Tag: PGA Tour Champions

Tiger Mania II? In 2 years, the U.S. Senior Open could be must-see TV as Tiger goes for history

The PGA Tour Champions is prepping (and praying) for Tiger.

(Editor’s note: This is the first part of a two-part series examining the PGA Tour Champions and its eligibility age from Golfweek’s PGA Tour senior writer Adam Schupak. The second part of the series is linked here.)

The U.S. Senior Open is being held at a fantastic venue this week at Newport Country Club in Rhose Island, but two years from now it will take on an entirely different profile at the Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio.

At the course that shaped Jack Nicklaus into an 18-time major winner, Tiger Woods will be eligible for the field for the first time, and he’s strongly hinted that he’d like to win the title and fancies the chance to break a tie of nine USGA national championships with Bobby Jones. Winning at Scioto would make Woods the first player to achieve a Grand Slam of sorts: the U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Junior (3), U.S. Amateur (3) and U.S. Open (3).

“He’d love to win that Grand Slam and get some of the other senior majors on his CV,” Padraig Harrington said. “I saw him at the course (during the PNC Championship) and we were just crossing paths and he laughed at me. I won’t say exactly what he said but the gist of it was he can’t wait to get out and beat me.”

Tiger Mania II could be ready to strike the PGA Tour Champions, and PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady cannot wait. Two years ago, at the American Family Insurance Championship in Madison, Wisconsin, Brady waited out a rain delay in an equipment trailer with tournament host Steve Stricker when Stricker broached the topic of the eligibility age for the senior circuit. Stricker, the leading money winner last season, proposed it was time to revisit whether 50, the age restriction since the creation of the tour in 1980, still made sense as the start of golf’s ultimate mulligan.

“I said, ‘No, we just did this,’ ” recalled Brady of a study the tour conducted in 2021. “He goes, ‘I know, I know.’ I said, ‘Unless Tiger tells me he’d play right now. (If that’s the case), I’ll lower the age tomorrow.’ ”

If ever the age limit was going to be lowered, this seemed to be the time so Stricker whipped out his phone and promptly texted Tiger. Stricker’s message was succinct and to the point: If we lower the age would you play the Champions tour? Stricker remembers nervously staring at three bubbles as the 15-time major winner and 82-time PGA Tour champion, “The Needle,” “The Goat,” – take your pick – responded right away.

“No, I’m not ready,” Woods wrote. “I want to follow in the same footsteps as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Bernhard Langer.”

In short, Tiger doesn’t want a head start before he becomes Champions tour-eligible on Dec. 30, 2025. He wants a level playing field. He wants to chase Langer’s 12 majors and 46 career titles, Nicklaus’s eight majors and Phil Mickelson winning his first two starts (and four of six).

“That’s him, right?” Stricker said. “Tiger’s going to try to erase those records. It gives him something to focus on and try to achieve. If that’s the case, maybe we will get him out more.”

The future of PGA Tour Champions likely hinges on how much Tiger chooses to play after he turns 50 on Dec. 30, 2025. There was a time 15-20 years ago where the idea of Tiger playing the senior tour was unfathomable. He has been hinting for several years now that he wants to play. What started as a joke seems like it could be reality. Asked at the 2021 Hero World Challenge if he looked forward to his upcoming 46th birthday, he smiled and said, “Four more years until I get a cart.”

Left unsaid was the fact the Champions tour allows players to ride in golf carts at most of its events – the majors are an exception. That became all the more relevant after Woods was involved in a single-car crash in February 2022 and required multiple surgeries, including fusing his ankle after he had to withdraw from the 2023 Masters and missed the rest of the season.

During his pre-tournament press conference at that Masters, Woods was asked whether he would consider using a cart in PGA Tour events, something he’s repeatedly declined even though he’d likely be granted use of one via The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) for medical reasons. “I’ve got three more years, where I get the little buggy and be out there with Fred (Couples). But until then no buggy.”

In 2006, the Champions Tour Division Board of the PGA Tour voted to allow players the option to use golf carts during most events on the tour. The circuit’s five major championships and certain other events, including pro-ams, are excluded.

Walking 72 holes has been the biggest hindrance for Woods in his latest comeback and there’s a sense that if he takes one on the senior tour, he could be a force to be reckoned with all over again. “He’ll absolutely kill everybody,” Nicklaus said during the Masters in April in an interview with Golf Channel.

Geoff Ogilvy, who turned 47 on June 11, is counting the days until he too will be eligible. He expects Tiger to play and spark a resurgence in the Champions tour.

