Here’s how much each team won at Tiburón Golf Club for the 2020 QBE Shootout.
How much money each team earned at the 2020 QBE Shootout
Here’s how much each team won at Tiburón Golf Club for the 2020 QBE Shootout.
Tag: QBE Shootout
QBE Shootout: Harris English, Matt Kuchar cruise to third tournament title
Harris English and Matt Kuchar teamed up to win the QBE Shootout for the third time, this year in dominant fashion.
NAPLES, Fla. — Matt Kuchar’s family has been part of both championship ceremonies when he and Harris English won the QBE Shootout in 2013 and 2016.
This one was a little more special, though.
Kuchar’s 13-year-old son Cameron was his caddie all week for the first time. So that makes him 1-0.
English and Kuchar rode the momentum from their second round 61 in the modified alternate shot to shoot a 12-under 60 in the best ball to win the Shootout for a record third time in the 20th playing at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort on Sunday.
Kuchar and English won $447,500 apiece, and now Kuchar’s son will shift into a teammate for his father at this week’s PNC Championship, previously known as the Father/Son, in Orlando.
QBE Shootout: Prize money
“He’s been dying to do this, and to win in the style we did, and then to be able to roll it over next week …” Kuchar said. “I was nearly tearing up on the 18th green thinking about just how special of a thing it is to do something like that with your son on the bag, The memories we get to make are pretty special.”
The third title — other players have won three times not all with the same partner — wasn’t the only record. They beat their own tournament scoring record they had tied in 2013 in style, with English finishing birdie-eagle-birdie for a 37-under total, three shots better. And they won by nine, beating the previous mark of seven that they also shared.
“The show Harris put on on the back nine was just awesome,” Kuchar said. “I think he pulled me aside after No. 14 and said, ‘I think we need two shots to set the new mark.’ I said, ‘We’ve got four chances,’ and he went ahead and went birdie-eagle-birdie to close it out. It was fun to watch.
“We were just talking earlier about how this new record is going to be a tough one to catch, but I know we look forward to trying it again.”
Defending champions Rory Sabbatini and Kevin Tway rallied to finish second at 28 under, along with Kevin Na and Sean O’Hair, and Lanto Griffin and Mackenzie Hughes. Sabbatini and Tway shot a 61, the same as English and Kuchar had in modified alternate shot Saturday.
“We managed in best ball to tie their alternate shot score,” Sabbatini quipped. “If there’s anything to be taken away from that, apparently we’re not very good at alternate shot or best ball. We played good, but their golfing (Saturday) was obviously fantastic. It was a highlight reel of Matt Kuchar’s iron shots. They played great and they gave themselves a pretty good cushion.”
“They were playing a different league of golf out there, for sure,” said O’Hair, who was going for his third title, with the previous two coming with two different partners. “The way they struck the ball and putted, I don’t think they did anything wrong.”
English and Kuchar started the final round with a five-stroke lead, and became the first team to win three times.
In 2013 when they won by seven, English and Kuchar shot a 58 in the final round, which was a scramble format then. When they won in 2016, they needed an eagle by English on the 17th hole to hold off Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly by a stroke when the final format was switched to best ball. English and Kuchar finished second in 2014 and 2015.
The team was never a planned one.
Kuchar was originally supposed to play with Brandt Snedeker in the Shootout in 2013, but Snedeker injured his leg in a Segway accident in China and had to withdraw. So then-tournament director Taylor Ives called up Kuchar and asked him who he wanted to play with. He chose English.
“I don’t know that there’s a real rhyme or reason,” Kuchar said of the level of their success. “I think we make a great team, but to be able to … but in three wins, to have a couple where we win by seven, win by nine, you don’t get many of those. It’s pretty special and just some really good play.”
Curtis Strange and Mark O’Meara also won by seven, back in the first year of the tournament in 1989 when it was at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. Fred Couples and Raymond Floyd won at 34 under in 1990.
English and Kuchar more than matched those, and Kuchar getting to do it with his son just added all the more to it.
