Tag: PGA Tour Champions

Is grinding on the PGA Tour Champions helping Padraig Harrington’s game? He thinks so

Why is Harrington grinding? Why is he bouncing from one event — and from one tour — to the next?

SAN ANTONIO — With a 68 in the opening round of the Valero Texas Open on Thursday, Padraig Harrington found himself tied with Matt Kuchar for the lead at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course after the first wave of players were through. This marks his third straight week in action, after a pair of consecutive starts on the PGA Tour Champions.

So why is Harrington grinding? Why is he bouncing from one event — and from one tour — to the next?

The three-time major champion has an interesting answer — he believes that competing against fellow 50-somethings is pushing him, and giving him more confidence against younger fields.

A major difference between the tours is the 72-hole PGA Tour events cut the field in half after two days, unlike the no-cut, 54-hole Champions events.

“I love playing the Champions Tour and it’s really helped my game to no end,” Harrington said. “I’m out there thinking, oh, I think I’m playing better. So I come, I play three European Tour events this year, this is my third PGA Tour event and I’m kind of going, well, I think I’m better, let’s go and see if I really am better out there with the kids.”

And it’s not like his results have fallen off with his extended play.

Harrington tied for seventh in the Hoag Classic in Newport Beach, California, then added a T-5 at last week’s Galleri Classic just outside Palm Springs. And he’s had respectable finishes on the DP World Tour as well.

“It’s nice to show some form,” he said. “I had a reasonable chance in the first one in the DP World at the start of the year to win. Yeah, it’s nice to come out shooting a good score today. It was a bit scrappy to get there, but to be leading at any stage is not a bad thing on the Tour.”

Harrington is aware there will be ramifications, of course. His body doesn’t bounce back as quickly as it used to and with wonky weather wreaking havoc on tee times, it’s likely he’ll get a late start on Friday and will have a number of holes to make up on Saturday.

He insists he’s up for the challenge.

“I will spend a good few hours in the physio truck,” he admitted. “The only thing I’m worried about is I’m probably going to have to play 26, 27 holes on Saturday. After walking 18 holes, I can’t do much. My leg, it’s my leg actually, it seizes up quite a bit afterwards. Yeah, look, I’ll figure it out, don’t worry. All these things, you’d always find a way of working through it.

“While it would be something I would be mindful of, I don’t think it will hold me back.”

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Ernie Els wins Hoag Classic; Bernhard Langer denied record PGA Tour Champions victory

Bernhard Langer falls short of winning for 46th time on senior circuit.

Thanks to a late-round putting-grip change, Ernie Els is a winner on the PGA Tour Champions for the first time in three years.

Meanwhile, Bernhard Langer’s record-setting victory is going to have to wait at least another week.

Els rode a 65-65 weekend to win the Hoag Classic at Newport Country Club in Newport Beach, California, on Sunday. He birdied Nos. 2, 3, and 4 to get things going, then birdied the seventh. After eight straight pars, he birdied the 16th to get to 12 under. He found himself in a bunker on 18 but got up-and-down, draining one final birdie to get to 13 under. Els went to a left-hand low grip on his last two birdie putts.

Steve Stricker and Doug Barron tied for second at 12 under. Barron started the day one shot back of the lead and needed a birdie at the last to get to 13 under. With Els hitting 7-irons on the range to stay loose, Barron stuffed his approach but then missed a four-footer for birdie that would have forced a playoff.

Els is the fifth different winner in five Champions tournaments in 2023.

Langer, who was at 12 under after 36 holes and held the solo lead after two days, built a two-shot lead Sunday but bogeys at Nos. 6, 9 and 14 did him in as he never really got anything going in the final round. A birdie on 11 was negated by his fourth bogey on 14. He then missed a short putt on 17 for his fifth bogey of the day before a closing par for a 73.

Langer won for a record-tying 45th time on the Champions tour a month ago. His next victory will break the record held by Hale Irwin since 2007. Langer’s first senior win came 10 months after Irwin’s last.

The PGA Tour Champions returns to action next week at the new Galleri Classic in Rancho Mirage, California, on the Mission Hills Country Club course that was home to an LPGA major for 51 years.