“Taking a cart changes everything for him. Interest both from fans and sponsors is going to be through the roof. I think there’s a good chance that Champions Tour ratings can top the PGA Tour when he decides to play. And what else is he going to?” Ogilvy said.

He could delve deeper into golf course architecture or assume a bigger role in the management of the PGA Tour. It’s hard to know what’s really going on in Tiger’s brain. But it could be 1990 all over again when Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino hit the half-century club to join Arnold Palmer and Gary Player and make the senior circuit the biggest game in town. Whenever Nicklaus teed it up, TV ratings for the round bellies topped that of the flat bellies. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, for one, may not be fond of the Champions tour cannibalizing all those eyeballs from the big tour.

Brady got a sneak-peek of what he can expect from Tigermania II in 2021 when Mickelson turned 50 and took the tour by storm. According to sources, ratings for Mickelson’s win at Furyk & Friends in 2021 eclipsed that of the PGA Tour’s Shriners Children’s Hospital Open the same week.

“Will our ratings go up? Absolutely,” Brady said. “Could I see NBC and Golf Channel wanting to put an event on the network? Yeah. Tiger would have to commit early enough for us to make that happen.”

Much can happen in the course of the next 18 months to influence Tiger’s decision to play, but Brady and his team already have begun preparing for various scenarios. In June 2023, he gathered his staff – “anyone who touches the product,” he said – and got the ball rolling.

“We gathered and started a whiteboard of what ifs, the craziest things, whatever it was, you know, come up with it. Because it’s not too early to just think through everything,” Brady said. “We’ve had conversations at the annual meetings with all of our tournaments about it. You know, you hear comments from time to time about how he can’t wait to have a golf cart. He has conversation with Steve Stricker or Ernie Els or some of these other guys. You know, they’ll come back and tell me they’ll say he’s looking forward to it, which is great. What does that mean? I have no illusions that he’s going to come out here and play 15 times. If he plays four times, that would be fantastic, if he plays 10 times that would be even better.”

Tiger likely will continue to focus on the men’s majors but could he ride around in a cart and endure less stress on his body while still getting the competitive juices flowing and knocking off some rust before the Masters, for example? It seems feasible.

“I don’t think anyone envisions him playing 20 events – he didn’t do that when he was healthy – but if he comes out and plays some events it will be a shot in the arm for us,” Jim Furyk said.

That would be an understatement. Furyk has a different view as an owner and operator of a Champions tour event, Furyk & Friends. He lived through Tiger Mania when Woods turned pro in the summer of 1996 and became a sensation.

“I don’t know if you remember how unprepared we were for the attention, the hoopla, the media, the security, the fans, you name it. If we can get ahead of that and gauge his intentions of what he would like to do it would help our tour massively to be ready and prepared,” Furyk said. “The difference of having him at a tournament versus not is months of preparation. As excited as I am about it, I also run an event and understand how that side of an event gets ready; it makes me cautious. I won’t say nervous because the opportunity is great.”

Brady echoed Furyk’s sentiment.

“If he commits on the Friday before a tournament, we’ve had this conversation with tournaments, they won’t be prepared for it: ticket sales, which turns into an issue with your security, your transportation shuttles, concessions, everything. That was part of that white board that we did,” Brady said.

He confirmed that he’s already had a conversation with Tiger’s agent, Mark Steinberg, to educate him on how things work on that tour.

“We had a great conversation about the Champions tour: how many events we have, the markets where we play, majors, some of the courses where we play early, a little bit about our cart policy,” Brady said. “I don’t see Tiger ever wanting to file for ADA otherwise he would have done that already.”

Stricker suggested the tour (and the other governing bodies) should consider amending its cart policy so that Tiger could ride at the majors, too.

“Let’s make sure he can play. You hate to make special rules but if we can get him out here with a cart, let’s do it, you know what I mean,” he said. “We should do everything we can.”

The addition of Els, Furyk, Harrington and Retief Goosen in the last five years have given the senior tour a boost, but TigerMania II could make the circuit the talk of the golf world again.

“I just want Tiger to come out here and play a little bit,” Brady said. “In an ideal situation, Tiger turns 50 and the Mitsubishi Electric (in January 2026) is his first start. Maybe you pair him with Fred Couples and they have a great time.”

Asked whether he’s made his pitch yet to Tiger to play in his own tournament, Furyk joked that it was too soon.

“He’s getting old,” Furyk said. “He might not even remember by the time he turns 50.”

Padraig Harrington pulls off three-peat at Dick’s Sporting Goods Open: ‘It’s very exciting’

As for Padraig Harrington’s body of work through Sunday’s closing round? Let’s label that appropriately workmanlike.

