Tag: Jason Kokrak

Meet the LIV Golf players trying to qualify for the 2024 U.S. Open (and the 11 who aren’t)

There are 11 LIV players who won’t try to qualify for the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst.

U.S. Open qualifying is just around the corner, and LIV Golf players were asked about their plans ahead of this week’s event in Singapore.

During a Smash GC press conference featuring captain Brooks Koepka and his teammates Jason Kokrak, Graeme McDowell and Talor Gooch, both McDowell and Kokrak revealed they were playing in qualifiers for both the U.S. Open at Pinehurst (June 13-16) and Open Championship at Royal Troon (July 18-21).

“I personally am. Doing the U.S. Open in Columbus and then the Open in Manchester,” said Kokrak. “I plan on playing both of them.”

“Yeah, I’m the same. I’ve entered for both qualifiers. I think I’m in Florida Monday of Houston and then just south of London the Tuesday of the International Series Morocco, which I’ll go and play right after the Open qualifying series,” added McDowell. “Obviously I’ll be pulling hard (Koepka) in a couple weeks’ time (at the PGA Championship) but obviously trying to get into a couple majors myself.”

Gooch was short and sour with his response: “I’m not.”

After he was denied a spot in last year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club after the USGA altered its exemption criteria, instead of fighting to try to earn his way again, Gooch tucked tail and decided to play the martyr instead of a qualifier. He’s doing the same again this year.

As of Thursday, 36 LIV players have entered U.S. Open qualifying while 11 have not. Eight players are already exempt into the third men’s major of the year: Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith, Martin Kaymer and Tyrrell Hatton.

Players like Mickelson and DeChambeau have called for the majors to create special exemption categories for LIV players, who have been fighting an uphill battle with regard to access to majors seeing as LIV events don’t receive Official World Golf Ranking points. The league has since pulled its application from consideration, all but closing that door as a way into the biggest tournaments on the calendar. Past champions of the Masters and the PGA have at least two set in stone, but the pair of Opens may require some effort from here on out.

While some players like Joaquin Niemann have continued to fight to play their way in, others expect to be given handouts. Golf has always been a meritocracy, you receive what you earn. The U.S. Open qualifier number shows the majority of LIV players understand that fact, but a handful still need a reminder.

Player Status
Abraham Ancer Final qualifying
Dean Burmester Final qualifying
Laurie Canter Final qualifying
Eugenio Chacarra Final qualifying
Sergio Garcia Final qualifying
Branden Grace Final qualifying
Lucas Herbert Final qualifying
Sam Horsfield Final qualifying
Matt Jones Final qualifying
Jason Kokrak Final qualifying
Jinichiro Kozuma Final qualifying
Anirban Lahiri Final qualifying
Danny Lee Final qualifying
Marc Leishman Final qualifying
Graeme McDowell Final qualifying
Adrian Meronk Final qualifying
Sebastian Munoz Final qualifying
Kevin Na Final qualifying
Joaquin Niemann Final qualifying
Andy Ogletree Final qualifying
Carlos Ortiz Final qualifying
Mito Pereira Final qualifying
David Puig Final qualifying
Patrick Reed Final qualifying
Kalle Samooja Final qualifying
Charl Schwartzel Final qualifying
Brendan Steele Final qualifying
Henrik Stenson Final qualifying
Caleb Surratt Final qualifying
Hudson Swafford Final qualifying
Cameron Tringale Final qualifying
Peter Uihlein Final qualifying
Harold Varner III Final qualifying
Kieran Vincent Final qualifying
Scott Vincent Final qualifying
Lee Westwood Final qualifying
Richard Bland Did not enter
Paul Casey Did not enter
Talor Gooch Did not enter
Charles Howell III Did not enter
Anthony Kim Did not enter
Louis Oosthuizen Did not enter
Pat Perez Did not enter
Thomas Pieters Did not enter
Ian Poulter Did not enter
Bubba Watson Did not enter
Matthew Wolff Did not enter

 

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This year’s Charles Schwab Challenge winner gets a souped-up 1973 Ford Bronco with Tartan plaid seats

The Charles Schwab Challenge has built a fashionable tradition in giving a souped-up vehicle to the winner.

