Tag: PGA Tour Champions

Smaller crowds, bad weather, but Sanford International finds sweet spot

The Sanford International is underway at Minnehaha Country Club and for the first time since the resumption of golf, welcomed fans on site.

Ernie Els, a four-time major winner and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, was in the first tee box at Minnehaha Country Club, about to take his first shot ever on South Dakota soil at the PGA Tour Champions Sanford International.

As Els addressed the ball and brought his body to a standstill, the crowd of bystanders fell silent.

“HOOOOONNNNK!!!”

A horn from a nearby golf cart blared, its shrill moan filling the air and surely embarrassing everyone in the gallery.

Els didn’t move. He waited a beat, then calmly went into his backswing and sent his drive down the middle of the fairway.

LEADERBOARD: Sanford International

“Nerves of steel,” smiled 2018 Sanford International champ Steve Stricker, commending the South African for shrugging off the distraction, and Els, Stricker and 2019 champ Rocco Mediate proceeded down the fairway.

And all along the thinking had been that having fans back on tour for the first time since the start of the pandemic would be the only potential distraction.

As it turned out, the fans that showed up for the first round of the third edition of the Sanford International on Friday were not much of a factor. The crowds for both the opening ceremonies and the first players to tee off were notably smaller than in previous years, and didn’t seem quite as animated.

And all along the thinking had been that having fans back on tour for the first time since the start of the pandemic would be the only potential distraction.

As it turned out, the fans that showed up for the first round of the third edition of the Sanford International on Friday were not much of a factor. The crowds for both the opening ceremonies and the first players to tee off were notably smaller than in previous years, and didn’t seem quite as animated.

Rain water flies off of Darren Clarke’s club as he tees off during the first day of the Sanford International on Friday, September 11, at the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls. (Erin Bormett / Argus Leader)

Either way, it had the feel of a successful return to golf as we know it, with lots of white dudes in baseball caps carrying mixed drinks, smoking cigars and telling golf balls to “get in there” as they hovered near the greens.

For tournament organizers, getting the Sanford International off the ground, with fans, is a win by itself.

“There’s some opportunities here for us to show the rest of the world that you can go do this,” said tournament host Andy North. “You can get out there, you can have spectators.” Or, as he put it in the opening ceremonies: “Let’s show the world we can come out of our basements and live our lives.”

Following the Daly show

Once again, John Daly had the largest following on Friday, with a group of about 75 fans tracking the larger-than-life big hitter through what was a strong first round. Daly, wearing fluorescent Hawaiian pants under a black pullover, played fairly conservatively and avoided catastrophe on his way to being 3-under through 17 holes, two strokes off the lead.

Daly’s man-of-the-people persona will always make him a fan favorite, but that relatability took a more personal turn this week when Daly revealed to the Golf Channel that he’s been diagnosed with bladder cancer. This news came around the same time Daly was spotted at Grand Falls Casino, where he aced the 18th hole.

John Daly watches his ball land on the green ahead during the first day of the Sanford International on Friday, September 11, at the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls. (Erin Bormett / Argus Leader)

“I think I just earned $100,000 in free play here (at the casino),” Daly quipped in a video posted on the Grand Falls Twitter account.

When he’s not golfing or gambling Daly dabbles in music, having recorded a pair of albums. But the most successful musician playing Friday had teed off just 10 minutes before Daly, when chart-topping country rapper Colt Ford hit the links.

Ford, who years before was a pro golfer under his real name, Jason Brown, made his Champions Tour debut at the Sanford International, and after hitting his first tee shot down the middle of the fairway, got to his ball and realized he’d left his gloves in the tee box and had to speed back in a cart to get them.

It was an up-and-down day for the “Dirt Road Anthem” author, as Ford was at 5-over through 17 holes, tied with three others for furthest from the leader.

Dicky Pride jumped out in front, at 5-under through 15 holes.

Tournament faces future

The Sanford International is in year three of a five-year contract. Sanford would love to extend the tournament’s life beyond that, and discussions to do so have informally taken place, according to Sanford executive vice president Micah Aberson.

“We want to see it continue and we’re having conversations right now about what it could look like,” Aberson said. “There’s a lot of moving pieces in getting that accomplished. Working with the tour in making sure the schedule works, we have a great host venue here in Minnehaha Country Club, we’d love to see the tournament continue on here but certainly there are conversations ongoing with their board and membership to make sure there’s an appetite from their standpoint in being the host venue. But right now (Sanford) has an appetite to see it continue because we’ve had great success with it.”

In case you were wondering, Tiger Woods will become eligible for the Champions Tour in 2026.

‘You’re gonna have to move’

No journalist ever wants to become part of the story they’re covering, so I can tell you it was more embarrassing than anything when, as I walked down the cart path that separates the first and 18th fairways Friday afternoon, I directly impacted the Sanford International.

I was walking with my head down, my face largely hidden by a baseball cap and mask, when I heard shouting.

“Heads up!” I heard, and looked up to see a white blur heading straight for me.

“Look out!” shouted a bystander, but I knew it was too late. The low line drive had already bounced on the cart path and was about to pick up speed as it rocketed towards me. I had no chance.

