Tag: PGA Tour Champions

Where and when the pro golf tours kick off their 2020 seasons

Check out where and when each professional golf tour kick off its 2020 season.

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After some down time for the holidays, the calendar will soon change to 2020 and the golf tours will return to action.

Here’s everything you need to know about when and where each professional golf tour tees it up to start the new year.

PGA Tour

What: Sentry Tournament of Champions
When: Jan 2–5
Were: Kapalua Plantation Course in Lahaina, Hawaii

Reigning champion Xander Schauffele won the 2019 title after he tied the Plantation Course record with a final round 62 to beat Gary Woodland by one shot. Both are returning to Kapalua to play alongside big names like Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Justin Thomas.

LPGA

What: Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions
When: Jan. 17-20
Were: Four Season Golf & Sports Club Orlando in Lake Buena Vista, Florida

In 2019, Eun-Hee Ji won the inaugural event at 14 under, two strokes ahead of Mirim Lee and three ahead of Nelly Korda. Ji returns to defend her title but will face competition from No. 1 on Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings Jin Young Ko and No. 3 Korda.

LPGA: Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions field

Euro Tour

What: South African Open
When: Jan. 9-12
Were: Randpark Golf Club in Johannesburg, South Africa

In the first European Tour event of 2020, Louis Oosthuizen returns to Randpark Golf Club where he won last year’s title by six strokes, riding a first-round 62 through four rounds. The South African Open is in its second year being hosted by the City of Johannesburg. For the previous three years, it was branded the BMW South African Open hosted by the City of Ekurhulen.

PGA Tour Champions

What: Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai
When: Jan. 17-19
Were: Hualalai Golf Club in Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii

Tom Lehman played back-to-back bogey-free rounds of 65 at last year’s event to win the Mitsubishi Electric Championship by one stroke. This year’s event, played on the Nicklaus-designed Hualalai Course, will feature a $1.8 million purse.

PGA Tour Champions: Player, rookie of the year nominees

Korn Ferry

What: The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay
When: Jan. 13-16
Were: Sandals Emerald Bay Golf Club in Great Exuma, Bahamas

Zecheng Dou won the 2019 Bahamas Great Exuma Classic after finishing his final round with three-straight birdies and earned $108,000.  The 2020 event features a $600,000 purse.

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Nominees announced for PGA Tour Champions player, rookie of the year honors

Check out who’s in the running for the PGA Tour Champions end of the year awards.

As the only players in 2019 to win multiple times, seven players have been nominated for the PGA Tour Champions Player of the Year award.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jerry Kelly, Bernhard Langer, Scott McCarron, Steve Stricker, Kevin Sutherland and Kirk Triplett are all vying for the honor. Five of the seven nominees finished inside the top 10 in the race for the Charles Schwab Cup, won by McCarron, who ended Langer’s seven-year run atop the tour’s money list.

The favorite to win, McCarron won the Mitsubishi Electric Classic, Insperity Invitational and Mastercard Japan Championship and finished runner-up at the Senior PGA Championship, Cologuard Classic and Shaw Charity Classic. He sat atop the Charles Schwab Cup standings for the last 21 weeks of the season.

As for the Rookie of the Year award, Retief Goosen and Doug Barron were nominated. Both awards will be presented next month at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in Hawaii.

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Stephen Leaney opens up four-shot lead at PGA Tour Champions Qualifying Tournament

Stephen Leaney shot a second-round 66 on Wednesday to take a four-shot lead at the PGA Tour Champions Qualifying Tournament Final Stage.

Stephen Leaney shot a second-round 66 on Wednesday to take a four-shot lead at the PGA Tour Champions Qualifying Tournament Final Stage.

Leaney had six birdies and a bogey in his round at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona.

Todd Fischer, who also shot a second-round 66, joins Paul Stankowski and Frank Esposito in second. All four golfers have shot in the 60s in the first two rounds.

First-round co-leader Craig Bowden shot a 74 on Wednesday and now sits T-23.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS: Leaderboard

Dick Mast shot his age in the second round, posting a 68, one day after opening with a 74. Mast moved up 13 spots and is T-30 heading into Thursday’s third round.

Other notables include Robert Karlsson (T-5), Cameron Beckman (T-7), Carlos Franco (T-14), Todd Hamilton (T-23), Robert Gamez (T-39), and Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, who shot a 75 on Wednesday and is T-53 in the 78-man field.

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Craig Bowden, Stephen Leaney lead Final Stage of PGA Tour Champions Qualifying Tournament

Seventy-eight players are competing for five spots on the PGA Tour Champions 2020 season at the Final Stage of the Qualifying Tournament.