“Just couldn’t have been better people to be partnered with, be paired with, be out on the course,” Kuchar said. “Everybody that’s involved with this tournament, all the other players, all the other caddies were so generous and cool with Cameron.
“It was a fun experience to be part of. I know I’ll always remember it. I think it’s one he’ll always remember as well.”
QBE Shootout scores
1: English/Kuchar, -37
T-2: Sabbatini/Tway, -28
T-2: Griffin/Hughes, -28
T-2: Na/O’Hair, -28
T-5: Horschel/Todd, -26
T-5: Champ/Finau, -26
T-5: Oosthuizen/Watson, -26
8: Leishman/Smith, -25
9: Berger/Stricker, -24
10: Palmer/Varner III, -22
11: Ancer/Wolff, -21
12: Munoz/Niemann, -18
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How much money each team earned at the 2020 QBE Shootout
Check out how much money each team earned at the 2020 QBE Shootout.
Looking for their third win as partners, Harris English and Matt Kuchar entered the final round of the QBE Shootout with a five shot lead and went on to win by six.
The 2013 and 2016 winners claimed the 2020 title with an impressive score of 34 under, six shots clear of the teams of Rory Sabbatini and Kevin Tway, Lanto Griffin and Mackenzie Hughes, and Kevin Na and Sean O’Hair, all T-2 at 28 under.
Check out the total prize money payouts below for all 12 teams of PGA Tour professionals at the $3.6 million 2020 QBE Shootout in Naples, Florida.
QBE Shootout prize money
| Position | Player | To par | Earnings |
| 1 | English/Kuchar | -34 | $895,000 |
| T-2 | Sabbatini/Tway | -28 | $389,666 |
| T-2 | Griffin/Hughes | -28 | $389,666 |
| T-2 | Na/O’Hair | -28 | $389,666 |
| T-5 | Horschel/Todd | -26 | $212,000 |
| T-5 | Champ/Finau | -26 | $212,000 |
| T-5 | Oosthuizen/Watson | -26 | $212,000 |
| 8 | Leishman/ Smith | -25 | $190,000 |
| 9 | Berger/Stricker | -24 | $185,000 |
| 10 | Palmer/Varner III | -22 | $180,000 |
| 11 | Ancer/ Wolff | -21 | $175,000 |
| 12 | Munoz/ Niemann | -18 | $170.000 |
QBE Shootout: Harris English, Matt Kuchar dominate second round, look for third title
Two-time winners of the QBE Shootout, the team of Matt Kuchar and Harris English holds an impressive lead entering the final round.
Harris English and Matt Kuchar will be the 2020 QBE Shootout champions. That’s still with a final round to be played.
But that seemed to be the consensus after the two-time champions fired an 11-under 61 in modified alternate shot at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort on Saturday.
“Alternate shot’s a tough format,” said Kevin Na, who along with playing partner Sean O’Hair is five back. “I don’t know what these guys played that are leading.”
“Best ball, the chances of having a big number and losing strokes is tougher,” said Lanto Griffin, who played with Kuchar and English and teammate Mackenzie Hughes.
“The way they’re playing, I just don’t see anyway they don’t shoot just 8 under minimum. If someone wants to take it from them, they’re going to have to go crazy low and then hope they don’t keep it going.”
Kuchar was far from ready to call it over.
“There’s still a need to make lots of birdies,” he said. “I think this best-ball format, guys are going to shoot some low scores. Whatever the lead is, pars aren’t going to be helping out very much. We’ve got to still make a bunch of birdies to try to protect the lead.”
The teams play best ball in the final round. Coverage starts on NBC at noon, and switches to Golf Channel from 2 to 4 p.m.
English and Kuchar haven’t played in the QBE Shootout together since 2017 when they tied for ninth. But they looked more like the team that won in 2013 and 2016, and was second in the two years in between.
“I feel like our games really fit this format well,” English said. “He does a lot of stuff that I’m not great at and maybe I do some stuff that he’s not great at. It’s just fun. It’s very relaxing out there.”
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The pair birdied the first five holes, parred the next six, then ran off a six-birdie string on the back nine. But they really weren’t doing anything poorly during the six-par stretch.
