The first happened all the way back in 1861. The most recent occurred in 2018.
First, a disclaimer. We are not predicting future professional success for Charlie Woods, the golfing offspring of proud papa Tiger Woods. We’re enjoying watching him grow up right in front of our eyes alongside dad at the PNC Championship, but Charlie, like any young phenom, has a long road ahead before he starts hoisting trophies.
Nonetheless, it is fun to think of the possibilities. And if Charlie were to ascend to the Tour and starting winning on that level, those two would join a pretty exclusive list.
There are 10 father-son combinations to win on the PGA Tour. The first happened all the way back in 1861. The most recent occurred in 2018. Here’s the list.
It’s setting up to be a battle of the 2021 Ryder Cup captains at the U.S. Senior Open.
It’s setting up to be a battle of the 2021 Ryder Cup captains at the U.S. Senior Open.
Padraig Harrington posted a bogey-free 65 that featured six birdies Friday to get to 6 under after two rounds and take a one-shot lead over Steve Stricker at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Stricker fired a second-round 69 despite a double-bogey 7 on his sixth hole to finish at 5 under.
Stricker and Harrington finished 1-2 at the first major on the PGA Tour Champions’ 2022 schedule at the Regions Tradition in May, but it was a runaway, six-shot win for Stricker, who led his team to a Ryder Cup rout over Harrington’s Great Britain & Ireland squad.
Maybe this time will be different for Harrington, who is seeking his first win in his 11th outing on the senior circuit.
Rob Labritz is in solo third after two days. Steven Alker, who has four wins and 17 top-10s in 20 starts since joining the Champions tour, shot a 67 to get to 3 under. He’s among a group of five golfers tied for fourth.
Also in that group is Jay Haas, who bested his age by one during Thursday’s first round. He shot a 72 on Friday. Defending U.S. Senior Open champ Jim Furyk shot a and is tied for 54th and made the cut on the number at 5 over.
On Thursday, Haas had himself another day, shooting a first-round 67 and beating his age by one in the first round of the 2022 U.S. Senior Open. It’s the seventh time he’s shot his age.
He is the fifth player in U.S. Senior Open history to shoot or beat his age, joining Tom Watson, Hale Irwin, Harold McSpaden and Jerry Barber.
“That’s a pretty good score to break (your age) on a course like this,” said Haas.
Mark Hensby, who won the 2004 John Deere Classic for his lone PGA Tour victory, also shot a 67 to co-lead after 18 holes.
Jim Furyk, the defending U.S. Senior Open champion, shot a 71. Steve Alker shot a 72 in his U.S. Senior Open debut.
The oldest U.S. Senior Open champion is Allen Doyle, who won the event in 2006 about two weeks before his 58th birthday.
Jay Haas, 68, is the oldest player to make a cut on the PGA Tour, edging past Sam Snead, who did it in 1979.
All Bill Haas wanted to do was cozy his 47-foot birdie putt into tap-in range at the 18th hole at TPC Louisiana so Team Haas could have a stress-free finish to the second round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. So much for best-laid plans.
Bill’s putt stalled 4 ½ feet short meaning his dad, Jay, would have to sweat over a par putt in the alternate-shot format to make the cut of the PGA Tour’s lone two-man team event as part of the FedEx Cup season.
For Jay, 68, he’d been in this spot too many times and he delivered as he had on so many Fridays before.
“That was probably as nervous as I’ve ever been over a putt of that length certainly,” he said. “It sounds silly just to have a chance to make the cut. However, there’s a lot of circumstances here that it kind of made it doubly important in my mind.”
That included becoming the oldest player to make a cut on the PGA Tour, edging past Sam Snead, who made the cut at the 1979 Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic at 67 years, 2 months and 23 days.
“I don’t think it should (count) because Sam Snead did it on his own and all that, but anything that I’m even remotely close to Sam Snead on would be very special,” said Haas, of Snead, who was in the field when he made his Tour debut at the 1973 Wyndham Championship.
Haas is making his 799th Tour start, second on the all-time list behind Mark Brooks (803). Among his other achievements he counts leading the record books with 591 made cuts. And Jay, who captained the 2015 U.S. Presidents Cup team, was no slouch in his prime, winning nine times on Tour and another 18 times on PGA Tour Champions, where he remains active.
Jay Haas and Bill Haas react on the ninth green during the first round of the 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC Louisiana. (Photo: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
On Thursday, young guns Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland were asked if they could imagine making 800 Tour starts.