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The outcome, of course, made for a magnificent third consecutive Dick’s Sporting Goods Open victory. As for Padraig Harrington’s body of work through Sunday’s closing round? Let’s label that appropriately workmanlike.

The affable Irishman played En-Joie’s back nine in even-par, nevertheless posted a single-stroke win over Mike Weir to leave him 3-for-3 in Endicott since celebrating a 50th birthday.

Harrington closed with 4-under 68 to finish the 54-hole event 15-under, with Weir coming in at 67. Third place was shared by Mark Hensby (66), Ken Duke (68) and Ken Tanigawa (70) at 13-under.

Stephen Ames, 36-hole co-leader on rounds of 64 and 69, faded from realistic contention on the back and shared sixth after a 71.

“It’s very exciting,” Harrington said. “Coming into the week people say, ‘Oh, are you going to do a three-peat,’ and it’s a lot easier to say it than do it. So yeah, I was trying to keep my expectations dab even though I do like the golf course. I know it suits me. I think it was managing other people’s expectations and trying to keep myself in a nice place.

“I probably didn’t play as well on Wednesday and Thursday as I would have wanted it, but I got gradually better as the tournament went on. Certainly today on a windier day it was a tricky day to be out in the last group. I certainly got a few good breaks. A few things went against me, but I got a few good breaks as well to even out the day. It was just my day.”

As for that back nine?

He opened by inexplicably chopping his second from the middle of the 10th fairway into the drink and made bogey, and his lone birdie thereafter came via a superb drive and approach finessed prudently to a bit above the hole at 15.

At the come-and-get-me 16th, he ground out par from well past the green near the 17th tee box. At 17, he yanked a 9-iron tee ball but got up and down from nasty rough left, holing a putt of seven or so feet. At the last – with Weir having posted 14-under – Harington carried his drive 317 yards to an ideal position and proceeded to uneventfully two-putt.

“I was really trying to make one more birdie,” he said. “I knew I had a one-shot lead, but if I could get it to two shots, I felt that’s comfortable. I was going after it on 16 and we were thinking 3-wood. Then we said, ‘Well, get driver to the back of the green.’ And obviously I pitched on hardpan rather than the soft part, went long and I was in – I wasn’t in the worst place in the world, but it was awkward when you’re leading the tournament.

“I think if I was one shot back, I would have given that a much better effort to get that up and down, but I was more concerned about not taking 5. And 17 was a little lapse in concentration; I was just drawing it into the pin, and I changed my target at the last moment and snatched that a bit.”

Weir, who assuredly will rue a shorty for par misfired at the 13th, made six birdies against that lone toe-stub. He has finished second in two goes at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

Harrington, who made eagle at the third and birdies on the sixth, eighth and ninth:

— Made it eight wins on PGA Tour Champions in his 41st start at the age of 52 years, 9 months, 23 days.

— Joins Ames (2) and Ernie Els (2) as multiple winners this season.

— Became the first player to win the same PGA Tour Champions event in three consecutive seasons since 2014 DSGO winner Bernhard Langer at the Kaulig Companies Championship (2014-16).

Endicott, no doubt, will remain special to Harrington.

“This is what the Champions Tour is all about,” he said. “When we come to venues like this, Broome County, old PGA Tour stops, dare I say it being outgrown or forgotten about, they really come out for the Champions Tour. They love their golf, they come out, they have a great sponsor in Dick’s. The whole community, the fans come out, and we love being here.

“It’s great for us as players, we get to relive our past glories, hit shots under pressure, under stress, some good, some bad, so it’s really a perfect Champions Tour event. You have the atmosphere, you feel like you’re a kid back in the old days.”

Odds & Ends

— With birdies on six of his first nine holes (1-3 and 7-9), Hensby closed his first Dick’s Open with a 6-under 66 to finish T3 at 13-under. He played En-Joie’s front nine holes in an aggregate 12-under.

— Following a 7-under 65 in Round 2 to share the 36-hole lead at 11-under, Tanigawa closed his sixth Dick’s Open with a 2-under 70 to finish T3.

— In his sixth Dick’s Open start, 36-hole co-leader and Charles Schwab Cup No. 1 Stephen Ames shot 71 to finish T6 at 12-under. The finish becomes his ninth top-10 of the season (13 starts) and first in the Dick’s Open.