Sanford CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft and pro golfer Andy North greet Ben Wieman, the Sanford Children’s Hospital ambassador, ahead of the first day of the Sanford International on Friday, September 11, at the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls. Wieman, 7, is a cancer survivor. (Erin Bormett / Argus Leader)

With a Coke Zero in my left hand and my work bag in my right, I (probably hilariously to anyone watching) tried to jump over the speeding spheroid, reminding myself as I did it of a third-base coach trying to dodge a foul ball.

I, however, am 40 years old and in quarantine shape, and don’t have much of a vertical these days. So I pretty much jumped right into the ball. It clipped the bottom of my pants and came to a stop in the grass on the far side of the path.

“Zim, did you just get hit in the (redacted)?” the man behind me asked in a tone that was far more entertained than concerned.

Well, sort of. I did that thing every man understands where you wait a few seconds to assess the true damage of the impact, and determined the cold weather must have worked in my favor. I was OK.

The tee flips behind Robert Karlsson as he tees off during the first day of the Sanford International on Friday, September 11, at the Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls. (Erin Bormett / Argus Leader)

The ball, I discovered, had come off the club of Bob May, who about 10 minutes later made his way over to where I was standing. He didn’t know his ball had hit me, and he seemed kind of embarrassed by his errant shot so I didn’t want to tell him. But I did stand there filming him with my camera while he assessed the ball. He finally looked at me and said, politely but a little annoyed, “You’re gonna have to move.”

I realized I was standing directly in the path of where his next shot needed to go, and sheepishly apologized and moved. I felt like an idiot for a second, but then thought, “Hey man, he’s the one whose shot was so bad I can’t even tell where the hell he’s going” and then I didn’t feel so bad. Also, Bob, your shot getting back to the fairway would’ve been a lot tougher had my, uh, midsection not gotten in the way and saved you about 20 yards. You’re welcome.

Matt Zimmer is an Argus Leader sports reporter. Reach him at mzimmer@argusleader.com

 

PGA Tour Champions tournament to be first professional golf event to allow spectators

The PGA Tour Champions event in South Dakota has sold 10,000 daily tickets to attend the Sanford International in Sioux Falls.

The Sanford International is set to become the first professional golf tournament to welcome fans since the global pandemic led to the golf world shutting down for at least three months in March.

The PGA Tour Champions event, which is being contested at Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from Sept. 11-13, will serve as a guinea pig for golf, with 10,000 daily tickets being sold.

“I think we’re ready for this and have a great game plan in place to have a great event and be safe about it,” said Hollis Cavner, whose company Pro Sports Links oversees the event. “People are living their lives again. They want to get out again.”

The PGA Tour in June eased into what was left of its season with no spectators allowed. Initially, the Memorial Tournament had been approved for limited spectators in July, but that plan was scratched shortly before the event and the Tour announced that the rest of the 2019-20 season, including the FedEx Cup playoffs, would be held without spectators. (That has been extended to include next week’s Safeway Open, the first event of the 2020-21 season, and the U.S. Open and Masters.)

PGA Tour Champions: Stats and money leaders

During his annual “state of the Tour” press conference on Wednesday, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said, “We’re going to reinstitute pro-ams, participants in pro-ams will be tested, and we’re encouraged by the fact that you’re continuing to see more options, which creates more potential for a quicker return of our fans.

“When we feel like it’s safe to return fans out here, that’s when fans will return. We owe that to them, to make sure that we feel like — and we’re supported locally in every market we play in, that that is supported by the local government authorities.”

Given that Sanford Health is the Tour’s official mobile COVID-19 testing partner, and is responsible for testing all the players in the bubble, it makes sense to reintroduce the fan experience at the tournament that the company also serves as title sponsor. Sanford Health mobile labs will be on site, and all pro-am participants will be tested. All spectators are encouraged to take their own temperature before heading to the tournament. Upon arrival, FDA approved non-contact wrist thermometers will be utilized at each parking lot prior to spectators getting on a shuttle bus. Temperature checks will also take place at the main entrance for those that arrive without taking a shuttle. Anyone with a temperature of 100 degrees or higher will be turned away and asked to seek medical attention.

Fans will be given free masks, if needed, as well as gloves, if requested. The golf course has been roped so fans won’t be able to get as close to the players as usual. Stationary hand sanitizer units will be placed at entrances to public bleachers, hospitality structures, and the clubhouse. Portolets and restroom trailers will each be equipped with sanitizer pumps and handwashing stations as well. For the safety of the players and gallery members alike, autographs will be prohibited.

“We’re on 250 acres. Spacing people on 250 acres is like 12 people inside a Super Wal-Mart,” Cavner said. “We’re the guinea pig for bringing people back to golf with live crowds, so we’ve gone overboard to make sure we don’t have any issues.”

Cavner said the tournament received approval from South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who previously signed off on the Sturgis Bike Rally, which attracted nearly half a million bikers and is being blamed for a surge of coronavirus infections, and the South Dakota State Fair, which opened on Thursday.

Cavner said the response to attend the second-year tournament has been impressive.

“Our sales have been through the roof,” Cavner said. “The pro-am sold out quickly and ticket sales also hit our numbers and had to be cut off.”