“You never know where birdies are going to come from,” Kuchar said. “You just keep playing good golf. Harris mentioned earlier and I didn’t pick up on it, we found every fairway, found every green. In alternate shot, to hit 18 greens is pretty awesome.”
The two looked like they may threaten their 12-under 60 in the format when they won in 2013 with a tournament course record 34 under par. After the pars on Nos. 6 through 11, they got it back going with birdies on Nos. 12 through 17.
“That was impressive,” Griffin said. “They played incredible. Harris drove it down the middle all day, Kuchar hit it good and hit it close, and he had the putter going. It was impressive to watch. It made us feel like we were playing awful.”
“It seemed to be that the strategy, Harris would smash a drive out there, I’d hit an approach and he’d putt,” Kuchar said. “For the longest time it felt like Harris wasn’t hitting any iron shots and I wasn’t doing any putting. So there was I think several holes went by where I didn’t need a putter and he wasn’t hitting an approach shot.”
Family and football players: PGA Tour pros have unique caddies at the QBE Shootout
From family members to professional football players, the PGA Tour pros at the QBE Shootout have some unique caddies this week.
A 13-year-old son. A father. A wife. An unofficial pro-am celebrity. And a Super Bowl participant.
The QBE Shootout has quite a collection of caddies as it celebrates its 20th year at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort this week. And with it being a laidback team event, that opens the door for the pros to given someone else a chance to caddie — and also to give their regular caddies a break.
Part-time Naples resident Steve Stricker, the 2021 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, does have a “backup” caddie, but someone he’s more than familiar with, and who is also more than familiar with the role. Stricker’s wife, Nicki, was a longtime caddie for her husband on the PGA Tour, and she picked up the bag again for last year’s Mayakoba Classic in Mexico and the Shootout this week.
“A lot of guys take advantage of this tournament and these offseason kind of events to give their regular guys a break, and have some family on the bag,” Stricker said. “There’s a couple of guys in our group that are friends of players. This is a good opportunity.”
Nicki would normally be watching anyway, but it’s different when she’s caddying for her husband.
“Although now there’s not a really bad seat (with no fans allowed due to the coronavirus pandemic), but it’s kind of nice to be inside and up close and feel a little bit more apart of what’s going on,” Nicki said. “I like it.
“He’ll ask usually me at first if I want to. I split the time with my brother, so between the two of us it just depends on where it is, what’s going on with the kids. I enjoy it though.”
Matt Kuchar has his 13-year-old son, Cameron, on the bag. Billy Horschel has his father. Tony Finau gave a couple of friends a chance to carry his clubs — former NFL defensive lineman and fullback Will Tukuafu in the first round, and friend Otto Carter on Saturday.
Horschel planned on having his friend Matt Rollins, who caddied for him at the Shootout last year, back on the bag. But Rollins came in contact last week with somebody who tested positive for COVID-19. Horschel said he thought Rollins had tested negative, but with him also living in Arizona, it just didn’t make sense to use him.
Horschel didn’t have to go far to find a replacement. He lives next to his 69-year-old dad, Bill, in Ponte Vedra.
“I called ‘Pops’ in off the bench,” said Horschel, who said his father had caddied for him once early in his career.
Kuchar’s 13-year-old son, Cameron, had been bugging his dad for a shot at caddying, and Kuchar thought this was the perfect type of event.
“We had a blast,” Matt Kuchar said. “To be able to do it here in this environment with a bunch of good guys, from Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Harris (English), they’ve all got great caddies out there. It was nice to have guys to take my boy under their wing.”
There weren’t any hiccups during Friday’s first round.
“He’s been great as far as being prepared, being ready, and being early,” Kuchar said. “Those are things that I get nervous about, Where are you? Where are you? It never happened.”
Kuchar said Eric Larson, English’s caddie, had been good with his son, and there also was an added bonus. Smith’s caddie, Matthew ” Bussy” Tritton, was a caddie for Kuchar early in his career.
“Bussy remembers Cameron when he was just a little baby,” Kuchar said. “He has some good stories to reminisce on.”