Top of The Board

Padraig Harrington 68-65-68 – 201

Mike Weir 68-67-67 – 202

Mark Hensby 70-67-66 – 203

Ken Duke 69-66-68 – 203

Ken Tanigawa 68-65-70 – 203

Billy Andrade 69-67-68 – 204

Miguel Angel Jimenez 68-68-68 – 204

Steve Allan 65-69-70 – 204

Stephen Ames 64-69-71 – 204

Robert Karlsson 70-71-64 – 205

Doug Barron 68-71-66 – 205

Bob Estes 70-64-71 – 205

This PGA Tour Champions event is staying put through 2029 after new deal was inked

A five-year extension of the title sponsorship agreement was disclosed,

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott will continue to host PGA Tour Champions Golf through at least 2029.

A five-year extension of the title sponsorship agreement was disclosed jointly by Dick’s Sporting Goods and the Tour on the eve of the 17th Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

The most recent renewal before Thursday came in the form of a three-year extension in June 2021.

“They’re obviously one of the better sponsors out here,” said Padraig Harrington, two-time defending champion. “It’s a great event coming up here, it’s well supported by the fans. I think we’re delighted to be able to come back here for the next five years and certainly it would be one for me, you’ll probably see me every year.”

The 2025 edition Dick’s Open will be contested July 11-13.

The Dick’s Sporting Goods Open has been conducted annually in Endicott – but for the COVID-necessitated cancelation in 2020 – since 2007.

“Broome County is a special place for my family and for Dick’s Sporting Goods,” said Ed Stack, Binghamton native and Executive Chairman of Dick’s Sporting Goods. “It is where I grew up and our company started more than 75 years ago. I’m thrilled to have the Dick’s Open continue in Endicott and am thankful for our great partners at the PGA TOUR Champions and Broome County Community Charities who help make this tournament a world-class event.”

The inaugural B.C. Open, forerunner to the Dick’s Open, was staged in 1971 as a PGA Tour satellite event. The regular-tour event was played at En-Joie through 2005 and shifted in 2006 to Turning Stone Resort & Casino’s Atunyote Golf Club when massive flooding pummeled the Southern Tier.

Steve Stricker has been looking for an old Callaway driver since he cracked his at the Players (and he found it)

“I tried some Titleists, I tried some of the new Callaway stuff, and it’s just not the same for me.”

Steve Stricker still remembers the exact moment when he realized his beloved driver was cracked. The Callaway Epic Speed, with which he’d gotten comfortable, wasn’t performing as he’d hoped during the 2024 Players Championship and he noticed a hairline fracture just before missing the cut.

“I was hitting a shot that I hadn’t been hitting for a while,” Stricker said Thursday in advance of the American Family Insurance Championship. “You know, that’s a few models ago, let’s put it that way. I’m kind of one of those guys that finds something and sticks with it.”

Stricker thought he had found a solid replacement for the KitchenAide Senior PGA, playing a Titleist driver which he paired with his older V2 shaft.

And while he played well, finishing eighth, Stricker still felt he could improve a bit.

“I’m a big boy, I should be able to try to hit some of this new stuff,” he said. “I tried some Titleists, I tried some of the new Callaway stuff, and it’s just not the same for me.”

More: Callaway Epic Speed, Epic Max, Epic Max LS drivers

In advance of this week’s PGA Tour Champions event in his native Wisconsin, Stricker set out to find the exact Epic Speed he’d had before, putting in a call to a family shop from Naples, Florida, with whom he’d previously done business. A friend from The Golf Guys scoured inventory and found just what Stricker needed.

“I said, ‘Hey, do you happen to have any used Epic Speed heads, 9-degree triple diamond, all this kind of stuff,’ told him what mine was. He’s like, ‘I’ll get back to you,'” Stricker explained. “Sure enough he had a brand new one still in the wrapper. I’m like ‘How fast can you get that to me?’ Monday morning at 6:30 the Amazon guy dropped it off at my doorstep. Monday morning I was out there hitting it.

“The start lines are much better. I had to do a little finagling with the weights on it and all that kind of stuff.”

Stricker is hoping for improved performance this week at University Ridge, and that’s saying something for the 17-time PGA Tour Champions winner. He’s played seven events on the senior circuit this year and finished inside the top 10 on all but one occasion.

But in case he has a mishap with this driver, he got a little great news this week while preparing for this event.

“I go in the trailer this week and they found me another one,” Stricker said. “All of a sudden, I’ve got two where I didn’t have one before that, so things are looking up.”

Ernie Els wins, Bernhard Langer ties for third at 2024 Principal Charity Classic on PGA Tour Champions

Els earns his fourth senior circuit victory.

DES MOINES, Iowa — The fourth time is the charm.