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Jim Ferree, first living logo of PGA Tour Champions, dies at 91

The original PGA Tour Champions logo was modeled after Ferree.

Jim Ferree, who won two Champions tour events and the 1958 Vancouver Open on the PGA Tour, died Tuesday. He was 91 years old.

Born June 10, 1931, in Pinebluff, North Carolina, Ferree learned the game from his father, Purvis, a long-time golf professional who also played occasionally on the PGA Tour between the 1930s and 1960s.

Ferree graduated from North Carolina and was widely regarded as one of the best tee-to-green players of his generation. Putting was often a struggle. He also wore trademark knickers and a flat hat.

He joined the PGA Tour Champions in 1981 (then known as the Senior PGA Tour). Then-PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman chose Ferree to be the model for the knickers-wearing player on that Tour’s logo and, thus, created a living logo. Ferree is often cited as one of the players who was instrumental in helping get PGA Tour Champions off the ground. The Champions tour named Ferree its Comeback Player of the Year in 1993 after he recovered from prostate cancer. He won twice on that circuit—at the 1986 Greater Grand Rapids Open and the 1991 Bell Atlantic Classic. He played in 407 official events and added 12 runner-up finishes in a career that concluded in 2002. Yet he still stayed active, playing every year in the Demaret Division of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, winning that division with partner Miller Barber in 2003.

While still active on PGA Tour Champions, he became the head pro at Westmoreland Country Club in Pennsylvania, and in 1991, he became the first golfer inducted into the University of North Carolina’s Hall of Fame.

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Fred Couples calls Phil Mickelson a ‘nutbag’ and Sergio Garcia a ‘clown’

“Just go to the LIV Tour, but stop blasting something I’ve been a part of for 42 years.”

Fred Couples says he doesn’t have a problem with LIV Golf and insists he still likes Phil Mickelson.

But he clearly doesn’t like the way the PGA Tour defectors left for the upstart golf circuit financially backed Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

According to a story in the Orange County Register, Couples, speaking at a breakfast to promote the upcoming Hoag Classic in Newport Beach on the PGA Tour Champions, shared some strong opinions about the state of affairs between the two golf circuits.

“I don’t have a problem with LIV,” he said. “What my problem has been when I tweet every now and then, is what these guys say when they go to the LIV Tour.”

Couples said that players should just admit they left the PGA Tour for those humongous piles of cash. The large sums LIV used to attract players aren’t really the issue to him.

“If you’re giving Phil Mickelson $200 million at age 52 to shoot 74 and 75, God bless you,” Couples said.

Many of those who left cited a more flexible schedule that allowed for more time at home with family.

“I find that comical, because my favorite to ever play has five kids, 40 grandkids, and he has never missed anything – and that was Jack Nicklaus,” Couples said, adding that he was also bothered by “all these other clowns, like Sergio” for berating a PGA Tour rules official.

What also irked Couples was that LIV players are “all bashing the PGA Tour, and that affects me a little bit. … just go to the LIV Tour, but stop blasting something I’ve been a part of for 42 years.”

The Hoag Classic starts Friday. Couples has won the event twice.

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Tiger Woods is gearing up for his second act, according to Jack Nicklaus

Nicklaus was a guest of Nick Faldo when he started talking about Tiger using a golf cart because of his physical limitations.

Tiger Woods has hinted at extending his golf career when he turns 50. But never have his words been as strong as those of Jack Nicklaus, the man Tiger is chasing when it comes to major championships.

Nicklaus was a guest of Nick Faldo when he started talking about Tiger using a golf cart because of his physical limitations.

“I told him, ‘Tiger, you’re eligible to take a cart,’” Nicklaus, the North Palm Beach resident, said on Faldo’s podcast. “He says, ‘I’m not going to do that.’”

Nicklaus continues: “He says, ‘When I get to the senior tour, I will.’”

Faldo then asked, “He’s actually thinking he would come back out at 50?”

Said Nicklaus: “He wants to play the senior tour.”

Players on the Tour Champions can use a cart. On the PGA Tour if they have a disability they must apply to ride during a competitive round. Woods certainly could do that now but he refuses.

Woods is 47. He becomes eligible for the Tour Champions when he turns 50 on Dec. 30, 2025. He’s proven he can still swing a club even after multiple back surgeries and a horrific car crash in which he nearly died.