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Specifics laid out for 2021 Constellation Furyk and Friends PGA Tour Champions event

Jim Furyk and wife, Tabitha, are putting on the Furyk and Friends PGA Tour Champions event in 2021.

The Timuquana Country Club, the PGA Tour Champions and the Furyk family are throwing a party.

Everyone’s invited.

More than a year out from the first PGA Tour Champions event on the First Coast since 2002, Jim and Tabitha Furyk met with the media on Monday to lay out some of the plans for the Constellation Energy Furyk and Friends tournament on Oct. 4-10, 2021, at Timuquana.

The tournament, which evolved from the Furyk and Friends charity tournament at the Sawgrass Country Club from 2011-2020, will benefit charities that help children, families and the military on the First Coast.

Constellation, a Baltimore-based energy company, has pledged $500,000 per year to the foundation beginning in 2021, and already made an initial donation of $100,000 this year. Over the duration of the first contract, at least $2.6 million will go to charity.

The purse will be $2 million and the event carried by Golf Channel. It will be the first nationwide TV exposure for Timuquana, the Donald Ross-designed course that was built in 1923.

The par-4 ninth hole of the Timuquana Country Club will be No. 18 for the Constellation Furyk and Friends PGA Tour Champions event Oct. 4-10, 2021. Photo by Gary Smits/Florida Times-Union

Furyk has a sponsor relationship with Constellation’s parent company, Exelon, that goes back two decades. Constellation also was the title sponsor for the Senior Players Championship from 2007-2018.

“Tabitha and I like to have a good time and we have a lot of friends who like that as well … golf, food, drink and fun, though not in that order,” Furyk said. “Golf is probably fourth.”

But the main priority will be charity. In the past, the Jim and Tabitha Furyk Foundation has raised money for charities such as Wolfson Children’s Hospital, Blessings in a Backpack, Operation Shower (a baby shower for military mothers), Community PedsCare and the Monique Burr Foundation.

“Our relationship with Jim and the PGA Tour has just gotten better and better over time,” said Mark Huston, president of Constellation Retail. “Jim is a standup person, a good family man who gives back to the community and is recognized as a leader among PGA Tour players. It’s great to be associated with a family and a sport that has such a positive reputation.”

Plans were released for three hospitality venues at Timuquana, the 18th hole Skybox, Cabanas on 17 and Club 58 (which commemorates Furyk’s record PGA Tour score for one round), also near the 17th green.

The sides will be flipped for the tournament, with No. 17 the short par-3 and No. 18 the par-4 adjacent to the cart area and tennis courts. Furyk said the Constellation hospitality venue will be on the back left of the green, a presenting sponsor venue on the right to right-rear of the green and the right side will have spectator viewing.

Furyk said plans will be fluid, based on whether the COVID-19 pandemic has eased within the 13 months before the tournament.

“We know there are no guarantees,” he said. “We hope by next October we can have fans but we want to do it in the safest manner possible. Our job is to make sure we have options.”

Furyk noted that the PGA Tour Champions has had pro-ams since returning in late July (Furyk won the first event back, at Warwick Hills in Grand Blanc, Michigan, his first PGA Tour Champions start) and next week, at the Tour’s stop in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, fans will be allowed on the course.

Jim Furyk after winning the Ally Challenge at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club on August 2, 2020 in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images

“The Tour has done a good job of getting us back to tournament golf, but also changing and reacting to the climate,” Furyk said. “A lot depends on area governments and where are the hot spots.”

But the organization is planning for the best.

“Our mission and goal is to have a great event, draw in the fans and showcase our city,” Furyk said. “You look at the view of the St. Johns River and downtown from this course and it’s a great opportunity to bring in a lot of folks to watch this, raise more money and help more people.”

The military will have a strong presence at the tournament, given that Timuquana is adjacent to NAS Jacksonville, the third-largest naval base in the U.S.

Tournament director Adam Renfroe said the 21,000 military and civilian personnel who are at the base on a daily basis will be offered complimentary admission, and a military hospitality venue will be built near one of the closing holes.

“We will have a strong relationship with NAS Jacksonville,” Renfroe said. “There will be a number of military-driven initiatives during tournament week and we anticipate a lot of people coming from the base. Supporting them will be a central part of the week.”

The timing of launching the tournament also couldn’t be better. A new wave of marquee players has become eligible for the Champions Tour and two of them, Furyk and Phil Mickelson, won their first starts last month.

Also becoming eligible within the past two years have been World Golf Hall of Fame members Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, plus K.J. Choi, Darren Clarke, Mike Weir and Rich Beem.

Three-time major champion Padraig Harrington will join the list next year.

“It’s amazing all these guys are jumping right in and playing well,” said Davis Love III. “The competition is tough. If you make five pars in a row you feel like you’re out of it.”

Other possible participants will be Fred Couples, John Daly, Bernhard Langer, Mark O’Meara and Colin Montgomerie.

Renfroe said marketing a tournament with a potential field like that — and with the Furyks’ name on it — won’t be difficult.

“The name recognition of those players goes a long way, and the reputation of Jim and Tabitha in this community goes a long way,” Renfroe said. “The players have had long and successful careers, with a lot of history. There are a lot of legends who will be playing here.”