It took four appearances at the Principal Charity Classic for Ernie Els to get his first win there, with the South Africa native simultaneously earning his first PGA Tour Champions win this season.

“It’s very special,” Els said. “I haven’t won for a while, and I’ve had quite a few chances. But it gets tougher when you don’t get it over the line.”

Els finished at 21-under 195, winning by two strokes.

The 54-year-old had two birdies on the front nine Sunday and three more on the back. He picked up an eagle on lucky number 13, which gave Els the padding needed for the win, even with making par on the final three holes.

“I was lucky enough to make birdie on 11,” Els said. “I didn’t need a very good approach, made a good putt. And then 12, but 13 was big to make eagle late on the back nine, that was key. Got me into a three-shot lead, and (I) kept with it.”

The win at the Wakonda Club marked the first PGA Tour Champions win of the season for Els, who entered the Principal Charity Classic ranked 16th in the Schwab Cup Standings through eight events.

He claimed the winner’s purse of $300,000, which brings his total winnings the $785,017 this season. Els has now finished in the top 10 three times this season, including third-place ties in the Regions Tradition and Chubb Classic and a tie for sixth at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.

Els finished two shots ahead of Stephen Ames, the tournament’s defending champion, but it was a close race throughout. Four players were tied for first after finishing the front nine: Ames, Rod Pampling, Ernie Els and Bernhard Langer.

Then, the front group started to split apart.

Ames picked up two birdies to start the back nine, then made par on 12 and 13, and saved par on 14. Els made par on 10, then picked up back-to-back birdies and an eagle on the next three holes to take a two-shot lead. Langer also hit par to start the back nine, then made three birdies in a row before a bogey on 14.

Els’ eagle on lucky number 13 that proved to be the winning shot in Sunday’s competition.

But holistically, he played his best tournament of the year, leading after the first two rounds and hanging on through the final day in Des Moines.

“I had a good game plan,” Els responded when asked about his three-day lead. “I stuck with it all three days. I’ve put the work in and you feel a bit more confident that every aspect of the game is there.

“Then you can just go out there and compete. It was a hell of a week. Everybody played well and just that one hole maybe got it for me. Number 13.”

Els – who thanked the greens staff for the “true championship course” and the weather for cooperating – plans to return to Des Moines.

“We as players love playing here. As long as I can, I’ll come back, especially if I keep winning.”

Ageless wonder Langer, who tore his Achilles tendon while playing pickleball on just four months ago, shot a 63 on Saturday, the 15th time the 66-year-old has shot his age or better on PGA Tour Champions. On Sunday, he shot 68 and tied for third alongside Duval and Pampling.

Incredibly, Bernhard Langer is one back in pursuit of 47th PGA Tour Champions title at 2024 Principal Charity Classic

So much for Bernhard Langer easing back into PGA Tour Champions life.

So much for Bernhard Langer easing back into PGA Tour Champions life.

After tearing his left Achilles tendon while playing pickleball on Feb. 1, Langer returned to action just three months later at the Insperity Invitational in Houston in early May.

Now, less than a month from beating those odds, the 66-year-old is at it again, this time challenging for a title at the Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines, Iowa.

In just his fourth start since his return, Langer used a smart finish on the renovated Wakonda Golf Club to finish the day with a 63 and sits at 13 under after the first two rounds of the event. It’s the 15th time he has shot his age or better on the Champions Tour. He’s one stroke back of Ernie Els and Rod Pampling and tied with Stephen Ames for third. David Duval, Vijay Singh and Kevin Sutherland are two off the pace and in the hunt.

Wakonda recently underwent a restoration at the hands of golf architect Tyler Rae and his associate, Jim Ryan Jr. The course opened in 1922 with a design by William Langford, who started laying out courses during the golden era of golf design. Langford typically worked with partner Theodore J. Moreau through the early 1940s before continuing on his own later.

And while the changes have modernized the course, it’s also made it more difficult for players like Langer.

“The way they renovated it, it’s even more of a bomber’s paradise. Or it wasn’t before,” Langer said. “Before it was the type of course where a Jerry Kelly or somebody that drove it really straight, Joe Durant, those type of players. Balls coming out of the rough is not easy here, but now they’ve — like I’m looking here at No. 10 and No. 8, the biggest fairway in the world, and 18, the long guys can drive the green. Someone like me, I drove it as good as I could just to get it over the bunker, things like that. They can reach all the par 5s, I struggle to reach some of them.

“So length is always important, but yeah, this used to be about precision and it’s a little bit less about it but still important.”