But bouncing back from those injuries, more specifically that accident outside of L.A. two years ago in which he suffered two leg fractures and a shattered ankle, has been the challenge. Since the accident, Tiger’s biggest test has been walking five rounds (including one practice) in five or six days.

The Jupiter Island resident has played four events in the last year, the Masters, PGA Championship and Open Championship in 2022, and the Genesis Invitational last month.

Tiger missed the cut in the Open Championship in July; withdrew after three rounds at the PGA Championship last May, visibly limping and in pain; and played all four rounds at the Masters and Genesis.

He shot a pair of 78s the last two rounds of the Masters. At Riviera, he had a strong third round (67) before carding a 73 on the final day.

“It certainly was a little bit more difficult than I probably let on,” Woods said following his 45th-place finish at Genesis. “My team has been fantastic in getting my body recovered day to day and getting me ready to play each and every day.

“That’s the hard part that I can’t simulate at home. Even if I played four days at home, it’s not the same as adrenaline, it’s not the same as the system being ramped up like that, the intensity, just the focus that it takes to play at this level. I’m very good at simulating that at home, but it’s just not the same as being out here and doing it.”

Tiger’s next tournament will be the Masters in three weeks. With 15 major titles, he trails Nicklaus’ all-time record of 18. His 82 career PGA Tour victories are tied with Sam Snead for the most.

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David Toms wins PGA Tour Champions Cologuard Classic, which will move to a new Tucson venue in 2024

David Toms led by four shots at one point en route to winning for the third time on the PGA Tour Champions.

TUCSON, Ariz. — David Toms posted a 6-under 30 on his front nine Saturday and led by two shots after 36 holes at the 2023 Cologuard Classic.

On Sunday, he led by four through 11 holes and was still up by two when he got to the par-4 18th, rated the most difficult hole on the PGA Tour Champions last season.

And for the third day in a row, the 18th proved trouble for Toms, who drove his tee shot into a lake down the right side of the fairway for the third time.

He said he didn’t see it go in Sunday and only discovered it was wet once he got up there, and that probably helped him avoid thinking about a bad shot for very long.

“It was more about ‘Let’s take our drop, let’s get our yardage,'” Toms said. “My caddie Scott [Gneiser] said ‘Hey man, we’re alright. Let’s hit a good shot here.'”

Toms only had five bogeys over the 72 holes and three of those came on the 18th. After a drop, his approach missed right but he got up-and-down for bogey and that was enough, as Toms closed with a 68 to finish at 15 under and beat Robert Karlsson by a shot. Toms (68-65-68) posted 19 birdies over three days and besides the first-place check, he also won a gold Conquistador helmet, which is the trophy for the tournament.

He sounded excited to be able to bring that home.

“It’s just kinda one of those things. I’ve always paid attention to it, saw the funny pictures of the guys putting it on their heads. I can tell you that my caddie’s got no chance to fit it on his head,” Toms quipped.

2023 Cologuard Classic
David Toms poses with the trophy after winning the 2023 Cologuard Classic at Omni Tucson National in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Gene Sauers had the best round Sunday with a 64 and tied Mark Hensby for third at 12 under. Doug Barron finished solo fifth at 11 under. Lee Janzen and Marco Dawson tied for sixth at 10 under.

Other notables this week:

  • Steve Stricker: Tied for eighth (70-66-71)
  • Brett Quigley: First-round leader bounced back from a second-round 73 with a closing 69
  • Miguel Angel Jimenez: Tournament’s defending champion shot 70-70-69 to finish 7 under.
  • Bernhard Langer: A Champions tour record 46th win will have to wait, as he shot 72-68-70 to tie for 19th
  • Jerry Kelly: tournament ambassador also tied for 19th.

New venue in 2024

The Cologuard Classic announced Sunday that the event will have a new home next season, as the Jack Nicklaus-designed La Paloma Country Club will be the host venue in 2024. The private club is about 10 miles northwest of this year’s locale, Tucson National, which hosted since 2015.

Cologuard had previously announced an extension of its title sponsorship of the event through 2027.

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David Toms cards nine birdies, takes two-shot lead at Cologuard Classic

“I thought it might be one of those days where I could go really low.”

