monahan, who formerly worked there, and Henry Kravis, of “Barbarians at the Gate” fame as co-founder of the investment firm KKR & Co., were also mentioned by Bloomberg as potential U.S. investors.

Bloomberg reported last month that Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. and Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Premier League team Liverpool F.C., were exploring investing in the PGA Tour as a “possible alternative transaction” to the pending deal with PIF. Bloomberg reported that Henry Kravis, co-founder of the investment firm KKR & Co., was among other U.S. investors contemplating a potential deal with the PGA Tour.

Emanuel said that his company was competing with “like seven other bidders.” According to an ESPN source privy to the state of the negotiations, “at least 10” private equity groups and other investors have had discussions about investing in the PGA Tour. “If the negotiations with PIF fail, the PGA Tour’s goal would be to build a $2 billion ‘war chest’ equal to what the Saudis had committed to investing in the Tour,” ESPN reported.

Collin Neville, who was hired as a consultant to the PGA Tour, also leads the sports practice at the Raine Group, a venture capital firm, and previously led the Premier Golf League’s unsuccessful negotiations with the DP World Tour, clearly sees the potential for reimagining the Tour’s non-profit status in a for-profit world.

For now, the Tour appears to be moving forward with PIF. Monahan teamed with board members Jimmy Dunne and Ed Herlihy to strike the framework agreement after a series of secret meetings with PIF governor Al-Rumayyan and announced the creation of a new for-profit business entity on June 6.

The framework agreement expires Dec. 31, though there have been reports it could be extended into 2024.

Jason Gore hired by PGA Tour to be ‘player advocate,’ report directly to Commissioner

Gore has spent the last three years in a similar role with the USGA as managing director, player relations.

The Prince of Pinehurst is headed to Ponte Vedra Beach.

Veteran PGA Tour pro Jason Gore, 48, was named PGA Tour senior vice president, player advisor to the Commissioner in a move that was announced Friday. According to the announcement, “Gore will serve as a player advocate who will continue to strengthen the relationship between the Tour and its membership.”

“We are thrilled to welcome the Gores back to the Tour and know Jason’s work will have a profound impact on our efforts to continually serve our players and elevate our organization,” Commissioner Monahan said in a memo. “The addition of his perspective and experience in conjunction with our team’s existing knowledge will contribute greatly to this next chapter of the Tour’s success.”

Gore, who won on both the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour during a two-decade playing career, has spent the last three years in a similar role with the USGA as managing director, player relations, a role that was created to open the lines of communication between players and the association. He has been credited by everyone from Phil Mickelson to Rory McIlroy with improving the tenuous relationship that existed between the blue coats and tour pros.

BMW Championship: Leaderboard | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+

“I think about how contentious the relationship was between the players and the USGA, so much so that in 2013 there was massive talk of a player boycott at Merion, right?” McIlroy said after posting a second straight 68 at the BMW Championship. “It’s done a complete 180. It’s probably, I would say, if you polled players, I would say it’s probably one of the top two majors now in terms of how the players are treated and the feedback that they can give and Jason has been a massive part to do with that. And the team that sort of worked with Jason, too.”

McIlroy was asked if the PGA Tour needed the voice of a former player in the Tour’s upper management.

“I think so. We’re not looking for former players to run this. The players are players and management are management and they’re executives and they’re trained to run businesses and run – that’s not what we do,” he said. “I think Jason coming back into the fold, especially with everything that’s happening in the world of golf right now, I think it’s a really – I’m surprised the USGA let him go because he is so good, but it’s a great addition to the Tour.”

Gore’s seven wins on the Korn Ferry Tour are the most in that circuit’s history. That includes three wins in 2005, the same year he won the PGA Tour’s 84 Lumber Classic and played in the final group of the U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort, where he was dubbed the Prince of Pinehurst. He also was a member of Pepperdine’s NCAA title team in 1997 and represented the United States in that year’s Walker Cup.

According to the announcement, Gore will report directly to the Commissioner, and spend his early days in his new role assisting the Commissioner and the Tour’s senior leadership in developing long-range, player-focused strategies that align with the unique needs of the Tour’s players. Monahan called the move “an important part of our evolution in further integrating our players into the business of the Tour.”

USGA chief executive Mike Whan called Gore “everything you hope for in a teammate – knowledgeable, helpful, dedicated and fun to be around.”

McIlroy noted that the Tour’s business needs will take Gore some getting up to speed.

“I’ve only been on the board for a year, but I mean, all the executive team came to my house and spent four or five hours with me just sort of bringing me through the entire Tour business and sort of trying to help me understand how everything works,” McIlroy said. “So it’s been a massive education for me this year, and I’m still trying to get my head around all of it.”

McIlroy added: “Jason can take ideas from players and maybe articulate them better to Jay and his executive team and the board and everything else. Again, he’s a player advocate. He wants to do everything as well as possible to make the players as happy as possible, and it’s a good addition.”

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U.S. Open: Outgoing USGA CEO Mike Davis caddying for marker Jason Gore

Mike Davis better show up, keep up, and shut up on Saturday morning.

SAN DIEGO – Mike Davis better show up, keep up, and shut up on Saturday morning.

The U.S. Golf Association CEO, who is ending his 32-year run with the association later this month, is on the bag for colleague Jason Gore in the third round of the 121st U.S. Open at the Torrey Pines South Course.

With 71 professionals surviving the 36-hole cut, Gore, the winner of seven Korn Ferry Tour tournaments and one PGA Tour title, is stepping in to serve as a marker and play in the first pairing with 19-year-old Akshay Bhatia.

Gore is no stranger to U.S. Open competition and playing on the weekend. At the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, Gore played in the final group on Sunday with Retief Goosen. Dubbed the Prince of Pinehurst for his jovial nature, Gore shot 84 and finish tied for 49th.

Gore, 47, attempted to qualify for this year’s U.S. Open, playing at the Dallas final qualifying site on May 24.

“I miss competition,” he told Global Golf Post that day. “But I don’t miss stinking.”

Gore hung up his spikes in 2019 and joined the USGA as its first-ever USGA player relations director. He gained a big vote of confidence from none other than Phil Mickelson, who said on Friday, “I think Jason Gore is the greatest asset the USGA has. I think he’s done a lot of really good things. I saw it last week or two at Olympic Club. I really like him, and I think he does a great job.”

Davis, 56, who has served the USGA for 32 years, beginning with overseeing ticket sales and transportation, became the association’s seventh executive director in 2011 and the USGA’s first CEO in 2016. He has served many roles at the U.S. Open, including for many years being responsible for the course setup, but this will be his first time as a caddie. He announced last year plans for his next venture: joining Tom Fazio II in a new golf architecture firm called Fazio & Davis Golf Design.

Mike Whan, the former LPGA Commissioner, was announced earlier this year as Davis’s replacement.

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