Either way, Langer is right in the thick of things heading into the final round, and a victory would give him 47 on the PGA Tour Champions. Due to injuries and other reasons, Langer hasn’t won since the 2023 U.S. Senior Open, when he edged Steve Stricker by two strokes at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

“I still hit some poor shots, especially when I’m in awkward stances,” he said. “The feet are high or low or sidehill, downhill, my balance isn’t there because the foot that was operated on just doesn’t have the support or the flexibility to stabilize my swing and my weight during the swing. Therefore, I hit it thin, I hit it fat, whatever. Anything can happen now.

“I tried a driver yesterday off an uphill lie and I just about topped it almost. I’m not there, but I’m grateful I can use a cart to get me around.”

Angel Cabrera granted a visa, set to return to U.S. with plan to play PGA Tour Champions

“He’s dedicated to golf and he wants to come back. He just needs to get comfortable again playing in competition.”

Argentina’s Angel Cabrera’s comeback is officially ready for takeoff as the two-time major winner secured a visa last week.

Charlie Epps, his longtime coach, confidante and friend, confirmed that Cabrera can now travel to the U.S. – and plans to move permanently to Houston – and resume competing on PGA Tour Champions.

Cabrera, 54, served 30 months in prison in Brazil and Argentina for domestic violence and other lesser charges. His visa expired in January and according to Epps, the American Embassy in Buenos Aires made him take a series of psychological tests.

“That was the delay,” Epps said. It prevented him from competing in April in the Masters, where he is eligible as the 2009 champion, but it should pave the way for his return next year.

“Angel certainly is one of our great champions,” Masters chairman Fred Ridley said at a press conference in January. “As we all know, he has been unable to participate in the Masters the last couple of years due to legal issues. Presently we have been in constant contact with Angel’s representatives. He presently is not able to enter the United States. He doesn’t have a visa, and I know that that process is being worked through. We certainly wish him the best of luck with that, and we’ll definitely welcome him back if he’s able to straighten out those legal issues.”

Cabrera has made a few starts here and there since his release from jail but can now begin a full comeback in earnest. Cabrera was reinstated on the PGA Champions Tour and the PGA Tour in December last year. He played in the Trophy Hassan II, a Champions Tour event in Morocco in February, and finished T-27. He missed the cut at the Argentine Open, a Korn Ferry Tour-sanctioned event, in March. Most recently in May, he played in Barbados in a Legends Tour event, formerly known as the European Seniors Tour, and finished T-11. His last competitive tournament in the U.S. was at the Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach in September 2020.

More: After parole from jail, Angel Cabrera dreams of a comeback on PGA Tour Champions — but will he be given a chance?

As a past winner on the PGA Tour, Cabrera is a PGA Tour Champions member, but his entry into a field is dependent upon how the field is filled, according to a spokesperson for PGA Tour Champions. As a major championship winner, he is eligible for both restricted and unrestricted sponsor exemptions, and there is no limit to the number of sponsor exemptions he can receive. He also is exempt to compete in an event qualifier as a past champion on the PGA Tour. An email to his longtime manager Manuel Tagle asking for Cabrera’s future plans wasn’t returned.

Cabrera is entered into the next two senior events, American Family Insurance Championship and Dick’s Open. He’s currently on the alternate list for both. Anything past that would be too far to forecast for player commitments.

“When I talked to him down there, he had really grown up, he understood what life is all about and that he had really made an ass of himself,” Epps said in a phone interview. “He’s dedicated to golf and he wants to come back. He just needs to get comfortable again playing in competition. I want him to win the U.S. Senior Open.”

Like the Masters, that quest will have to wait until next year. The deadline for entry into the U.S. Senior Open was May 1 at 5 p.m. ET and Cabrera failed to file for entry.

Playing pickleball as a safe alternative to more dangerous sports? Bernhard Langer has some bad news

When a reporter suggested avoiding the sport, Bernhard Langer responded, “Good move.”

Bernhard Langer, known for his commitment to fitness, tore his left Achilles tendon while playing pickleball back in February in an incident that surprised the all-time leading winner in PGA Tour Champions history.

In fact, Langer said he assumed the game was a safe alternative to other sports, and even though he defied the odds by returning to action just three months later at the Insperity Invitational, he’s still advising others to tread lightly when it comes to playing the popular game.

“It shocked me because I thought pickleball was not a dangerous sport,” Langher said this week in advance of the KitchenAide Senior PGA. “I go snow skiing and do a lot of other things that seem a lot more dangerous than pickleball.