Thursday, James Edmondson, who caddies for pro Ryan Palmer, gave his boss something to reminisce about. He holed out from 43 yards on the unofficial 19th hole floating green that each pro-am team stopped to take a chance at. Edmondson got $100 each from each player in the group, and $1,000 went to charity.
“That was pretty fun,” Palmer said. “He just dropped two balls and flies it in the hole. He is a good golfer, so it was a fun moment. Our group had a blast with it.”
Palmer also got something — Edmondson’s caddie bib.
“We made a joke with our team, and I put the bib on, and the guys were like, ‘We’ll take him instead, give him a little break,'” Palmer said.
Finau’s normal caddie, Gregory Romine, got married Friday, so he had been thinking about who to replace him, and he went with longtime friends.
Tukuafu played college football at Oregon, and then played with the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. He played in the Super Bowl when the 49ers lost to the Ravens, and was on injured reserve with a concussion just before the Seahawks made their playoff run to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the New England Patriots.
“It’s great having a couple of buddies out here with me,” Finau said. “It’s such a great atmosphere, very chill, a great format. It’s team golf, something we don’t really get to do out here.
“I just thought about my two closest friends. They both love golf, big fans of the game, big fans of guys I play with. This is really cool for me to have an opportunity like this.”
QBE Shootout: Kevin Na, Sean O’Hair ride Na’s incredible putting to first-round lead
Kevin Na was so good Friday, he did a walk-off. When a 30-footer on No. 15 crawled toward the hole, he lifted his putter in the air.
Golfers love to do the walk-in, moving toward the hole when a putt appears to be falling into the cup.
Kevin Na was so good Friday, he literally did a walk-off.
Na was making everything in sight, and when a 30-footer on No. 15 started tracking toward the hole, he lifted his putter in the air and walked off the green as the ball dropped in.
When the first-round scramble format of the QBE Shootout was over, Na and playing partner Sean O’Hair had walked off with a one-shot lead following a 16-under 56 over Ryan Palmer and Harold Varner III. Saturday’s format is modified alternate shot.
“I had a couple walk-offs today,” said Na, who got in the field when Sungjae Im withdrew three weeks ago. “One of them was on 15 and then on 17, you know, halfway there it looked like it was going in, I started walking sideways or backwards.
“It was a good feeling. The greens were rolling pure out there, the golf course is in great condition. If you hit it online, it’s going to go in.”
Lanto Griffin and Mackenzie Hughes, who are tied for third along with Matt Kuchar and Harris English at 14 under, were simply in awe watching Na.
“I wanted to say ‘Good putt’ on 17 before he even hit it,” Griffin said. “You had that feeling that anything he hits, it’s just going to go in the hole.”
“His putt on 17 was kind of the one where I was like, ‘Man, if this goes in, it’s beyond incredible,'” Hughes said. “There was one time on the back nine where it was like a
15-footer and my caddie and I were like, ‘Do you want odds on this one?’ I’m actually like, ‘Nah, I don’t want to bet against him,’ and he made it.”
O’Hair was making the putts early, when they were on pace to shoot 18 under for 18 holes. But they parred No. 13, and then nearly bogeyed No. 16 before Na made it.
“It felt pretty easy today just watching him putt and make everything he looked at, just kind of kept the momentum going,” O’Hair said. “There was a couple putts that were crucial I think to do that. We had a birdie putt on No. 14 that he made, that was a tricky little putt. Then he made a nice par putt on No. 16 and kept the momentum going, and that putt he hit on No. 17 was just unbelievable, and he hit a good putt on 18 that probably should have gone in.
“I felt like just if he was in play, hit it as hard as I could and try and hit it as close as I can, but it’s a nice feeling when you feel like your ball’s on the green, you have a good chance of making birdie because he’s putting so well.”
Palmer and Varner had the first-round lead with a 55 last year, and ended up tying for third. Varner joked they had a different strategy.
“We were thinking about it, we just didn’t really want to be front-runners,” Varner said. “We didn’t do well with that, so we just want to cruise right there just behind.”