David Toms shot a 7-under 65 on Saturday to jump into the lead at the 2023 Cologuard Classic.

Toms opened with consecutive birdies and made the turn with a 6-under 30. He birdied Nos. 10, 14 and 17 but had bogeys on Nos. 16 to 18 to finish 36 holes at 11 under at Omni Tucson National in Tucson, Arizona.

“Front nine, obviously when you shoot 6-under par first nine, a lot of things  went well. I made a couple nice putts, but I hit a lot of nice shots, kept the ball in play, got pretty hot in the beginning actually,” Toms said. “I thought it might be one of those days where I could go really low.”

Toms last won at the 2021 Ascension Charity Classic in St. Louis in a playoff.

“Certainly you can’t ever really get ahead of yourself. Back when I used to win a fairly good amount on the [PGA] Tour, I just never really thought about winning too much, I went out there and played golf and it just kind of happened,” Toms said. “Tomorrow I’ll have to obviously play aggressive when you can because there’s a lot of guys out there, you saw a lot of good scores today. The weather’s going to be nice again, so it will be another day where I’ll have to be hot, but why not?”

Robert Karlsson is two shots back after his second-round 64. Steve Stricker is in solo third at 8 under after shooting a 66.

Chris DiMarco posted a 63, the round of the week so far, to get into a tie for fourth alongside Alex Cejka and Retief Goosen.

First-round leader Brett Quigley stumbled to a 73 on Saturday. He opened with a bogey, had birdies on Nos. 8 and 9 and then closed with back-to-back bogeys.

Bernhard Langer, tied with Hale Irwin for the most wins in Champions tour history with 45, is tied for 15th after rounds of 72 and 68. He will start the final round Sunday seven shots back.

Langer did celebrate a Champions tour milestone, playing in his 1,000th round Saturday.

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PGA Tour Champions Q school grad Brian Cooper a shot off lead at Cologuard Classic

Brian Cooper was 17 shots better Friday than his last outing on the PGA Tour Champions.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Padraig Harrington and Steven Alker made all the headlines the last time the PGA Tour Champions visited Arizona.

Harrington won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club, while Alker claimed his first season-long points title.

Fast forward the calendar three months and neither golfer is in the field this week at the Cologuard Classic. Champions tour stalwarts Steve Stricker (2-under 70), Miguel Angel Jimenez (2-under 70) and Bernhard Langer (even par 72) were well off the pace after 18 holes.

Add it all up and the door is cracked open for others to make a move, including 2022 Champions tour Q school grad Brian Cooper.

Cooper fired a 6-under 66 Friday in his seventh round on the tour this season and 34th round overall. It’s his lowest score to date. He was one of the five survivors of Q school last November and the 55-year-old came into Tucson with rounds of 78-83-77-77-84-83 in his first six outings in 2023.

Some of that he chalked up to his equipment, which he said he takes full responsibility for. He also suffered a pinched nerve in his neck two weeks ago.

So far this week, however, everything is firing on all cylinders.

“Living in Arizona, I mean, this week, playing well this week would really mean a lot,” he said. “I’m going to have family here, friends here. This week would really mean a lot.”

Playing the back nine first, he birdied Nos. 12 and 16 and then eagled the 17th. He had three more birdies on the front nine before closing with three straight pars.

“I think the way I hit it today, it’s kind of indicative of the way I’ve been hitting it and that’s what I expect out of myself. Whether it’s 66 or not, I expect to hit the ball good and give myself opportunities,” Cooper said. “In the first two weeks, honestly, I had zero opportunities. So this is what I expect of myself not only this week but the entire year.”

Cooper is a shot off the lead of Brett Quigley, who had the best round Friday with a 7-under 65, the day after the golf course was blanketed under a thick layer of snow.

“I loved it. I felt like I was a little kid yesterday,” he said. “I hadn’t seen snow in so long. It was a fun morning. The guys building the snowman out there on the driving range and driving in, seeing all that snow, it was like being a kid again.”

2023 Cologuard Classic
Snow covers Tucson National in Arizona on Thursday, March 2, 2023, ahead of the 2023 Cologuard Classic. (Photo: Cologuard Classic)

Brett Quigley was 0-for-his-careeer on the PGA Tour (408 starts) but won his second-ever start on the Champions tour three years ago.