“When you talk to orthopedic surgeons they will prove me or anybody wrong. Fifty percent of their clientele is pickleball players, believe it or not. Has nothing to do with fitness. Nothing whatsoever.”

When a reporter suggested avoiding the sport, Langer responded, “Good move.”

2023 Masters
Bernhard Langer lines up his putt on the second green during the first round of the Masters. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Network)

The two-time Masters champ will be among the field of 156 golfers at Harbor Shores Resort, Benton Harbor, Michigan, which is hosting for the sixth time since 2012.

As for his injury, Langer said he heard anecdotally that many friends needed nearly a year to recover, but he was thrilled to pop back up quickly with the help of a physical therapist.

In terms of how the injury occurs, it’s more about the motion than it is the fitness of the athlete.

“Yeah, whether you’re fit or not you can tear your Achilles any time. Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles, and baseball and football players and bobsledders, anybody, and they’re very, very fit, believe me,” he said. “The bobsled on ice when they push the bobsled, two men, four men, and then they jump in and they’re as fit as any athlete in the world, and they tear the Achilles more than anyone in the world. It’s that motion, just putting that pressure on it.”

During his recovery, Langer shared a nervous moment when his therapist instructed him to get directly up from a seated position.

“I was scared. You know, I was non-weight bearing for a while, and then my PT, one day we were doing the hour session and sits me in the chair and says, get up. What am I holding on to? No, get up. I said, not sure I can do that,” Langer recounted. “And it’s not me. I’m not a fearful person. I just knew how weak my leg was and didn’t think I could do it. He said, okay, here is a pole. Hold on to the pole, now get up. That was no problem. I did that three or four times and less and less pressure on the pole and more and more on my legs.

“I was like, I can do that. Take the pole. I got up and it was up here. But yeah, it’s fascinating what’s going on in our bodies.”

Langer tees it up alongside Retief Goosen and Y.E. Yang on Thursday at 7:59 a.m. ET in the first round.

Doug Barron wins first PGA Tour Champions major at 2024 Regions Tradition

Steven Alker had the best round Sunday but no one was going to catch Barron.

Just before the start of the final round of the 2024 Regions Tradition, the first of five majors in 2024 on the PGA Tour Champions schedule, Steve Stricker withdrew from next week’s PGA Championship, the second major of the PGA Tour campaign. Stricker was in that field by virtue of his win in the 2023 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.

He’s also the two-time defending champ of the Regions Tradition at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama, but a final-round 69 left him short of an eighth Champions tour major.

Sunday started with Doug Barron and Ernie Els, both chasing their first PGA Tour Champions major title, tied for the lead.

While Els could only spin his wheels, shooting a 1-under 71 to finish 14-under, Barron, who said he woke up at four in the morning but sounded like he didn’t mean to, took control of the event. He followed his third-round 66 – the best round of the day by three shots – with a bogey-free, final-round 68 to finish 17 under and win his first senior major by two shots.

“Today was just a dream come true, beating all these great players,” Barron told Golf Channel on the 18th green minutes after his victory. He was in the final group alongside Els and Padraig Harrington.

Barron, 54, earned $390,000 for the win. The total purse for the tournament was $2.6 million. He now has three victories on the senior circuit.

He praised his putting coach for his success on the greens all week.

“I got one of the best putting lessons from my coach back home last week, and I really got my putter going. I felt like I could make an 8-footer again,” he said. “It was huge because I didn’t hit any fairways. I hardly missed a fairway coming into today.”

Steven Alker was solo second after firing a 9-under 63 on Sunday, the best score of the week by two shots.

Stewart Cink finished tied for third with Stricker and Els. Charlie Wi and K.J. Choi tied for sixth. Bernhard Langer, in his second event back after recovering from Achilles surgery, tied for eighth with Kenny Perry. Padraig Harrington, Brian Gay and Stuart Appleby tied for 10th at 9 under. Harrington was in the final group but posted a final-round 74.

After tearing his Achilles, Bernhard Langer is back at the Insperity Invitational, just the latest obstacle he’s overcome as detailed in new book

“There are no restrictions, I am not in pain.”

Bernhard Langer is back.

The 66-year-old Energizer Bunny of PGA Tour Champions, who tore his left Achilles tendon while playing pickleball on Feb. 1, defied the odds and returns to action just three months later at the Insperity Invitational this week.