FORT WORTH, Texas — It’s only a few years in the making, but the Charles Schwab Challenge has built a fashionable tradition in giving a souped-up vehicle to the winner.

It started when Kevin Na won in 2019 and gave a glacier-blue 1973 Dodge Challenger to his caddie, and Jason Kokrak has then raved about driving his kids off to school in the renovated, light-blue 1946 Dodge Power Wagon he won in 2021.

After beating Scottie Scheffler in a playoff in 2022, Sam Burns rolled out of Colonial Country Club with a fully restored and modernized 1979 Firebird Trans Am inscribed with the word Schwab in multiple places.

This year, tournament organizers have a real treat for the winner — a fully restored and modernized 1973 Schwab Bronco. The outfit that handled the restoration is Classic Ford Broncos of Powell, Ohio, and the company’s director of sales and operations was on hand this week to show off the vehicle.

2023 Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial
A detailed view of the prize for the Charles Schwab Challenge, a fully restored and modernized 1973 Schwab Bronco, as it sits near the 18th green during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports

“We were approached by Schwab basically over a year ago. It’s a 1973 which they specifically picked that year because this is the 50th year for Schwab,” said Nate Guess. “We paired up, I did the design of it and they made the decision that they were going to move forward with doing the Bronco restoration. This is specifically what we do. We specialize in 1966 to 1977  Bronco restorations.

“So this particular Bronco is from 1973, with the original frame and original matching VIN to the vehicle. It’s got a Gen 3 Coyote motor, so 465 horsepower with an automatic 10-speed transmission. Every nut and bolt on this is completely redone — either brand new or replaced.”

While the engine has been completely overhauled, the interior was finished to match the jacket given to winners at the event.

“You’ll see that the Tartan plaid on the side of the bolsters of the seats,” Guess said. “It’s the exact same material that they make the jacket out of.”

Nate Guess of Classic Ford Broncos stands in front of the 1973 Ford Bronco that will be awarded to the winner of the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge. (Photo by Tim Schmitt/Golfweek)

Guess said the process takes about 14 weeks after the plans are finalized on the vehicles. The company does all the work in-house, taking the original Broncos and breaking them down to the frame and axles. He added that the company does around 100 of these projects per year from the facility, which is just outside of Columbus.

“Everything, from start to finish, is done under one roof,” he said.

The vehicle has become a point of pride for the tournament sponsor, which picked up the pieces of the event in 2019.

“The Challenger prize has now become a tradition in its own right. As we enter our fifth year as title sponsor, we wanted to recognize Schwab’s 50-year legacy of helping our clients get where they want to go, no matter what comes their way,” said Jonathan Craig, the managing director and head of investor services at Charles Schwab. “And there’s no better vehicle to embody that than a 1973 Schwab Bronco.”

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There were several questionable — to put it kindly — style choices during the first three rounds of the 2023 Masters

A few of these are … yikes.

The 87th Masters Tournament kicked off Thursday morning at Augusta National Golf Club with ceremonial tee shots from six-time winner Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson.

For the biggest tournament of the year, apparel brands often outfit their players with the best stuff they offer. Over the years, we’ve seen some great fits — but we’ve also seen some terrible ones.

Thursday morning consisted of more of the latter.

Viktor Hovland, for example, played the opening round in what resembled a splatter painting you would see posted on the walls of a kindergarten room.

Here are some of the worst style choices we saw on the first three days in Georgia.

Masters 2023 leaderboard: Get the latest news from Augusta

Jason Kokrak, Paul Casey share lead after day one of LIV Golf Mayakoba

Thomas Pieters, the newest member of LIV Golf, shot a 5-over 76.

LIV Golf League’s second season got underway Friday with the first round at Mayakoba in Mexico.

Smash GC’s Jason Kokrak fired an opening-round bogey-free 6-under 65 to earn himself the 18-hole co-lead. Crushers GC’s Paul Casey, the other player at 6 under, used eight birdies to also get to the top of the leaderboard.

Peter Uihlein, Carlos Ortiz and Talor Gooch all sit a 4 under, two shots back. Five players, including Dustin Johnson, are 3 under and three back. Cameron Smith is 2 under after day one while Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau opened with rounds of 1 over.