Varner even had some fun with his playing partner, who is 44 and 14 years older than he is.
“I’ve got a great partner,” Varner said. “He’s really old but he carries me all the time, so I’m super thankful for that. And I’m so excited Christmas is right around the corner.”
O’Hair has plenty of experience in the Shootout. This is his 10th straight, and he won it with Kenny Perry in 2012 and Steve Stricker in 2017. He’s played with major champions like Jason Dufner and Mike Weir, and LPGA Tour star Lexi Thompson last year.
“When I was told I was playing with Kevin, I loved the pairing,” O’Hair said. “I know he’s great with his short game and his putter and keeps it in play. I think it just kind of is a perfect partner to kind of free me up and let me be as aggressive as I possibly can.
“I’m happy to be a test dummy on the greens, especially when he’s making everything he looks at. I love the pairing. We get along great, the vibe was fantastic out there, so it was a lot of fun.”
Greg Hardwig is a sports reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @NDN_Ghardwig, email him at ghardwig@naplesnews.com.
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Shoot 57 and trail by one? That’s the QBE Shootout for you
Kevin Na and Sean O’Hair lead the QBE Shootout after making 12 birdies and two eagles to card a 56, just one shot off the tournament record.
NAPLES, Fla. – Harold Varner and Ryan Palmer combined to make 15 birdies, didn’t make a bogey and put their signatures to a 15-under-par 57 in Friday’s first round of the QBE Shootout at Tiburon Golf Club.
And they don’t have the lead.
It was that kind of day – triggered mostly by the scramble format – that led to eye-popping scores among the 12 two-man teams. With little wind and both players hitting tee shots, then taking the best shot and both hitting from there, and so on, the 12 teams combined to average 59.5.
Leading the way was Kevin Na and Sean O’Hair, who made 12 birdies and two eagles to come home with a 56, just one shot off the tournament record in the scramble format.
Yet they’re just one shot ahead of Varner/Palmer and just two clear of the teams of Lanto Griffin/Mackenzie Hughes and Matt Kuchar/Harris English. Two teams – defending champions Kevin Tway/Rory Sabbatini and Tony Finau/Cameron Champ – each shot the magical 59 and trail by three shots.
“Obviously we would have taken 58 before we started, but we feel like we left a couple out there and that’s probably good going into tomorrow, it didn’t feel like we stole the whole day,” Griffin said. “I think we’ll be hungry (Saturday) and we’ll have a little different format.”
Palmer smiled when asked if it felt goofy to shoot 57 and still trail by one. But he wasn’t shocked considering the format and the caliber of players.
“You have to go low, especially in this format,” Palmer said. “We left a couple out there. We had 105 on 15 and made par. We had a 12‑, 15‑footer for eagle on 17 that was pretty makeable and missed.
“It wasn’t that easy. It’s playing longer because how soft it is, a little breeze. You’ve still got to play some pretty good golf to get there.”
Scores won’t be as low in Saturday’s second round as the format changes to modified scramble. O’Hair, who is looking to win this tournament for the third time with a third different partner – he won with Steve Stricker in 2017 and with Kenny Perry in 2012 – said the key to victory can be found on the greens.
“You have to putt well,” he said. “If you don’t putt well, if you don’t make putts, you’re going to finish in the bottom of the pack in this event. So you know guys are going to bring it. Tomorrow’s a tough format, the toughest format, but I think as long as we just keep it in play and make a few putts, we’ll be right there come Sunday.”
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QBE Shootout: Abraham Ancer, Matthew Wolff have top combined world ranking
They haven’t played together other than in practice rounds, but Abraham Ancer and Matthew Wolff come into the QBE Shootout as the favorites.
NAPLES, Fla. — In the past few months, Abraham Ancer and Matthew Wolff became familiar with leaderboards at major championships.
This weekend, they’ll be getting familiar with each other. The two haven’t played together before other than a practice round here and there.
But the two come into the QBE Shootout, whose first round in the scramble format is Friday, with the top combined world golf ranking and the favorites.
