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.
There were almost too many off-course moments to choose from in golf over the last year.
As December winds down and January approaches, it’s time to look back on 2023 and reward some of the best moments the game of golf provided fans over the last year.
The staff at Golfweek originally had plans for a “Moment of the Year” but there was too much that happened both on and off the course to pick just one, so we’ve split the honor into two different awards.
From the TGL and LIV Golf to the Ryder Cup and the PGA Tour’s framework agreement with the Public Investment Fund, here are the Golfweek staff’s favorite off-course viral moments of the year.
Of the 12 established teams in the league, six spots remain available and four teams have openings. Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC finished runner-up at the 2023 LIV Golf Team Championship, and then the two-time Masters champion blew up his squad with two of the three trades that have been made so far this offseason.
With less than two months until the first event of the 2024 season at LIV Golf Mayakoba (Feb. 2-4), here’s a look at what’s still to come during LIV’s offseason period.
Bubba Watson also traded away his two best players after the entire roster was set to return in 2024.
If the relationship between former LIV Golf teammates Brooks Koepka and Matthew Wolff was a marriage, the two had been separated for months with a divorce in the works. On Thursday morning the Smash GC split was finalized.
Koepka traded Wolff to Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC for 2023 individual champion Talor Gooch, who will play for his third team in three years. Watson also traded Harold Varner III to Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC for Peter Uihlein. That means the RangeGoats, who finished runner-up at the 2023 team championship, have now traded their top two players from last season, who finished first (Gooch) and seventh (Varner) in the season-long standings. Uihlein was 12th and Wolff 27th.
After Pat Perez was re-signed last month, the trio of Johnson, Varner and Patrick Reed will make the 4Aces a favorite once again in 2024. The one-two punch of Koepka and Gooch on Smash might be the best in the league. Jason Kokrak is a solid third and the team still has a spot to fill after Chase Koepka was relegated. The RangeGoats were one of four teams set to return their entire squad for 2024 before Watson traded away his two best players. A foursome of Watson, Uihlein, Wolff and Thomas Pieters is, on paper at least, a step-down.
This week also marks the beginning of the inaugural LIV Golf Promotions event, held Dec. 8-10 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club which will see the top three players earn status on a team for the 2024 season.
In 2023 the players and fans were both winners and losers.
Ask anyone who works for LIV Golf and they’ll tell you all eyes are on 2024 and beyond now that another season is in the books.
Following its inaugural eight-event series in 2022, this year marked the debut of the rebranded LIV Golf League, which saw the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund host 14 events around the world, from Mayakoba to Jeddah. The league didn’t quite dominate as much of the conversation in 2023 as it did last year, but still held down (and even expanded in some places) its footing in golf’s larger ecosystem.
As the league transitions into what could make for a busy offseason, let’s take a look back at the biggest winners and losers from LIV Golf’s second season.
Everything you need to know for the weekend in Miami.
DORAL, Fla. — Who’s ready for a little match play?
The LIV Golf Team Championship is back at Trump National Doral this week, where the league’s 12 teams will contend for a $50 million purse that will see a whopping $14 million go to the winner just a week after Talor Gooch claimed the $18 million individual championship. Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC are back to defend their title – this year with Peter Uihlein instead of Gooch – and are one of four teams to earn a bye for Friday’s quarterfinal round of matches.
The format is unlike any other in golf (par for the course for LIV) and features a mix of both match and stroke play. Friday’s quarterfinal and Saturday’s semifinal matches will include three matches in each round, two singles and a foursomes (alternate shot). No ties. The first team to two points wins and advances. (You can read more about the format here).
Come Sunday, all 12 teams will compete in stroke play, where all four scores will count (in regular season events, the worst score is dropped from the team total), but only the top four teams can win the top prize. The teams to lose on Saturday will compete for places 5-8, with Friday’s losers going for places 9-12.
Here’s everything you need to know and storylines to watch for this week near Miami.
Koepka has not sugarcoated his feelings about Wolff, who, like Koepka, lives in Jupiter. And he dug in again Wednesday.
MIAMI — For those who believed there was any chance of Brooks Koepka and Matthew Wolff salvaging their relationship, Koepka’s comments Wednesday ahead of LIV Golf’s season-ending team championship slammed that door shut.
Forever.