Thomas Pieters, the newest member of LIV Golf, shot a 5-over 76.

The shot of the day was delivered from Casey.

 

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Your 2022 picks: Our top 10 PGA Tour stories (No. 1 had to do with a Cam Smith penalty)

Check out our top 10 PGA Tour stories of the year, as chosen by your clicks.

While you’re soaking up some holiday cheer (and with the freezing cold temperatures, you’ll need to), we’re closing the books on a year that will leave a lasting impression.

And as part of taking our year-end inventory, we’ve been looking through the numbers and tallying up which stories drew your attention — and sharing the findings with you.

For the final days of 2022, we’re offering up a snapshot of the top 10 stories from each of Golfweek’s most popular sections, including travel, the PGA and LPGA tours, instruction and amateur golf. Here’s what we’ve already counted down.

Here’s a look at the top 10 PGA Tour stories, as clicked on by you (we should note, this list doesn’t include photo galleries or money lists):

Two more LIV Golf members have reportedly dropped out of antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour

Originally 11 LIV members were part of the lawsuit. The number is down to seven.

On August 3, the Wall Street Journal originally reported that 11 LIV Golf Series members including Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau filed a lawsuit against the PGA Tour.

Six days later, Carlos Ortiz withdrew his name from the lawsuit. Pat Perez announced during a phone interview August 19 that he, too, decided to remove his name. Now two more players have moved on.

Jason Kokrak and Abraham Ancer have been removed in an amended complaint that was filed Friday, August 26, according to a report from Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard.

The remaining seven players, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford, Matt Jones, Ian Poulter and Peter Uihlein, are challenging their suspensions by the PGA Tour for their actions in joining the Greg Norman-led series, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

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A Reddit user created a list of 15 hypothetical matchups between PGA Tour and LIV players. Let’s predict the winners.

Spoiler alert: It’s a bloodbath.

As more and more players decide to leave the PGA Tour for the LIV Golf Series, it becomes interesting to look at the top players in each league.

Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas continue to represent the PGA Tour and a move from one of them seems incredibly unlikely. However, two big names are rumored to soon make the jump.

The latest Champion Golfer of the Year, Cameron Smith, and Hideki Matsuyama are thought to be the next high-profile players to sign on with the Saudi-backed circuit.

A Reddit user created a list of the top 15 players in each league and pitted them against each other. Our partners at The Caddie Network posted the table to Twitter and it sparked a heated conversation on who would come out victorious.

The best part may be Tiger Woods and Greg Norman as the captains.

Here are my predictions for all 15 hypothetical matchups:

LIV Golf announces Jason Kokrak, Charles Howell III as new players alongside Henrik Stenson for Trump Bedminster event

Three new players are bound for LIV Golf.

More PGA Tour winners are taking their talents to LIV Golf.

Tuesday the series announced 45 of the 48 players who will tee it up at its upcoming event at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on July 29-31, but three spots were left to be filled “in the coming days.” A day later the Greg Norman-led, Saudi Arabia-funded circuit announced Jason Kokrak and Charles Howell III would be making their debuts alongside Henrik Stenson, who broke the news himself earlier in the day after he was relieved of his captaincy of the European Ryder Cup team.

Kokrak, 37, is a three-time winner on Tour, all in the last two years. Howell, 43, also has three wins, most recently in 2018 and previously in 2007 and 2002. Stenson, meanwhile, boasts six PGA Tour and 11 DP World Tour wins over his career.

LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for the Saudi government to “sportswash” its human rights record.

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Jason Kokrak DQed from Travelers Championship; Could it be an epic walkout from PGA Tour life?

If this was the last shot Kokrak hits on the PGA Tour, it could go down as an all-time walk-off.

Jason Kokrak’s final shot of the Travelers Championship was a doozy, and it led to a most unusual disqualification from the tournament.

Having belted a drive of 327 yards into the left rough at the ninth hole of TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., his final hole of the day, the burly Kokrak had little to play for and it showed. Having opened in 3-under 67 on Thursday, he was 4 over on the day – the damage of a 5-putt leading to one of two double bogeys on his card – and would need a minor miracle to make the cut.