“We’ve got a long ways to go,” Hovland said.
“No, I can’t imagine that,” Morikawa added.
“That’s cool. He must have seen some stuff,” Hovland said. “He must have some pretty good stories. That’s a lot of events.”
Team Haas opened with 7-under 65 at the Pete Dye-designed layout matching the best-ball score of Morikawa and Hovland, ranked second and fifth in the world respectively, and defending champions Cameron Smith (No. 4) and Marc Leishman.
On Friday, Team Haas signed for 1-under 71 and made the cut on the number, tying at 8-under 136 with World No. 1 and reigning Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and his partner Ryan Palmer.
“I was getting stretched this morning,” Bill said, “and Charley Hoffman was raving about how good (my dad) played yesterday, and I just kind of said, ‘Well, I see it all the time at home. This isn’t anything new.’ ”
Father and son got off to an auspicious start with birdies at the first two holes. Bill rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt at the first and his old man stuck a wedge to 4 feet at the par-5 second. A bogey at the third only slowed their progress momentarily as they continued to make hay on the par 5s, adding birdies at Nos. 7 and 11. That improved their score to 10 under and comfortably inside the cut line. But the trip to the house was shaky from there with bogeys at Nos. 14 and 17.
“I was grinding,” Bill said. “At 14, he hit an unbelievable hybrid in there on that par-3 and I ran it by five feet and we three-putted, and then the next hole he hit a beautiful 6-iron and I left that three feet short.”
Bill added: “It’s just hard when you’re trying so hard. It’s one of the hardest things to do in golf is to let that go and quit trying so hard and just execute.”
Bill, 39, won the FedEx Cup in 2011 and six Tour titles but none since 2015. He has struggled in recent years to keep his card and this season is using a one-time exemption for being top-25 on the all-time Tour money list. He entered the week at No. 168 in FedEx Cup point standings.
Father and son earned a chance to enjoy two more rounds together, and already have clinched the feel-good story of the week.
“To somehow shake that putt in on the last hole was something I’ll never forget,” Jay said. “But just the whole week, playing with Bill, getting texts from all my kids, it’s just been a real charge.”
“No more Cajun for the next couple days, but some soup sounds pretty good at the moment.”
Taylor Moore began his week by getting food poisoning and ended his first round with an eagle as he and Matthew NeSmith tied the tournament course record to take the lead.
David Lipsky started his week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a car accident and ended Thursday on the first page of the leaderboard.
Jay Haas, two years shy of his 70th birthday, showed he still has game to hang with the youngsters on the PGA Tour.
And all of this came before the afternoon wave started to tee off in the first round at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, Louisiana, the PGA Tour’s only official team event.
“I was in the ER yesterday morning,” Moore said after he and NeSmith shot a 12-under 60 in Four ball to grab the lead. “I had food poisoning Tuesday night up until midday yesterday. So just got an IV and some nausea medicine. Finally ate something this morning, which was nice.
“Got into a little rhythm there at the end, which was cool. But no more Cajun for the next couple days, but some soup sounds pretty good at the moment.”
Added NeSmith: “Honestly, we were just trying to finish 18 holes upright. And all of a sudden, we started catching a touch of a rhythm, started making a few putts, started finding the round a little bit. We finished 18 holes, and that was the goal.”
The format switches to the more difficult Foursomes (alternate shot) for the second round; Four ball will be used in the third round, Foursomes in the final round.
Moore and NeSmith were one shot ahead of the teams of Aaron Rai/Lipsky, Tommy Gainey/Robert Garrigus, and Doc Redman/Sam Ryder.
It was a much better spot to be in for Lipsky, who on Tuesday was rear-ended on his way to the golf course as he pulled out from an inside lane to avoid a car that had broken down.
“I’m fine,” Lipsky said. “I started changing lanes, and the guy behind me, I guess, wasn’t paying attention and slammed on the brakes and smoked me. I’m all right. I think the other two drivers were fine.
“It was a little bit of a hectic beginning to the week.”
Jay Haas plays from the 13th tee during the first round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports
Haas, 68, began his 799th week at a PGA Tour event by teaming with his son, Bill, 39, to shoot 65. The winner of nine PGA Tour titles and 18 PGA Tour Champions events hadn’t played in a PGA Tour event since 2010, hadn’t made a PGA Tour cut since 2006, and hadn’t won on the PGA Tour since the 1993 Texas Open.