“I haven’t known Abe too long, but I feel like the first time we met was probably about a year ago,” said Wolff, who played with Viktor Hovland in his first Shootout last year. “When I got out on Tour he was out here for a couple years. As soon as we met, he’s a really laid-back guy. I feel like I am, too, but I feel like that’s what’s going to make our team so nice.
“Just like not only our golf games are going to like work really well together, but also our personalities. We’re going to go out there, we both love winning, we both want to win and compete and we’ve been doing it for our whole lives, but at the end of the day we’re going out there having a good time, joking around.”
Neither of them were joking around a few months ago. They were in serious contention in major championships.
.@Abraham_Ancer's got jokes. 😂
He and @Matthew_Wolff5 will tee it up as a team @QBEShootout this weekend. pic.twitter.com/9WiMoighoW
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 10, 2020
Ancer started the Masters in the final group, but did not play well. Wolff had the third-round lead in the U.S. Open, but Bryson DeChambeau pulled away to win it.
Neither had been in those situations before.
Ancer shot a 4-over 76 and tied for 13th at Augusta.
“I learned a lot my last round of the Masters,” Ancer said. “It was really cool to be in the last group for my first time playing there. It was a big-time group, too. Didn’t play my best. I definitely let one putt kind of get in my head and just didn’t feel really good after hole 2, but I mean I took a lot of notes.
“I was in spots on greens that I guess I didn’t do my homework well enough in my practice rounds, a couple of breaks that kind of threw me off. Other than that, the more I put myself in those situations, the better I’ll come out in other events.”
In the Open, Wolff shot 5 over par in the final round, but DeChambeau was 6 under and won by three.
“I didn’t get it done at the Open, but I felt like it was a really good—you know, really good place to put myself and I’ve learned a lot from it,” Wolff said. “I think I’ve grown as not only a player physically, but just mentally.
“I think the biggest thing I took away from being in that final group is just the comfort level of being out here because no matter who you are, no matter what tournament it is, we love competing and we always want to win. I think that sometimes in those stages, the U.S. Open and the Masters and the biggest stages in golf, you kind of get ahead of yourself and you kind of make the stage bigger than what it is.”
There is a bit of a unique quality to the team—Ancer went to Oklahoma, and Wolff went to rival Oklahoma State.
“The OU-OSU rivalry always will kind of be there, but for this week I’m really glad that he’s on my team,” Wolff said.
Ancer and Wolff are paired together because they have a mutual sponsor, Perficient. And they have a mutual agreement that their respective games will pair together well.
“Our games really like fit really well together,” Wolff said. “I’m obviously a little longer off the tee and so I’m going to try to go and mash it and have a lot shorter clubs in, and Abe’s an unbelievable wedger, iron player and putter and stuff and every part of his game is a strength and every part of my game is a strength.”
“Long story short, I’m going to hit the fairway and he’s going to go for it every single time,” Ancer said. “I’m going to try to secure the fairway and have a look at the green and he’s going to just rip it. I think it’s going to be fun. I’m really pumped and looking forward to (Friday).”
Wolff also said the two have a good plan going into the tournament, which has modified alternate shot on Saturday and better ball on Sunday. He said he and Hovland kind of got in their own way when it came to that last year.
“I think we almost over strategized last year with Viktor,” Wolff said. “I think like we were so like ‘OK, so Viktor’s going to go first off the tee.’ I mean, that was fine with the strategy, but then we got too much ‘Oh, whoever hits the approach shot on the green is going to be the first one to putt. And then as soon as that didn’t work, we like switched it up and we were trying to do a bunch of different things.”
[jwplayer 7NBaZ2A0-vgFm21H3]
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QBE Shootout is a family affair for Steve Stricker, his daughter
Steve Stricker is teamed up with Daniel Berger at the QBE Shootout, where his daughter Bobbi is assisting the team that manages the event.
NAPLES, Fla. — Professional golf has been a family occasion for much of Steve Stricker’s career.
His wife, Nicki, was frequently his caddie on the PGA Tour, and was an accomplished player herself, finishing fourth in the Big Ten at Wisconsin as a senior.