Still, Kokrak, who is the 33rd-ranked player in the world, was just 43 yards from the hole. His all-or-nothing shot turned out to be a giant dud, flying over the green and across a road. ShotLink measured it as having traveled “87 yards into the unknown.”

But rather than go back to the original spot and take a penalty and finish out the hole, Kokrak took whatever balls he had left, hopped in his car and went home. He was disqualified from the tournament after failing to finish the hole and record a score and failing to sign and return a scorecard.

The story of Kokrak’s walk-off wedge into the great unknown would be a strange one in and of itself – who does that? – but then there’s the potential for a bigger walk-off of epic proportions.

The 37-year-old Kokrak, who has been sponsored by Golf Saudi even before the Saudi-backed LIV Golf was a thing and played in the Saudi International in February with PGA Tour approval, has long been rumored to be a player likely to join the upstart circuit. To do so, however, would lead to an indefinite suspension from the PGA Tour, where he has won three titles and more than $20 million since joining in 2012. Earlier this year, Kokrak was one of the most forthright players when he admitted that he was in talks with LIV Golf and his goal was to make as much money as he could so he could retire at age 44 and watch his kids grow up.

LIV Golf has three spots remaining in its 48-man field scheduled for next week in Portland at Pumpkin Ridge. Could Kokrak be one of the players to be named later?

If this was the last shot Kokrak hits on the PGA Tour – and that is purely conjecture at this point – it will go down as an all-time walk off as well as quite the slap in the face to a Tour that has been pretty darn good to him – $20 million earned is none too shabby.

The Action Network’s Jason Sobel texted with fellow Tour pro William McGirt, who played in Kokrak’s group on Friday and witnessed his finale. According to Sobel’s reporting, McGirt said they were unaware the ball had gone out of bounds and pointed out that since Kokrak certainly was going to miss the cut, the decision not to finish his round was actually made as a time-saving measure to help the group behind them that already was waiting in the fairway.

As Sobel noted, “it wasn’t some walk-off from PGA Tour life.”

That is still to be determined.

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Reigning champ Jason Kokrak flies through final round at Charles Schwab, but did he set a record?

Jason Kokrak entered this week glowing about the truck he won last year. He ended the week by motoring.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Jason Kokrak entered this week at the Charles Schwab Challenge glowing about the truck that came with his victory at Colonial Country Club in 2021, noting that he recently took his kids to school in the renovated, light blue 1946 Dodge Power Wagon.

He ended the week by motoring.

Off alone as the first player out of the gate on Sunday, the reigning champion flew through his round and when he tapped in for bogey on the 8th hole in front of the few fans already assembled at the Kokrak Ultra Athletic Club named in his honor, only 61 minutes had elapsed.

Kokrak didn’t pull out the pin on No. 8, and it was obvious he’d become frustrated after posting four bogeys in six holes after opening his round with an eagle and a birdie.

After recording a double on No. 15 and a bogey on 16, Kokrak finished the day with a 72 and was 8 over for the tournament, ending his Sunday round in 133 minutes. He didn’t finish last of those who made the cut, however, as Harry Higgs used four doubles to finish well behind Kokrak.

Quite the contrast from a year ago, when his hot putter helped Kokrak win a duel with Jordan Spieth on Sunday to claim his second PGA Tour title. He followed that with a victory at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open just six months later.

Although Kokrak hustled through his round, he didn’t break any records in the process.

Last September, Joaquin Niemann toured East Lake Golf Club in one hour, 53 minutes at The Tour Championship, which is the official record for the fastest round on Tour — although officials have never been one to tout the achievement since ultra-fast play isn’t encouraged. Kevin Na had played the final round of the 2016 Tour Championship in 1 hour, 59 minutes.

The unofficial record was set by Wesley Bryan, who played the 2017 BMW Championship in one hour, 29 minutes.

Even though he didn’t fare well this week, Kokrak — a North Bay, Ontario, native — insists he’s still keen on the Lone Star State and mentioned earlier in the week that he wouldn’t rule out eventually living here.

“My cousin used to live in Houston and he always jokes that I should move to Texas because I’ve had so much success here,” he said. “You never know; I might become a Texan later on in life.”

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