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Eamon Lynch: Cameron Champ, Kirk Triplett send similar BLM message from different places

Black Lives Matter: The two most admirable stands taken against racial injustice have come from Cameron Champ and Kirk Triplett

In the aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd earlier this summer, PGA Tour golfers — including Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka — joined many other athletes in Blackout Tuesday, posting a solid black image to social media with the caption “Black Lives Matter” as a protest against systemic racial injustice. It was a widespread action that offered safety in numbers for those golfers who chose to participate, but even that modest gesture was predictably denounced by racist clods who permit no effort against inequality to go unstoned.

It’s an altogether different test of character for a professional golfer to step into that fray alone.

There remains a stubborn stereotype that PGA Tour pros are all about god, guns and the GOP. It’s a dated image that, while certainly accurate for some, is woefully inadequate for the whole. The modern Tour is a traveling circus of folks from different backgrounds with disparate realities, which might explain why the two most admirable stands taken against racial injustice have come from a soft-spoken, 25-year-old African American and a 58-year-old white veteran on the senior circuit.

Cameron Champ’s protest came at the BMW Championship in the wake of yet another police shooting, this one of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, 90 minutes north of Olympia Fields Country Club. Champ wore one white shoe and one black, on which he had written “Black Lives Matter” along with the names of Blake and Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police in Kentucky in March.

Eamon Lynch

“Until equality in our country means everyone is treated with the same level of dignity and respect and afforded the same level of opportunity, freedom and justice in all things as human beings, we will never be able to truly live up to our ideals or reach our full potential as a nation,” he wrote later on social media.

That sentiment used to be uncontroversial, but social media is hostage to trolls who traffic in ‘whataboutery’ and to unabashed crypto-fascists. A panzer unit of commenters wiped the drool from their chins and demanded to know whether players can scrawl “All Lives Matter” on their shoes, why blacks can’t stop resisting arrest, and if Champ has been bought like chattel by Nike, with a side of despicable references to his mother.

Even leaving aside the naked bigotry, it was a tsunami of false equivalencies in which willful ignorance could masquerade as a legitimate difference of opinion.

Cameron Champ
The Nike golf shoes worn by Cameron Champ with messages written in support of Black Lives Matter at the 2020 BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club. Photo by Brian Spurlock/USA TODAY Sports

As a young man of African-American heritage, Champ knows what demographic is most at risk from trigger-happy cops, and that affluence or trophies don’t matter if an officer tends to save the benefit of his doubt for those who look more like guys you’d expect to find in a Tour locker room. Kirk Triplett, however, is decidedly not in that demographic.

Triplett and his wife, Cathi, have four children, two of whom are adopted minorities. His youngest son, 18-year-old Kobe, is Black. Racial injustice is an issue his family discusses often, which is why he arrived at the Senior Players Championship earlier this month with a “Black Lives Matter” sticker on his golf bag.

Kirk Triplett poses with his golf bag while on the tee at the Bridgestone Senior Players Tournament in Akron, Ohio, at Firestone Country Club. Photo by Phil Masturzo/ Beacon Journal

“I don’t think things are going to get accomplished until the circles that I travel in really understand it better,” he explained. “Sometimes it’s too easy to really not even think about it. I guess that’s why I put it on there.”

The circles in which Triplett travels — notably the PGA Tour Champions — don’t lack folks who peddle right-wing conspiracy theories and Fox News Channel pablum as gospel. But a man like Triplett, a respected Tour pro for more than three decades, is very much one of their own and can’t be glibly dismissed as a radical Marxist bent on overthrowing law, order and the capitalist way. His words carry weight.

Like Champ, Triplett drew his share of public support for his position. But he was also branded a supporter of thugs, looting, and domestic terrorism, drivel that was layered with sub-literate ramblings about communism, abortion and George Soros. What this cohort lacks in originality, it compensates for in fetid stupidity.

As Champ took his stand this week, the PGA Tour did what one might expect of a risk-averse organization with an eye trained on a movement roiling the sports world. Its Thursday statement expressing support for racial inclusion and opposition to injustice served a dual purpose: it gave explicit support to players who want to protest and provided implicit air cover for those who don’t, but who are nevertheless keen not to appear unconcerned.

It’s to the credit of Champ and Triplett that they were not cowed by mob calls to shut up and putt. If you believe those old stereotypes about Tour pros and their attitudes, there wouldn’t seem to be much in common between a young African American pro beginning his career and an older white man winding his down. Yet both committed to otherwise simple gestures that, in an acutely polarized environment, amounted to acts of courage. It is their contributions to this painful national conversation that will be remembered.

Eamon Lynch is a columnist for Golfweek and a contributor to the Golf Channel. Follow him on Twitter: @eamonlynch

Phil Mickelson goes wire-to-wire to win his PGA Tour Champions debut

Mickelson put the 50-and-over set on notice by shooting 22-under 191 and coasting to a 3-stroke victory.

Phil Mickelson put the over-50-set of golfers on notice that he’ll be a force to be reckoned with, should he decide to play on PGA Tour Champions. Mickelson posted 5-under 66 in the final round to go wire-to-wire and win the Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National by four strokes over Tim Petrovic.