His father-in-law, Dennis Tiziani, and his brother-in-law, Mario Tiziani, both played on the PGA Tour, and Mario is Steve’s agent. Dennis Tiziani also coached men’s and women’s golf at Wisconsin, and is Steve’s swing coach.
And his daughter, Bobbi, switched from tennis to golf after her senior year in high school, and walked on at Wisconsin.
This week and next, Bobbi is taking on a different role—but still in golf, of course.
She is assisting the Wasserman Sports team that manages the QBE Shootout, Greg Norman’s PGA Tour event, and the CME Group Tour Championship, an LPGA Tour one, at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.
“We kind of threw it out there to (Wasserman Sports’) Taylor (Ives) when I went down to Mexico last week,” said Steve Stricker, a part-time Naples resident who played in the Mayakoba Golf Classic. “I just said if you need anymore help, she was looking to kind of learn the business. She does a little bit of stuff with our tournament up in Madison for our Champions (Tour) event.
“It’s kind of the stuff she wants to be around, and involved with — tournament golf, players, management, something like that, I think.”
Bobbi, 22, is working while juggling her classes, which she’s attending virtually, as a senior at Wisconsin. Wednesday was just Day 2 of the journalism major’s journey.
“It’s been very fun so far,” she said. “I’ve done a lot of little jobs, but I’ve learned a lot of how the behind the scenes works. It’s always been an interest of mine, just how to put on an event. I’ve gotten to meet a ton of people, which will only help, and they’re all so cool.”
One of those will be her father’s playing partner this week, Daniel Berger.
This isn’t Berger’s first Shootout, and it won’t be Stricker’s first time getting familiar with him. But it will be a bit different because Stricker is the 2021 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, and Berger is one of those in contention for the team. Still, Stricker and Berger are familiar with one another in those types of roles; Stricker was the Presidents Cup captain in 2017 when Berger played on the team.
“He’s a great kid and he’s a hell of a player, and he’s been playing great golf as of late,” Stricker said. “I’m excited to partner with him, and I’ll ride him hard. He’s got a lot of talent and he hits it a long ways.”
Berger won’t get caught up in trying to impress Stricker this week.
“I’ve always looked up to him as a player,” Berger said. “Just a great time to spend with the Ryder Cup captain and look forward to playing good golf this week. The way I play this week has zero bearing on any Ryder Cup, but it is cool just to play with the Ryder Cup captain.”
Being at and in PGA Tour events is something important to Stricker, so he can build relationships, see what players are up to, and that sort of thing as he prepares for next year, after this year’s Ryder Cup was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m excited to be part of his team and just to hang around him,” Stricker said. “That’s a lot of the reason why I continue to play out here.”
Stricker, who is unsure at this point if he’ll play in next April’s Chubb Classic on the PGA Tour Champions at Tiburón, has been down in Naples with his wife and daughter since mid-November, and the two of them had been here since the end of October.
“We got out of Wisconsin when the getting was good,” he said. “The pandemic up there hasn’t been too good, so we decided to come down here to spend some more time outside.”
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QBE: Greg Norman gave Dustin Johnson putting tips at The Grove XXIII
Greg Norman says Dustin Johnson asked for some putting tips, so the two connected at Michael Jordan’s course, The Grove XXIII.
NAPLES, Fla. — QBE Shootout founder and host Greg Norman was only that for one of the few times in the event’s 32-year history Wednesday.
Norman hasn’t played in his unofficial PGA Tour event that features 12 two-person teams for years, but he’s usually played in the pro-am. That’s not the case this year, so he took the opportunity to jump in a cart and go see as many groups as possible during the pro-am at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.
“I had a fun day today because I drove around and tried to catch up with every one of the players,” Norman said. “I enjoyed that more quite honestly than playing because you get to see the guys you don’t really normally get to see. I go to a cocktail party or a function or a dinner with the sponsors, you don’t get to see all the others.
“To me it was a lot of fun, I really did enjoy it. I couldn’t get them all in, I probably missed about four or five groups, but I had a lot of fun today. Then I just did my radio show, (country act Lady A’s) Charles Kelly was brilliant, absolutely brilliant on it.”