Koepka has not sugarcoated his feelings about Wolff, who, like Koepka, lives in Jupiter. And he dug in again Wednesday. Now Wolff, who remains a part of Koepka’s LIV team, is paired with Brooks’ brother, Chase, in Friday’s foursomes event.
“We don’t have much interaction, no,” Brooks said.
When pushed, he elaborated.
“I’ve tried. I’ve spent the majority of the beginning of the year trying to help and trying to figure that out. But I think it’s past its point. I’ve tried. I’ve been very open with it. Sometimes you can’t help people that don’t want help.”
Smash, the team Koepka captains, includes his brother, Wolff and Jason Kokrak.
In July, Koepka questioned Wolff’s work ethic and attitude, saying he has a lot of talent but that “talent’s wasted.” This was after Wolff withdrew from the LIV event outside of Washington, D.C.
Last week, during the LIV event at Jeddah, which Koepka won, he was asked about his team and said, “there’s only three of us on our team,” and talked about how much he enjoys being around Chase and Kokrak.
Now, Brooks Koepka likely will be looking for two new team members for the 2024 season. Chase Koepka was 48th in the individual points standings and will be relegated. His only path back to LIV is through a full-field promotion event that will be held in December.
Brooks was third in the final individual standings, Kokrak 23rd and Wolff 27th.
Wolff was approached by Golfweek on Wednesday following Koepka’s comments but did not stop, shaking his head before a question was asked. But in a recent interview with The Palm Beach Post, before both the Jeddah and Doral events (and the Ryder Cup) Wolff said the Koepka controversy was behind him. He added he believed Koepka deserved his spot on the Ryder Cup team.
Matthew Wolff open about mental health
Wolff, 24, has been open about his mental health struggles, saying at one time it was difficult just getting out of bed and that he feared going to tournaments. He said did not want to “screw up in front of everyone.”
This was early 2021.
“Golf is just really hard,” Wolff told The Post last month. “Growing up it came really easy to me, the competition was easier. In a professional setting, it’s hard in front of everyone with all that pressure knowing you’re not going to play well every single time.
“It’s something that I struggled with a little bit coming from college and junior golf where you won everything you entered pretty much, and transitioning into (professional golf.) These guys are the best in the world and even if you play decent you might get whacked. It’s more of a rollercoaster and handling that is something I’m certain to learn and grow into a little bit.”
Despite the harsh, and insensitive, comments from Brooks, Wolff still believes LIV’s team format has eliminated some of that pressure he felt playing in isolation on the PGA Tour.
Brooks Koepka of Smash GC speaks to the media after the first round of LIV Golf Jeddah at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club on Friday, October 13, 2023, in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Montana Pritchard/LIV Golf)
“Pro golf is a lonely place,” Wolff said. “You don’t really feel like you have many people, at least I didn’t feel like that before. When I made that jump to LIV, I felt like there were a lot more people looking out for me and had my back.
“Just kind of gives me a little bit of weight off your shoulders and you have a team to lean on and go to, guys I care about a little bit more. It’s been pretty nice as well.”
All of which makes Koepka’s comments even more coldhearted. Wolff might deserve some blame for this relationship souring, but anything that has happened off the course, during team meetings, does not warrant Koepka’s public comments about a teammate who has had personal struggles.
Brooks Koepka vs. Phil Mickelson in Friday’s quarterfinals
Regardless of where Smash finishes in the team championship — Koepka’s team faces HyFlyers, captained by Phil Mickelson, in Friday’s quarterfinals on the Blue Monster with Koepka and Mickelson going head-to-head in match play — Koepka already has secured a solid season over all platforms.
Koepka captured his fifth career major at the PGA Championship, was runner-up at the Masters and was the only LIV golfer to play in the Ryder Cup. His victory at Jeddah was his second on the LIV tour this season along with three other top 5 finishes.
Koepka, who recently became a dad for the first time, has won $17.5 million in prize money from LIV, including a $4 million bonus for placing third in the individual standings. His PGA Tour earnings for the four majors was just more than $5 million.
His most lucrative years previous were 2019 and 2022, when he earned just more than $9.5 million.
“I definitely feel like I’m back to my old self,” he said after winning Jeddah.
Safe to say, Wolff won’t be back with Smash GC next season.
Brooks Koepka isn’t one to mince words.
Koepka, the defending champion at LIV Golf Jeddah, has a three-shot lead over Sergio Garcia and Charles Howell III heading into the final round in King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia. He has talked following both of his rounds this week, but it’s what he said after Friday’s opening 18 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club that is peak Koepka.