“I was talking to my surgeon and my PT – you know how long will this recovery be and they were well, 4-6 months, and I was like I got this tournament that I’d love to play, it’s in 3 months,” Langer recalled Wednesday during a pre-tournament press conference. “And they were going, well, we don’t know about that. I love this Tournament, Insperity. I have won it four times, it was my first victory on this Tour. The other thing I was arguing with my PT and my surgeon is that Houston is very flat. It is like south Florida, easy to walk and get around. It is not hilly. They finally agreed after I played about a week ago and showed them I am capable of doing this. There are no restrictions, I am not in pain, and they all said alright you have our blessing – go and be careful.”

Overcoming obstacles is nothing new for Langer, who has been doing it all his life. In the new book “Life on the Green: Lessons and Wisdom from Legends of Golf,” sports broadcaster Ann Liguori chronicles some of the obstacles that Langer has faced in his life starting from his birth. Langer’s mother was told that she ran a high risk of losing her child and her own life.

“She went to the doctor and the doctor said, ‘Well, Mrs. Langer, you need to abort the child because if you don’t, you’re going to kill yourself and the baby, and then you leave a husband behind with two little kids.’ And my mother said, ‘No, I’m not going to abort,’ ” Langer recalls.

They both made it through with Bernhard being born on Aug. 27, 1957, in the village of Anhausen, near Augsburg, Germany, the youngest of three children of Erwin and Walburga (Wally) Langer.

Langer had another near-death experience as a baby when his temperature spiked so high that the doctor said, “There’s nothing we can do anymore. We don’t have any medication that can bring the fever down. We have no remedies and he’s probably going to die.”

Perhaps the ability to cheat death is an inherited trait. Langer’s father was a prisoner of war during World War II and was on his way to a Siberian prison camp when he jumped off a train and escaped at night while being shot at. Erwin Langer, who became a bricklayer, hid in the woods and traveled west at night back to Germany. A couple of weeks later the war ended.

It was Langer’s oldest brother, who worked as a caddie at the one golf club located 5 miles away from their home, that introduced Bernhard to the game when he was nine years old. Langer would ride his bicycle to the course.

“I begged him to take me and eventually he took me, and my first bag was the club champion, a 2-handicap, best player in the club and he liked this little nine-year-old plump kid and he said, ‘You’re going to be my regular caddie from here on in,’ ” Langer recalls in the book.

Langer became an expert at finding golf balls, which earned him bigger tips and the nickname Eagle Eye or “Wachsamer Blick” in German. “I realized if I smile and I’m happy and greet them and put on a good show, they’ll give me a tip,” Langer said. “Those are lessons I learned at a very young age.”

Langer is self-taught and he became good enough to turn pro at age 15. First he went to the Institute of Job Placement and was asked what career he wanted to pursue.

“I said, ‘I want to become a golf teacher, a golf professional.’ And the guy didn’t even know what that was. That just tells you how few people played golf in Germany. It wasn’t even a recognized profession,” Langer said.

A member at his club helped him get a job as an assistant. At 17, he met a businessman from Cologne who offered to sponsor him on the European Tour. “I knew I could at least try for two years on Tour without being bankrupt.,” Langer said.

1984 Masters Champion Ben Crenshaw shakes the hand of 1985 Masters Champion Bernhard Langer at the Presentation Ceremony during the 1985 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 14th, 1985 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Augusta National/Getty Images)

He would go on to win the Masters twice, star in Ryder Cups and become the winningest senior golfer – all despite suffering from the yips on four separate occasions. The last time was in 1989 and his putting had gotten so bad that while playing in a tournament in Michigan, he dropped to his knees and prayed to God: “If you want me to give up this game, I’m happy to give it up. Just tell me if you want me to move on to something else.”

Jim Hiskey, a former tour pro who helped form the PGA Tour bible study group, told Langer, “I don’t think God is done with you. He wants you to continue to persevere as hard as it may seem right now, and he’s got bigger plans for you, so keep going.”

Ligouri’s book goes on to share what Langer describes as the key to his longevity and how his longevity has become his hallmark.

Langer is just one of a dozen legends to offer inspiration and insight in Liguori’s new book. “Life on the Green” also details the lessons that built the likes of Nancy Lopez, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Annika Sorenstam into champions in golf and in life.

Given all that Langer has overcome and accomplished, it’s fair to ask what will he do next? Langer said he’s going to try to ease back into competition, knowing he’s not quite fully healed yet.

“Most tournaments I arrive and I’m hoping to be in contention on Sunday afternoon, and I know I may only win one, or two, or three a year, but I’d like to think I am one of those that might have a chance,” he said ahead of the Insperity Invitational. “I don’t really expect that of me right now, not this week and maybe not next week either, but in a few weeks from now I think I should be expecting that again. And, so that is where I am.”