Among the four tied for second with Cooper is John Huston, whose lone Champions win came 12 years ago. He knows it’s too early to start thinking about the winner’s circle just yet.

“I’m too smart for that. I know it’s a long ways to go,” Huston said.

Kirk Triplett also shot a 66. Alex Cejka is solo fifth at 5 under. Tournament ambassador Jerry Kelly, Marco Dawson, Ken Duke, David Toms and Mike Weir are tied for sixth at 5 under after shooting 67s.

John Daly, in the field on a sponsor exemption, shot an 81 and is tied for last with Gary Hallberg.

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‘Keep kicking butt’: Steve Stricker is playing the Cologuard Classic in honor of Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio, who continues his fight against cancer

“All I keep saying is keep plugging and keep kicking butt and you can do it.”

The PGA Tour Champions Cologuard Classic has a tradition of pairing competitors with cancer patients, cancer survivors or in memory of those who lost their battle with cancer.

For the 2023 event, Steve Stricker will be paired with longtime Golfweek/USA Today senior writer Steve DiMeglio.

This is the third year that players will be “paired up” and wearing ribbons with their honoree’s name throughout the competition.

During his pre-tournament news conference Thursday, Stricker was asked about his pairing with DiMeglio.

“When I learned of his prognosis back last year, I’ve been in contact with him probably on a monthly basis just checking in with him and seeing how he’s been doing,” he said. “Steve, I’ve been kind of in his corner since I found out and been seeing how he’s been doing, how he’s been feeling. We’ve been talking back and forth. So it’s kind of, it’s, I don’t know how to say it, but it’s a nice surprise that I get to play for him this week because he’s a friend and we’ve gone back to the days when I first came on [PGA] Tour that I’ve known Steve. And he’s been always very good to me and fair to me.

Steve DiMeglio, Steve Stricker
Steve Stricker will play the 2023 Cologuard Classic in honor of Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio, who is battling cancer.

“Hopefully he can say the same. Yeah, it’s a cool situation that I get to think about him a little bit more this week and wear a ribbon with his name on it. Yeah, it’s a pretty cool thing.”

Stricker has also noticed how fired up DiMeglio is for the pairing.

“We texted back and forth after I found out that I was playing for him, texted back and forth a little bit. So I’ll send him out another probably thing before we get going,” Stricker said. “I just hope and pray that he’s on the mend and getting going in the right direction. It’s a tough thing. I know he’s stage IV, which is pretty far along, so he’s still got an uphill battle. I don’t know if he tells me everything. He keeps telling me that he’s fighting it. All I keep saying is keep plugging and keep kicking butt and you can do it and all that kind of stuff.

“Yeah, hopefully he’s going to beat it and make it through.”

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Photos: Snow blankets Tucson National ahead of PGA Tour Champions Cologuard Classic

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

A winter storm moved in over Arizona on Wednesday and by Thursday morning, the green fairways at Tucson National Golf Club, host venue for the 2023 Cologuard Classic on the PGA Tour Champions, were blanketed white with snow.

The golf course sits at about 2,300-foot elevation. The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory Wednesday evening that said the Tucson area was likely to get 1-to-3 inches of snow, with areas above 6,000 feet likely to get as much as 16 inches.

“It’s pretty, very pretty. Holy cow, the mountains look beautiful,” said Steve Stricker, who held his pre-tournament news conference just after lunch Thursday. “It doesn’t look so good on the golf course when you’re trying to play. But at least we’re getting out there today, we’ll see some of it somehow, either par 3, scramble or play nine holes. Yeah, it was something different to wake up to, for sure.”

The pro-ams scheduled for Thursday were adjusted to nine holes, starting at noon and 3 p.m. local time (2 p.m. and 5 p.m. ET).

The start of the tournament’s first round on Friday is expected to begin as scheduled, with the first tee time at 10:08 a.m. local time.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, who had two aces a year in the event, is the defending champion.

Bernhard Langer, tied for most PGA Tour Champions wins with 45, can break the record long held by Hale Irwin if he wins the 54-hole event Sunday.