Koepka was asked a question about the brotherhood of his Smash GC team, which includes his brother, Chase Koepka, along with Jason Kokrak and Matthew Wolff. However, Koepka’s answer makes it seem he has a different view of his team.
“There’s only three of us on our team,” Koepka said. “I mean, obviously my brother, I’m pretty tight with him, and then — I’ve enjoyed being around Jay for the last — I’ve been pretty close with Jay for maybe the last three years. I’ve enjoyed being around him. He’s a good player, super talented. It’s been fun to be around him, and he’s played pretty solid this year. Yeah, I can’t say anything bad about him.”
Wolff? Not mentioned.
“Well there’s only 3 of us on our team.” – 😬😳☠️ @BKoepka leading going into Championship Sunday @ #LIVGolf Jeddah talking about the “Brotherhood” of @SmashGC. This is the type of petty BS I’m 100% here for. You may not like it, but I LOVE it! And Smash is only 3 shots back!!!😂 pic.twitter.com/jMF5xoWELh
This week, Wolff is T-42 at 1 over. He has only one finish better than 34th since LIV Golf Adelaide in April, a fifth at the Greenbrier. He’s also 25th in the season-long points race, meaning he can be traded or released from his team during the offseason transfer period.
Safe to say, Wolff won’t be back with Smash GC next season.
The Wolff saga took a turn for the worse when Brooks Koepka called him out publicly for not giving full effort.
Geoge Gankas once proclaimed his pupil Matt Wolff a “huge disruptor,” that he was “going to change the world of golf.”
Wolff won quickly on the PGA Tour at age 19, held the 54-hole lead at the 2020 U.S. Open, rose to No. 13 in the world and seemed destined to make the predictions by Gankas a sure thing.
But Wolff has struggled in recent years, taking time away from the game to work on his mental health and last year joined LIV Golf. The Wolff saga took a turn for the worse when Brooks Koepka, his team captain, called him out publicly for not giving full effort.
The 52-year-old Gankas, who has taught Wolff since age 13 and thinks of him like a son, spoke publicly about his star pupil’s issues recently on the No Laying Up podcast.
“They could’ve done that privately,” Gankas said of the way Koepka aired his grievances with Wolff, his teammate. “There were some incidents where Wolff possibly wasn’t playing as hard as he could and he called him out on it and, you know what, in my opinion, as much as anybody doesn’t want to hear it – I don’t think it should have been done publicly – but I think it did Wolff good. I think it woke him up.”
Even Gankas isn’t sure what sent Wolff into tailspin.
“I don’t know if it was he didn’t like the actual attention or the fame or whatever it was, or he just didn’t want to play,” Gankas said. “He’s figuring it out right now. He’s a much better person than he was two years ago.”
He added: “I think there were just times that he didn’t want to play golf. I do. I don’t think the talent has ever been gone.”
Given that Gankas lives in California and Wolff is based in Florida, they haven’t seen each other as much. This may have been the most telling thing Gankas had to say: “Wolff’s a player that has enough money that if he doesn’t want to hear it from you, you’re not going to hear from him.”
Gankas noted that Wolff had flattened his swing on his own, and said about a month ago that they worked together for the first time in about seven months. Wolff finished T-3 at LIV Golf Invitational Greenbrier in August.
But Gankas still believes Wolff will do great things and pointed out he’s still “just a kid.”
“I know he’s going to be on top of the golf world again. He’s 24 years old. People think he’s 30. He’s still a kid. The fact is, the talent is there. I don’t think that he could ever lose his golf completely,” Gankas said. “He’s got a lot of good years ahead of him.”
There’s plenty more from Gankas that is worth your time too. You can watch the full podcast here.
Brooks Koepka has again brought some attention to LIV Golf, but this time by taking one of his trusty mid-irons and jamming it directly onto the third rail of modern sensibilities: The mental struggle.
You couldn’t help but notice in recent years, more than ever, emphasis is often directed toward the athlete’s psyche and the need to destigmatize the occasional and/or constant need for emotional support.
Entire industries — from pharmaceuticals to literature to self-help gurus — have welled up from the cracks in our collective psyche.
That’s good, some will say, since previous generations reflexively ignored such things and lots of lives were negatively affected.
That’s bad, say others, suggesting something worth doing is almost always seen by some as worth overdoing. We’ve gone quickly into the over-coddling realm, they say.