“Sometimes you just run into a buzz saw,” Petrovic said. ” I ran into a Phil buzz saw this week because he made a lot of birdies. I think yesterday I shot 31 on the front, I don’t think I picked a shot up … maybe one shot today.”

Ozarks National is located not far from Branson, Missouri, where the likes of crooners Andy Williams, Glen Campbell and Dolly Parton enjoyed performing during their golden years. In almost any game played today, the half-century man is long gone, having stepped aside to make room for the young. Except in golf. At 50, Mickelson’s competitive juices still are flowing.

Mickelson became the 20th player to win in his senior debut, joining a fraternity that includes Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lanny Wadkins, and just last month, Jim Furyk. Even Tiger Woods took notice.

Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National: Leaderboard

“Playing unbelievable golf,” Woods said during his Wednesday press conference ahead of the BMW Championship. “There’s no reason why he can’t win every event he plays out there. He’s got such a big advantage over the rest of the field just with sheer length.”

The question remains: how much will Mickelson play on the senior circuit now that he’s the new kid on the block?

“I haven’t been called ‘young’ in a long time. Everybody out on (the PGA) Tour calls me the ‘old man,’ which is totally cool,” Mickelson said. “I’m hopeful to play in some more, too, but I also want to use this as a way to get sharp for the regular tour and for the majors. We have two big majors coming up, U.S. Open, love to win that one obviously, and then the Masters.”

While many Tour pros in their late 40s are itching for golf’s ultimate mulligan, Mickelson, who turned 50 on June 16, was lukewarm about making the jump. After all, he finished T-2 at the WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational just last month. It wasn’t until he flamed out of the FedEx Cup playoffs with a missed cut at the Northern Trust last Friday that Mickelson decided to make his debut in the Ozarks as part of his prep for next month’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot. (Mickelson would have had two weeks off before his final tune-up at the PGA Tour’s Safeway Open.)

Wearing his San Francisco Highway Patrol-looking shades, chomping gum and riding in a cart, Mickelson made quite the impression. He opened with 61, the lowest debut round in PGA Tour history, and backed it up with an impressive 64 to build a four-stroke lead.

In the final round, he birdied the first and fourth hole and then drove it 20 feet past the flag at the 352-yard, par-4 fifth. When the eagle putt dropped, he pumped his fist. He went out in 31, which could’ve been even lower if not for a bogey at six and 3-putt par at the par-5 seventh. By the time he canned an uphill 20-foot birdie at No. 10 for his third consecutive birdie, he led by six strokes.

“His wedge game is as good as I’ve ever seen it,” Golf Channel analyst Lanny Wadkins said.

About the only thing Mickelson didn’t do in his debut is set the 54-hole scoring record in relation to par of 25 under on the circuit. Mickelson had a few hiccups along the way to the house, including lipping out for birdie from 10 feet at 11.

“You just expect every one to go down,” Golf Channel’s Bob Papa said.

That’s how sharp Mickelson had looked. A Mickelson bogey at 14 combined with a birdie by Petrovic trimmed the lead to three strokes, but that was the closest anyone could get to catching Mickelson, who shot 22-under 191.

“I wasn’t as sharp on the back nine,” Mickelson said. “My lag putting wasn’t great and I kept leaving 4- and 5-footers and fortunately I made them on 16 and 17.”

Kevin Sutherland shot 63 to finish alone in third.

Mickelson made a Monday-Wednesday COVID-19 addition to the senior schedule into must-see-TV. He led the field in driving distance averaging 324 yards off the tee, but he ranked T-76 in the 78-man field in driving accuracy (29 of 39 fairways hit), suggesting there’s work to be done ahead of his quest to complete the career Grand Slam.

“There was a lot of good and some areas that I identified that I have to work on,” he said. “It was a really good course for me. The fairways were generous. I didn’t have to hit a lot of drivers and there were some holes where I was able to use my length. It was a good course for me.”

PGA Tour Champions: Naples’ Chubb Classic will move, signs three-year deal

The PGA Tour Champions event announced a three-year extension with title sponsor Chubb, but the tournament will not move locations.

The Chubb Classic has an extension, will have another new home in Naples and has new leadership.

The PGA Tour Champions event announced a three-year extension with title sponsor Chubb. The 2021 tournament in February will not return to The Classics at Lely Resort for a third straight year but has a new venue in the works.

Doing the work to secure that will be someone else besides Octagon for the first time since 1999. Then named Advantage International, the company helped save the tournament with the pairing of then-named ACE Group, and that relationship continued through name changes for each.

But no longer.

NAPLES, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Kevin Sutherland celebrates his birdie on the18th green during the third and final round of the Chubb Classic held at The Classics at Lely Resort on February 17, 2019 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Michael Cohen/Getty Images)
Kevin Sutherland celebrates his birdie on the18th green during the third and final round of the Chubb Classic held at The Classics at Lely Resort on February 17, 2019 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Michael Cohen/Getty Images)

Nevertheless, that new blood has a familiar name leading the way — Tim Erensen, who was the tournament director for Naples’ event for a couple of years, and remained with Octagon after that.

“It was one of the events that I hated walking away from 10 years ago when we kind of went out on our own and hung our own shingle and started our own business,” said Erensen, who is the managing partner for Eiger Marketing Group, where he’s been since 2010. “I’m very close and connected to the Naples community. My wife and I got married at LaPlaya.