Seventy-eight players are competing for five spots on the PGA Tour Champions 2020 season at the Final Stage of the Qualifying Tournament at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona.

After Day 1 of the event, Craig Bowden and Stephen Leaney share the lead after they shot 65s on Tuesday.

Frank Esposito and Robin Byrd are tied for third. Robert Karlsson, Thongchai Jaidee, John Riegger, Bob Sowards, Paul Stankowski, Carlos Franco and Jesus Rivas are tied for fifth.

Brandel Chamblee, an analyst for Golf Channel, is T-17.

Other notables include major champions Todd Hamilton (T-24), Michael Campbell (T-43) and Shaun Micheel (T-75).

Also sitting T-43 is Dick Mast, who is 68 years old. Two weeks ago, he almost shot his age during the qualifying stage.

With his son on the bag at RSM, Tim Herron wants to go out with a bang

Tim Herron hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since 2006, but before he heads to PGA Tour Champions he wants to have some fun with his son at RSM.

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Tim Herron is fully aware he’s on the back nine of his PGA Tour career, the 18th hole in fact, and that his best days on the best circuit in professional golf are long behind him.

No one has to tell him he hasn’t had a top 10 since 2016, a win since 2006. His dry wit and good nature is still evident despite his overall game not being close to what it used to be. And the man affectionately called Lumpy is still, well, lumpy.

He’s cashed just three times this year but he’s far from feeling poorly. He hasn’t been wallowing in self-pity. Instead, he’s been downright giddy as he eyes a second life in the game he’s loved since his youth.

The PGA Tour Champions can’t get here fast enough for Herron, who won four times back in his heyday, including victories at Bay Hill and Colonial. The tour has been his target for some time, the salvation to get him through some rough times trying to keep up with the players on the PGA Tour, many half his age.

When Herron turns 50 the first week of February, he’ll be setting up a new residence in the land of golf and is confident he’ll feel right at home with the elder statesmen of the game.

Still, Herron wanted to take one last go-around on the PGA Tour and in doing so, brought along some youth for the ride. And things so far at the RSM Classic at Sea Island Golf Club couldn’t have gone better.

With his son, Carson, on the bag, Herron shot 6-under-par 64 on the Seaside Course Friday and coupled with his opening 70 on the Plantation Course, easily made the cut at 8 under.

Yes, he’s six shots behind pace-setter Tyler Duncan, but Herron is eagerly heading into a weekend of play for the first time since May. And he hasn’t lost sight of the target on the horizon, for he isn’t suddenly thinking the PGA Tour is still in play in the future. He’s had two great days but he hasn’t become delusional.

“I’ve been looking toward the promised land all summer,” Herron said about his impending debut on the Champions. “I’ve missed seven cuts in a row. I just wanted to go out with a bang, and I could do it with my son, so how cool is that? Not many people can do that.

“It’s been awesome. He’s had fun. He probably wants to play golf this afternoon so I have to get him to a golf course.”

Well, Carson can give his dad a run for whatever money they’d play for. The youngster is 17 and carries a +1 handicap. His target is to play college golf. But he gave up a top-flight junior golf tournament this weekend in Orlando to carry dad’s bag. The smile on his face after the second round told everyone he made the right decision.

“It’s awesome,” said Carson, who plays golf for Minnetonka High School in Minnesota. “I love doing the yardages for him. He trusts me most of the time. I only messed up once, on No. 7. I walked it off wrong, but he still made birdie.”

Herron quickly pointed out his son saved him quite a few times in the first round. Seems Herron kept thinking he was on the other side of the course and kept coming up with the wrong yardage for his approach shots.

“I was on the wrong hole five times,” he said. “Three holes in a row the pin was on 28 (yards) and I was totally on the wrong hole and he was like, ‘Dad, come on, man, you’re on the wrong hole.’ So I’ve messed up more than he has.”

But nothing’s been wrong with the putter.

“It’s nice to make some putts,” he said. “On the weekend, I can’t wait to just let it go. Because I haven’t made a cut in forever, you end up kind of playing chess trying to keep the stress off where you’re not hitting 5-foot comebackers the first two rounds. I’m too old for that crap.”

But he’ll be just the right age in about 10 weeks and has circled the Chubb Classic in Naples, Fla., for his first start on the Champions, another in Tucson, Ariz., two weeks later, and then another in Newport Beach, Calif., the following week.

“I’m just excited to get out there. I can’t wait,” he said. “I know it will still be hard, but there’s only 78 guys to beat out there and I hit it just about as far as most of those guys. I just really need to bear down on putting and have some fun.”

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