But the elder Haas made four birdies to his son’s three.
“We hammed-and-egged it. We bounced back and forth,” the older Haas said. “I had a ball today. I played well. I thought I was helpful and all that, so it was nice. Hopefully I can continue that the rest of the week and we’ll see what we can do.
“It was fun today.”
Lefty MacIntyre didn’t look too excited about his tee shot on the par-3, 207-yard 14th but the ball took a nice bounce from just in front of the green and rolled right into the cup for his first ace in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event. MacIntyre, who used a 6-iron, is denied a place in the record books because statistics in team events are not included.
As for Morikawa, he holed out from 94 yards on the par-4 14th and chipped in from 40 feet on the par-3 17th as he and Viktor Hovland, the first team in tournament history to feature two top-5 players in the official world rankings, were leading the tournament in the early going.
But the two were even-par on their final eight holes and shot 65.
“Even with a kind of mediocre day,” Morikawa said, “to still be at 7 under, we’re still right there with formats to come.”
“I tried to discourage him, that he needed a partner that could help him a little bit more,” said his father.
Bill Haas would not take no for an answer.
In his search for a partner for the Zurich Classis of New Orleans, the PGA Tour’s only official team competition, Haas had his eye on one player.
Didn’t matter if he hadn’t played in a PGA Tour event since 2010. Didn’t matter that he hadn’t made a PGA Tour cut since 2006. Didn’t matter if his last PGA Tour win came in the 1993 Texas Open.
And it didn’t matter if the player tried to persuade Haas to look elsewhere.
“I tried to discourage him, that he needed a partner that could help him a little bit more,” the player said. “I said, are you sure? I don’t want you to waste a week just to play with me. We can play any time. I kind of kept thinking, well, he’s going to come to his senses and find one of his buddies.”
Well, Haas did find a buddy to play with him – his dad, Jay. Father Haas, 68, finally gave his son the answer he was looking for and the two will begin play Thursday at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, Louisiana.
It will be the elder Haas’ 799th start on the PGA Tour, his first since missing the cut in the 2010 Players Championship. He has played four times on the PGA Tour Champions this year; he’s won 18 titles on the senior circuit to go along with nine PGA Tour titles.
“Just being with him out here and being on the same range with him again, looking down the aisles here and just seeing all the great players that we have, so it’s something I’ve been thinking about, certainly nervous about,” Jay Haas said. “Yesterday didn’t help me in any way because I didn’t play very well. So hopefully I’ll get better as the week goes on. It’s just fun being here, again being with Bill, getting the adrenaline flowing, and hopefully we can do better than I’m anticipating I’m going to do.
“The more I thought about it, the more I’m loving it. All the guys out here have been great. So many people have said this is unbelievably cool that you’re getting to do that.”
Captain Jay Haas of the United States Team watches the play alongside his son Bill on the eighth tee during the Saturday foursomes matches at The Presidents Cup at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea on October 10, 2015 in Songdo IBD, Incheon City, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
Bill Haas, 39, who will be making his 442nd PGA Tour start, is glad his dad will be by his side. The winner of the FedEx Cup in 2011 and six PGA Tour titles can’t wait for Thursday to come.
“I thought it was a great opportunity to play together. Pretty special to be able to have your dad play in a PGA Tour event with you,” Bill Haas said. “I love him watching me play. Last week he came down and my mom came down and watched me at Hilton Head. I just enjoy him being out there. He listens to me go through my rounds on the phone or in person sometimes. When he’s there, he sees what I’m talking about, and he helps me with my game.
“It’s just a good opportunity to play golf and enjoy it and have fun, but also inside the ropes be competitive and him be able to see what I’m talking about when I say either I’m struggling or here I hit a good one, what do you see here?
“It’s just a special week. Something that I’m really looking forward to and I’ll remember forever.”
The two have played as a team before in non-official tournaments hosted by Peter Jacobsen, the other by Billy Andrade and Brad Faxon. As for now, the senior Haas has no intention of making an 800th PGA Tour start. He just wants to concentrate on No. 799 and have fun with his son.
“I tell people that I still see the shot and I still think I can do it, and a lot of times it doesn’t come off that way,” he said. “This is a pretty good eye opener. I’ve played with Bill at home a lot, and he’s 30, 40, 50 (yards) in front of me and it’s a steady diet of it. This is one of the longest courses out here. So it’s probably not the greatest spot for me to debut. I still feel like I can do it at certain times.