“When the opportunity came for us at Eiger to get back involved, it was both personally and professionally a rewarding one for me.”

Eiger is a global marketing and event management agency that owns and/or operates professional golf tournaments in Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, and Atlantic City. Eiger also operates a number of other sporting and lifestyle events throughout the year and manages the sponsorship portfolio for several blue-chip clients.

“Florida’s Paradise Coast is the perfect fit for PGA Tour Champions, and the Chubb Classic is an integral component of the Tour’s early-season schedule,” said PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady in a release. “Chubb is a tremendous partner and I look forward to building on the rich history of professional golf in Naples.”

Erensen hopes to announce the 2021 venue in the next month or so. Nine different courses have hosted the tournament, with The Classics at Lely Resort doing so the past two years and in 1996.

“We have a three-year deal with the tour and a three-year deal that kind of matches that with Chubb,” he said. “We do not have a venue deal done yet.”

Next year will be the 34th tournament in Naples, the longest stretch of a Champions Tour event in one metropolitan area. The tournament, which started in 1988 at The Club Pelican Bay, has been by the likes of Gary Player, Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, and Lee Trevino. Scott Parel is the 2020 champion. Chubb has been the title sponsor since 1999, and the purse remains at $1.6 million for 2021.

“We are pleased to extend our long-term sponsorship of the Chubb Classic,” said Chris Maleno, Senior Vice President, Chubb Group, Division President, North America Field Operations, in a release. “This event has grown over the years to become an important venue for us in hosting business sessions and meetings with some of our most important clients and distribution partners. The Naples community has embraced this event since it began in 1988, the players on tour look forward to playing it every year, and we are honored to be a part that tradition.”

Eiger has hired Scott Reid to run the Chubb, as well as the company’s LPGA Tour event, the Pelican Women’s Championship in the Tampa area.

Tim Erensen, managing partner of Eiger Marketing Group, which has taken over running the Chubb Classic, Naples’ PGA Tour Champions event beginning in 2021. (Submitted)

“I’ve been in this kind of tour tournament world since 2006,” Reid said. “I started as a director of sales for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. From there I’ve ran some different PGA Tour events and Champions Tour events.”

Reid comes to Eiger after running the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, and was working on the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island when Eiger made its offer.

“Tim and I have known each other for years and he just kind of had an opportunity, too good of an opportunity to pass up,” Reid said.

“Scott’s been a friend for a long time,” Erensen said. “He’s a guy that, from our business, we’ve kind of had on a short list to have an opportunity to have on the team.”

Scott Reid has joined Eiger Marketing Group as director of Florida events the Chubb Classic on the PGA Tour Champions in Naples and the Pelican Women’s Championship on the LPGA Tour near Tampa. (Submitted)

Reid is starting to look at moving to Southwest Florida, a place he said he’s somewhat familiar with through a few seasonal residents he’s visited over the years. And he knows the importance of the event he’s taking over.

“It definitely has a reputation of one of the best events on the PGA Tour Champions,” Reid said. “For as long as it’s been around, it really speaks volumes.

“I know the players really enjoy the Naples area. February is a great time of the year there. It’s a neat place. It’s obviously a golf destination and a lot of people that I come across at some point talk about Naples. It’s going to be exciting to be down there full time.”

 

Monday golf: Phil Mickelson makes PGA Tour Champions debut

Lefty’s debut comes at the first-ever Champions tour event played Monday through Wednesday.

If you’re up for some live golf on a Monday, you’re in luck.

Three days after missing the cut on the PGA Tour’s Northern Trust at TPC Boston, Phil Mickelson is making his PGA Tour Champions debut in Ridgedale, Missouri.

Lefty tees it up at 3:20 p.m. ET alongside Steve Stricker and Retief Goosen at the Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National Golf Course.

The Champions Tour added consecutive events at at Ozarks National in late July as part of its combined 2020-21 schedule.

Shane Bertsch won the first event in the double-header last week. He eagled the first hole of a four-man playoff Friday to win the Charles Schwab Series at Bass Pro Shops Big Cedar Lodge. Now, after the weekend off, the first-ever Champions Tour event played Monday through Wednesday gets underway.

Ernie Els, Davis Love III, David Toms, Kenny Perry, Tom Lehman, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh, Darren Clarke, Colin Montgomerie, Miguel Angel Jimenez and John Daly are among the names on the tee sheet.

Rich Beem is also in the field. He turns 50 on Monday, so he’ll be making his Champions tour debut on his birthday.

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Phil Mickelson doesn’t really want to play with the old guys, but needs them more than he’ll admit

Phil Mickelson is a proud man who would much rather compete against young stallions than old warhorses one stumble shy of the glue factory.

It seemed appropriate on a day when two fellow competitors at the Northern Trust shot scores uncomfortably close to his age that Phil Mickelson announced his plan to debut on the PGA Tour Champions.

Scottie Scheffler’s Friday-morning 59 briefly appeared like it wouldn’t even be low round of the day until Dustin Johnson flatlined his way to a 60 in the afternoon. Like Roger Bannister’s 4-minute-mile, the ’60’ barrier seems to fall now with the frequency of a one-legged drunk on an ice rink, and those low rounds by Scheffler and Johnson might have reminded Mickelson that the days when he can hang with that kind of firepower are fewer and farther between.