Take your pick.
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The emotional aspect of sports found a new headline this past week in perhaps the most mental sport of them all — golf, where fractions of fractions can mean the difference between success and near-crippling failure.
Ever since yips with the putter ruined the game for Old Tom Morris, even the world’s best golfers have dealt with periods of self-criticism, self-doubt and occasionally self-hate. They’ve either ratcheted up their grind and dug hard in the dirt to find answers, or took a couple weeks off to find the flaw, fix it, then bury the fix into their game through thousands of practice shots.
Matthew Wolff, just a few years ago considered an up-and-comer if not a can’t-miss, has openly dealt with the mental side. He even took two months off in 2021 to get away and make things better. In a Golf Digest interview two years ago, he said at times he just wanted to “stay in my bed and not be in front of everyone and not screw up in front of anyone.”
Last year, either to make a clean break or to cash in while the cashing was good, he made the jump to the LIV tour. Given LIV’s insistence on introducing a team concept to professional golf, complete with semi-juvenile team names, Wolff found himself on the four-man team known as Smash GC, “captained” by Brooks Koepka.
Matthew Wolff tees off from the 12th tee box during the first round of a LIV Golf tournament at Rich Harvest Farms. (Photo: Jamie Sabau/USA TODAY Sports)
Unfortunately, Wolff’s game hasn’t much improved. In fields of 48, including some highly overmatched golfers, Wolff has finished outside the top 30 in the last five tournaments.
Also unfortunately — unless you’re among those who’d rather say “fortunately” — Wolff’s team captain apparently comes from the school of tough love, which would surprise no one who has paid attention to his demeanor on and off the course.
“When you quit on your round, you give up and stuff like that, that’s not competing,” Koepka said in an interview. “I’m not a big fan of that. You don’t work hard. It’s very tough.”
It was never gonna be easy to build a team dynamic in professional golf — especially in a mega-money league playing 54-hole shotgun events — but it’s impossible, Brooks said, “when you’ve got one guy that won’t work, one guy is not going to give any effort, he’s going to quit on the course, break clubs, get down, bad body language … it’s very tough.”
A lot of us were withholding payment when it came to buying into the whole team thing, but for other good reasons, not because we anticipated this kind of nastiness. And it got nastier, by the way.
At the collegiate level, plenty of coaches channel their football and basketball cohorts and play Bad Cop, but this was new territory, brought about by Greg Norman’s insistence on selling year-round team golf.
“I’ve basically given up on him,” Brooks said of Wolff. “A lot of talent, but I mean, the talent’s wasted.”
Yikes.
USA’s Brooks Koepka hits a shot during the second round of the LIV Golf tournament in Adelaide on April 22, 2023. (Photo by Brenton Edwards / AFP)
Golf isn’t football. If it were, Wolff could perhaps tighten his laces, tape up and redouble his physical efforts in an effort to overcome his mental hurdles.
Instead, his captain’s comments appear to have had the opposite effect.
“To hear through the media that our team leader has given up on me is heartbreaking,” Wolff said in a statement delivered to SI. “But I’m moving forward and won’t ever give up on myself. While on-course results may not appear now to be positive indicators, I’m trying to win an even bigger game with my life.”
Even imagined negativity can ruin a day of golf, so consider the potential (and continued) damage done to Wolff’s game through such a public critique. Well, don’t just imagine it, consider it: In Friday’s opening round of this week’s LIV tournament in London, Wolff shot 2-over 73, tied for 38th out of 48, 10 shots behind the leader.
His score was, yet again, wasn’t among his four-man team’s three best and therefore wasn’t counted on the team leaderboard.
The great Bobby Jones famously declared golf as a game played on a 5½-inch course — the one between your ears. No way he could’ve ever imagined this specific scenario, but he knew of the struggle because, even though he conquered it in the biggest manner ever, it ate at his guts every step of the way.
If you pay attention to golf at its highest levels, you’re likely familiar with the legions of greats, near-greats and could’ve-beens who couldn’t beat back whatever particular demon got into their bloodstream.
For all its hoopla and all of its hundreds of millions, LIV Golf has finally given us something to observe. Hopefully, it eventually turns out well for Matt Wolff, a young golfer who obviously has the necessary skills.
But golf’s only guarantee is stress and more stress. All respect it, some manage it. And some don’t.