“With a partner, a great partner, hopefully I can contribute when the time comes and not embarrass myself. I don’t want to just show up and go through the motions. The competitive spirit in both of us, and certainly me, I’m going to be hard on myself, but I always am. I always have been. I kick myself all the time hitting bad shots.
“Hopefully I can hit some good shots and make some birdies and everything, but ultimately, to be with my son, again, on the grandest stage here, that’s what I’m trying to take from it.”
“Uncle Bob was the man, someone I really looked up to.”
LA QUINTA, Calif. – Two-time American Express winner Bill Haas rallied for a 4-under 68 on the Nicklaus Course at PGA West on Friday, but it is easy to understand how Haas had other things on his mind.
Haas is the grand-nephew of former Masters champion Bob Goalby, who died Thursday at the age of 92. Haas said he learned of the passing of “Uncle Bob” on Thursday in a text message for family and friends.
“He had a cool life. My dad (past American Express winner Jay Haas) and I texted. He’s upset. Uncle Bob was the man, someone I really looked up to.”
Haas said he wasn’t directly a student of his great uncle, but that everything Goalby taught his nephew Jay Haas eventually filtered down to the younger Haas.
Goalby was a part-time desert resident, but Haas said his great uncle hasn’t spent much time in the desert in the last two years. Before that, Goalby would make trips to The American Express to watch the younger Haas play.
Phil Mickelson walks to the 16th hole during the second round of The American Express at the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West on January 21, 2022, in La Quinta, California. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Mickelson still well back
Tournament host Phil Mickelson needed a low score Friday at the Nicklaus Tournament Course to give himself a chance at the 54-hole cut after Saturday. But that round never materialized for the two-time desert winner.
Mickelson had three bogeys and a double bogey in a round of 73, leaving him at 7-over 151 for 36 holes and with no legitimate chance to make the cut after Saturday’s round. The week appears to be Mickelson’s third consecutive missed cut in a tournament he won twice in 2002 and 2004 and where he was second in 2019.
Desert convert
Graeme McDowell joked that he and his caddie looked at each other and wondered why it has taken McDowell so long to play in the American Express.
“Obviously, the weather is perfect and these golf courses are so well presented, and it’s the place to play early in the season because you feel like you get the conditions to go out there and make some birdies and see exactly where your game is,” the former U.S. Open champion said.
McDowell said the decision to play The American Express this year was a 50/50 proposition with the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego next week.
“Guys were telling me I would like this place better from a setup point of view moreso than Torrey Pines, with it being such a long, tough golf course,” McDowell said. “So Saudi is my next event (in February) and I just figured San Diego to Saudi was going to be quite a trip as well. And figured, on the way home from Hawaii, I guess missing the cut in Hawaii gave me some extra prep time for this event as well.
“I was worried about not having seen the three courses and having to come and prepare well for this week, so when I missed the cut there last week it helped, it helped to get my prep ready for this week,” he said.
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Feeling young
Zach Johnson is 45 years old, an age when any golfers start looking to the PGA Tour Champions. But the two-time major championship winner, who has a strong history at The American Express, says staying ready to play on the PGA Tour is not an issue.
“Motivation’s not difficult. I really never struggled in that realm,” said Johnson, who is tied for eighth after two rounds of The American Express this week that included a 66 on Friday. “I’ve had days or stretches where I, the body hurts and that’s all the time, but I mean it really hurts and I don’t want to go practice and things of that nature.”
Johnson, who was third in The American Express in 2014, is not known as one of the longest hitters on the tour and famously didn’t go for a single par-5 in two shots when he won the Masters in 2007. But he still works to stay in shape.
“When it comes to working, grinding, trying to get better at my craft, I don’t struggle, never really have in that department, fortunately,” Johnson said. “The problem is that’s probably the barometer. If and when that does happen I might have to consider what I’m doing or the approach in which I’m doing it.”
Bob Goalby, who won 11 PGA Tour titles, and was a pioneer in the formation of the PGA Tour Champions.
Bob Goalby, who won 11 PGA Tour titles, including the 1968 Masters, and was a pioneer in the formation of the PGA Tour Champions, has died at age 92 in Belleville, Illinois.
Goalby was born in Belleville, on March 14, 1929. At age 8, Goalby, the son of a coal miner, crossed the railroad tracks between his home and St. Clair Country Club a mere 50 yards away. He won the caddie championship at the age of 13 and became good enough to shoot par by the time he started his freshman year at Belleville West High.