A missed cut at TPC Boston eliminated Mickelson from the FedEx Cup Playoffs, so he will join the silver-haired circuit on Monday at the Charles Schwab Series in Missouri. That the five-time major winner — who turned 50 in June — opted to tee it with the seniors only when there were no PGA Tour options before him doesn’t suggest he views the Champions Tour as being a significant part of his future, but Mickelson is certainly a significant part of the future of the Champions Tour.

PGA Championship
Phil Mickelson waves to fans outside a fence near the 12th hole during the third round of the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park. (Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

His presence in Missouri will boost the profile of a circuit that, for all of the fine players peddling their wares out there, thrives most when legends come along. Legends aren’t real plentiful, of course, especially among the generation now graduating to the Champions Tour that had their résumés impoverished by Tiger Woods. Mickelson says he’ll play only a few senior events each year, a listless embrace similar to that of Greg Norman and Nick Faldo, but better than Johnny Miller’s no-show.

The PGA Tour Champions needs more, because the next superstar in its queue doesn’t turn 50 until December of 2025, and a man with young kids, a healthy portfolio and an unhealthy body isn’t a good bet to be pegging it against a 68-year-old Bernhard Langer every week.

It also deserves more. Sure, it may be littered with guys who couldn’t get your pulse racing if they were clapping you with a defibrillator, but the Champions Tour still brings big-time golf to small-town America and permits Cinderella stories worth rooting for. Exhibit ‘A’: Scott Parel.

Fortuitously, Mickelson’s debut comes at the first-ever Champions Tour event played Monday through Wednesday. A strong performance by the popular showman during a broadcast window that is otherwise uncontested might encourage the Tour to adopt that opportunistic schedule in future, and would certainly represent the lone positive amid the COVID-induced chaos on the golf calendar. Mickelson need not win for the week to be a victory for the Tour.

It’s no rap to say the PGA Tour Champions won’t offer Mickelson the elixir he desires. He’s a proud man who would much rather compete against young stallions than old warhorses who are one stumble shy of the glue factory.

That’s been true of most players who’ve aged out of relevance on the regular Tour. But recent results suggest Mickelson’s best prospect of being competitive on a regular basis lies with the old dudes. His T-2 finish at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational was one of just three top 20s in the past 18 months since he won at Pebble Beach. Only a fool would bet against Mickelson winning a 45th PGA Tour title, but the confidence needed for that might first have to be mined among the Steve Strickers, Colin Montgomeries and Jerry Kellys.

Phil is a man with a thirst to be relevant. That explains not just his nebulous flirtation with the TV booth but also with the proposed Premier Golf League splinter tour, both of which promise — at wildly differing scales — pay days based on name recognition rather than on performance. That might be the “champions tour” he ultimately dreams of.

Until such times as the Saudis come calling with a wheelbarrow full of blood money, Mickelson will probably learn the same lesson as many legends who went before him: that while the PGA Tour Champions isn’t the big stage he’s accustomed to, it’s still a very competitive arena. Take Herr Langer. The German turns 63 on Thursday. He finished second last week. Beating him might deliver all the confidence Mickelson will need this side of Winged Foot.

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Phil Mickelson misses cut at Northern Trust, says he’ll play Champions tour event

With his eye on the U.S. Open, Phil Mickelson will make his PGA Tour Champions debut in the Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National.

Phil Mickelson slammed the trunk on his 2019-2020 season Friday after falling short of the projected cutline in the Northern Trust at TPC Boston.

Well, he slammed the trunk on his PGA Tour season.

After Mickelson shot a 3-under-par 68 in the second round to go with his opening 74, he was at even par and two shots out of the cutline. He also was in 78th in the projected FedEx Cup standings.

There was little chance of either of those positions improving, which means Mickelson won’t be one of the top 70 who move on in the playoffs to next week’s BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in Illinois. It will be the first time Mickelson hasn’t qualified for the BMW Championship since the FedEx Cup Playoffs began in 2007.

Instead, with his eye on next month’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot in New York, Mickelson will head to Missouri to make his PGA Tour Champions debut in the Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National.

“I’m going to play the Champions event this Monday. I’ve been playing well and I want to play. I wish I was playing in Chicago next week but excited to play my first Champions event,” tweeted Mickelson, who turned 50 in June.

It will allow Mickelson to stay sharp for the U.S. Open.

“Coming into this week, I had been playing really well at home. I was excited to play. I want to really want to play golf. That will give me a chance to play three competitive rounds,” Mickelson said after the round at TPC Boston.

Leaderboard | Best photos | Round 2 tee times, TV info

As for his PGA Tour season, Mickelson made 16 starts and had just two top-10 finishes – a third place in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and a tie for second in the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational (he also tied for third in the Saudi International on the European Tour).

The five-time major champion missed six cuts.

“I don’t know what to say about the season. It’s been very up and down,” Mickelson said. “I had a lot of missed cuts, which is unusual. And I’ve had a couple of seconds and thirds but I haven’t won. I’m disappointed I’m not in the BMW (Championship). I feel like I’ve been playing well and yesterday was just really a poor start to the tournament.