QBE Shootout: Pairings, TV information
For several years at the Shootout, Norman and fellow Aussie Steve Elkington were paired together, and they even won it. This year, there is an Aussie pairing with Cameron Smith, who tied for second at the Masters, and Marc Leishman.
“We’ve always had a problem getting Australians to come play because this time of year the Australian tournaments are being played down there,” Norman said. “Sadly, they’re all being postponed or canceled because of this COVID situation. That’s why Leish and Cam asked me if they can come play and I was all for it, of course.”
Putting tips
Norman has helped out players over the years, and he embraced that role again a few months ago with Dustin Johnson, working on the eventual Masters champion’s putting at The Grove XXIII, Michael Jordan’s course where Johnson plays.
“I’ve just seen a few things in his short game, especially his putting, that I would relay on to my son to relay on to him,” Norman said. “I got a text from DJ around the middle of September. He said ‘Do you mind coming out and watching me putt a little bit? I said sure, no problem.
“We just spent time on the putting green. I don’t think how long it was, an hour, hour and a half, something like that. I just talked to him about a few things that I had seen and the difference from him on a Thursday, Friday to a Saturday into a Sunday was a big difference. Some of it was physical improvement and some of it was mental as well, but mental comes from a bad physical or bad technique. So I just talked him through it and all of a sudden he started to feel it and he started to feel it, and from that moment on he went on a pretty good run and he still is.”
Tway-Sabbatini back
Defending QBE Shootout champions Kevin Tway and Rory Sabbatini weren’t able to take their win this past season.
Sabbatini finished 127th on the money list for the 2019-20 season, and Tway was 175th.
Still, they hope they can build off last year’s victory and carry it over this week and beyond at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.
“Well, all I can say is it’s going to kind of hopefully be like last year where I’m going to be the jockey and he’s going to be the stallion,” Sabbatini said Wednesday. “It’s always good to be here. Obviously a lot of good memories from last year. It’s always a fun, relaxing week.”
“It’s nice to have a partner,” said Tway, whose father Bob, the former PGA Championship winner, was here as his caddie last year, and is here but not in that role this year. “Rory hits it really straight, so he hits it in play and I kind of just wail at it. He reads the greens and I putt it where he tells me and it goes in most of the time, so we’ve got a good little partnership going.”
That combination of strengths meshed well last year when Tway and Sabbatini shot a final-round 60 to edge Jason Kokrak and J.T. Poston by two strokes. Ryan Palmer and Harold Varner III tied for third, along with Billy Horschel and Brendon Todd — and both of those teams are back.
“It’s kind of strange because after Kevin hits it a mile, there’s a lot of facets to his game that are very underrated that he’s very good at,” Sabbatini said. “So for me it’s kind of fun because, as he said, I put the ball in the fairway and let him wail away and take advantage of it, which does kind of stink when I’m playing my own ball because now he’s 50 yards back.”
“I can drive it up close to the greens and Rory’s got a nice short game so he can spin it in there close and get some tap-ins for birdie,” Tway said. “It’s always a fun week. And our caddies mesh well together and I’ve got dad here. He’s not caddying, but he’s here so he brings some good vibes for us.”
Even though professional golf has been back since the summer, at almost every event there have been no fans. And that’s the case this week. So that also means no grandstands behind the 18th green, for example.
“It’s different coming to this golf course and not see the grandstands behind 18,” Sabbatini said. “The golf course has a different view as a lot of golf courses that we’re playing and competing on now. In some respects, Sea Island, some of the par-3 greens looked a lot bigger, it didn’t seem like the green was that far away. It always changes your optical perspective of what you’re accustomed to out there.
“We’ve had no fans for six months and it’s still weird because we’re not seeing people cheer behind the green,” Tway said. “It’s more weird for a tournament like this because I feel like you kind of interact with the fans more than you normally would at a regular event because it’s more laid back and more just freewheeling and stuff. It’s strange to see it as well as the grandstands not being there, it’s weird looking at it, too.”
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