Goalby was drafted into the Army in 1950 and he served until 1952. Afterwards, Goalby began playing professionally and was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 1958. He also played in the 1963 Ryder Cup Matches.
But it was the 1968 Masters that was his signature triumph. Goalby’s heroics down the stretch often have been overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the tournament. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Goalby birdied Nos. 13 and 14, then made eagle at No. 15, drilling a 3-iron from 200 yards to 6 feet. He shot 66 and posted 11-under 277 at Augusta National.
Goalby’s win never received the respect it deserved because it was marred by Argentina’s Roberto De Vicenzo signing a scorecard incorrectly. De Vicenzo signed for a par at No. 17 when he actually had made birdie, giving him a 66 and 278 total. Instead of a playoff to decide the title, Goalby was named the winner.
“I had no say in it,” Goalby told PGA Tour.com. “I told Roberto, ‘I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.’ But it wasn’t up to me to change the rules.”
In the aftermath, Goalby received hate mail, as if he had had anything to do with the decision. Nevertheless, he played in the Masters 27 times until 1986 and returned to the Champions Dinner for years.
Bob Goalby, Ben Crenshaw and Jay Haas share some time before the second round of the 2015 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
“Winning the Masters, it’s helped me live a good life and lifted me into that upper echelon of golf,” he once said. “… For a guy who came from a small town with not many golf courses at that time, that was something special they can’t take away.”
Goalby later became a member at St. Clair Country Club, where he learned his craft, and passed on a love of the game to his nephew, Jay Haas. When Jay was 5, Goalby wrapped a leather grip around a cut-down 4-wood and out they went to the backyard to hit whiffle balls.
“Obviously, I owe a lot to him,” Haas told the Belleview News-Democrat. “I looked up to him. He certainly gave me golf lessons, but he also gave me a lot of life lessons. My dad took me out to play, and gave me the opportunity. But Bob was my teacher, in a lot of other things than just swing theories.”
Master Champion Bob Goalby, left, and Bobby Nichols enjoy a light moment at a free golf clinic before the Music City U.S.A. Pro-Am on Oct. 11, 1968, at the Harpeth Hills Golf Course in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo: Jack Corn/The Tennessean)
Goalby later became a television commentator and analyst for NBC’s golf coverage for 14 years. He also played a pivotal role in the formation of the PGA Tour Champions.
“In the beginning, it was magic,” Goalby said of the senior circuit, in Deane Beman: Golf’s Driving Force. “For about 10 years we were just trying to keep up with the growth.”
Goalby teamed with De Vincenzo in the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in 1981 and 1982, the tournament that gave birth to senior golf, and won twice on the 50-and-older circuit. His nephew, Jay, went on to win 18 Champions tour titles. Another nephew, Jerry Haas, is the men’s golf coach at Wake Forest. One of Goalby’s three sons, Kye, is a golf course architect and shaper.
KSDK Channel 5, the NBC affiliate in St. Louis, citing a family member as his source, was the first to report Goalby’s death through Twitter.
Stephen Ames posted a 65 in the morning wave. Billy Andrade matched it late at Omaha Country Club on Thursday.
Stephen Ames posted a 65 in the morning wave at the 41st U.S. Open. Late in the day, Billy Andrade matched it and those two co-leaders will take a one-shot lead into Friday’s second round.
Andrade had five birdies and was bogey-free on Thursday. Ames had two bogeys but carded seven birdies, including four on the back nine.
Wes Short, Jr., also went bogey-free and he is in solo third, a shot back.
Alex Cejka, who didn’t play the Senior Players but won the first two majors of 2021, sits in a tie for fourth with Robert Karlsson after shooting each shot a 67. Cejka has now posted his ninth consecutive round of par or better in a major this year.
Jay Haas, the oldest golfer in the field at age 67, shot a 69 on Thursday. Fred Couples shot a 1 under as well. Those two are among a group of eight golfers tied for eighth.
“I tied a 67-year-old man, so I’m tickled pink,” Couples, 61, joked on Golf Channel after his round.
There are 34 amateurs in the field. Two of them, William Mitchell and Jeff Wilson, posted even-par rounds of 70 and are T-16 after day one.
Omaha Country Club is hosting the U.S. Senior Open for a second time. Kenny Perry, who won the event there in 2013, is tied for 29th after shooting a 1-over 71.
There is a chance of some inclement weather rolling through the area on Friday.