“I would have liked to have continued in the playoffs. But now that I’m out, I’d like to take these two weeks to get my game ready for the U.S. Open.”

That preparation will included a start in the Safeway Open in Napa, California, Sept. 10-13. That’s the official start of the 2020-2021 season.

“Napa is a good place to get ready,” for the U.S. Open, Mickelson said. “The fairways are tight there, even though the rough isn’t too bad. And the greens are the same grass. So it will be a good place to get ready for Winged Foot.”

In 2006 at Winged Foot, Mickelson led the U.S. Open by one shot when he reached the 72nd hole. But he made double-bogey six to lose by one shot. Mickelson has a record six silver medals in the U.S. Open.

“I know the golf course reasonably well. You have to drive the ball well and I’ve been working on that. Unfortunately I didn’t drive it well here,” Mickelson said. “I’ll go see Winged Foot in the next couple of weeks and try to get my game ready.

“Having the two majors coming up now, with the U.S. Open and the Masters (in November), it keeps the motivation high to keep your game sharp and ready.”

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Mark, Brenda Calcavecchia find RV life even better during pandemic

Mark Calcavecchia doesn’t understand why more players don’t travel to tournaments by RV, especially during the pandemic.

Brenda Calcavecchia wants to convert other professional golfers to the RV lifestyle during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She and husband Mark can relax in recliners in front of a big-screen TV with a stocked Sub-Zero wine cooler and their three dogs close by. They explore new places as they travel in between tournaments. They park in Walmart lots, with Columbia, South Carolina, their stop on Sunday night as they drove from Jupiter, Florida, to Akron, Ohio, for this week’s Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.

Mark’s longtime caddie, Brenda believes the mode of transportation is perfect for the virtually inseparable couple.

Except of course, for that harrowing stretch of Interstate 77 through West Virginia, which Mark negotiated Monday in the new Tiffin Zephyr motorhome they picked up five days before.

Senior Players: Leaderboard | Best photos

“It’s awful. The crazy thing is you have to pay to drive that road and it’s no better; I don’t know what they’re doing with the money,” Brenda said Thursday. The native of Bexley, Ohio, is familiar with the highway because her parents often took her to Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, as a kid.

“Here we are in this new RV and all I can think about is everything in the entire place falling apart. It shakes … every bump.

“I think we got out OK. A few screws. …”

Calcavecchia is one of four Bridgestone competitors who arrived in RVs. So, too, did John Daly, Woody Austin and Tim Petrovic. Mark and Brenda have been crossing the country on the Champions Tour this way for 10 years.

“I can’t believe we didn’t do it sooner,” she said after Mark opened with a 6-over 76 Thursday at Firestone Country Club, eight shots off the lead. “I’ve been a germaphobe before it was in style. I didn’t like hotels, I don’t like flying, I don’t like being away from my dogs.

“You close the shades, we don’t know where we are. Once you shut ’em, you’re in this fantastic, comfortable space that’s all yours.”

With golfers wary of hotels and flying commercial, Brenda is baffled why more haven’t gone this route. At the moment the Calcavecchias have two buses, with their Prevost motorhome up for sale after their renter decided to buy his own.

“I think some guys are maybe nervous to even drive,” Brenda said. “I think they think you have to have a [commercial driver’s license]. You can just drive off the parking lot with one.

“I can’t believe more people don’t do this, especially on the regular tour. Those guys can afford to have somebody drive it for ’em, set it up, half of ’em fly private. Why would you want to sit in a hotel because we’re not allowed out? I can’t imagine not being in this; I don’t know what we would have done.”

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During the lockdown, Brenda said she saw Mark less than usual, as he played golf while she renovated a house to flip. She obtained her real estate license last year.

They also participated in Caddies for a Cause, which Brenda said reached its goal of raising $100,000 for the 75 Champions Tour caddies unemployed with tournaments canceled by the pandemic. Pros donated foursomes, others sent memorabilia for auction, which included a Masters pin flag from two-time champion Bernhard Langer.

Now back on the road, Brenda didn’t go to Grand Blanc, Michigan, two weeks ago for the Ally Challenge, the first since the Champions Tour restart. So her COVID-19 test in Akron was her first.

“I was kind of nervous, but I’ve had a flu swab before so I thought ‘It can’t be too bad,’” she said. “It’s not like it’s a 20-minute process, but it still hurts. I think he opened up my deviated septum — I’m not trying to be funny — because I can breathe better now. But I understand and I think the tour has done an amazing job trying to help us be safe.”

The Calcavecchias had hoped to eat dinner at the Diamond Grille, but tour protocols do not allow indoor dining. Nor can they get carryout from Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse, with the Akron location now permanently closed. That’s where they went on their first date during the 2001 NEC Invitational after meeting at the Memorial Tournament. Brenda attended Ohio State and graduated from Franklin University.

Brenda may not be able to convince Mark’s peers to convert to RV travel, but she thinks it’s perfect for them, even before the pandemic. But she admits their adventure has its stressful moments.

“There’s always something new that happens. We’ve become quite the mechanics,” she said. “You think you’ve fixed everything that can happen and something new always comes up.”

Like a familiar, yet frightening stretch of Interstate 77.

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