LOS ANGELES: Joaquin Niemann, Matthew Wolff and Louis Oosthuizen will give the Asian Tour discipline in Oman a well-known look. Missing would be the uniforms and group scores.
They are amongst 21 gamers from Saudi-funded LIV Golf who’re taking part in the primary International Series occasions on the Asian Tour. The collection is funded by LIV Golf and encompasses a $2 million purse, and this one comes per week earlier than LIV goes to Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong.
Some LIV gamers are underneath contract to play in occasional International Series occasions. For others, it’s a uncommon probability to earn world rating factors. The Official World Golf Ranking doesn’t award factors to the league that has the identical 53 gamers for all the season (13 4-man groups and Hudson Swafford as a singles participant).
It’s nonetheless not sufficient to get any of them — notably Lucas Herbert (No. 80) or Niemann (No. 81) — into the highest 50 for the Masters. But the PGA Championship has a historical past of attempting to get as many from the highest 100 on this planet rating.
As for the opposite majors, David Puig earned a spot within the British Open final week when he gained the Malaysian Open, a part of the International Final Qualifying collection. He is the third participant to qualify for Royal Troon this summer season by the collection, following Niemann (Australian Open) and Dean Burmester (Joburg Open).
Puig and Sam Horsfield have been the one gamers in Malaysia. Puig is also in Oman this week, that means 4 straight weeks of taking part in. That’s common for gamers on any circuit, so it raises questions on why extra LIV golfers didn’t seize on the chance. That was their best choice for many who aren’t European tour members. Otherwise, it’s ultimate qualifying within the United Kingdom on July 2.
The U.S. Open sometimes takes the highest 60 on this planet towards the tip of May, and that can make the Masters and PGA Championship important for Adrian Meronk (No. 49 and falling), together with Niemann and Burmester, together with nevertheless they fare in Oman.
The 78-man discipline at PGA Tour Champions occasion doesn’t change a lot from match to match, although one identify stood out for the Trophy Hassan II this week in Morocco. Angel Cabrera performs for the primary time since getting launched from jail.
Cabrera was imprisoned for 2 years for threats and harassment of his companion, a case that was joined by one other former companion. He was launched on parole in August and has been taking part in in Argentina.
The PGA Tour notified Cabrera his suspension has been lifted, although he’s required to adjust to phrases of his jail launch. The 54-12 months-outdated Argentine is also welcome on the Masters as a previous champion, supplied he can get a visa to journey. That’s been an issue.
Morocco is one among solely two PGA Tour Champions occasions held exterior North America. The different is the Senior British Open.
It’s protected to say two developments in golf’s TV world span generations.
CBS introduced that Verne Lindquist will likely be on the Masters for the ultimate time in April. Lundquist, 83, has had a protracted and distinguished profession that features being the radio voice of the Dallas Cowboys and the lead announcer for SEC soccer.
He is finest recognized for 2 calls on the Masters. “Yes, sir!” he proclaimed when Jack Nicklaus pulled forward with a birdie on the seventeenth gap on his approach to successful in 1986. And when Tiger Woods hit that pitch on the sixteenth inexperienced that rolled down the hill and held on the cup earlier than falling, Lundquist mentioned, “In your life have you seen anything like that?”
Meanwhile, NBC is bringing in a brand new voice for the Mexico Open at Vidanta. Golfweek experiences longtime caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay would be the lead analyst for the ultimate three rounds. He would be the first caddie to serve in that position.
Mackay and John Woods have each labored as on-course reporters. Mackay nonetheless likes his day job — he caddies for Justin Thomas — and this isn’t a step towards a brand new profession. NBC has been attempting out analysts since parting methods with Paul Azinger. In the final three months, NBC has used Paul McGinley, Kevin Kisner (twice), Curt Byrum and Brandel Chamblee.
NBC has the following seven PGA Tour occasions till CBS does the Masters. Back to you, Verne.
Augusta National has lengthened the course once more — this time by a whopping 10 yards.
The membership launched its media information for the 2024 Masters on Monday, and the one change to the course was a tee field on the par-5 second gap that’s 10 yards again and to the left.
The gap now performs 585 yards. It ranked as the simplest gap final 12 months, and cumulatively has been ranked the second-best gap behind the par-5 thirteenth.
The networks have gone to a “walk and talk” with gamers on the weekend courting to final 12 months, and Jim Nantz at CBS knew which button to push when he received Mackenzie Hughes of Canada signed up for the chat on Saturday at Riviera.
Hughes delivered one of the crucial reasoned interviews of the 12 months at Kapalua when he talked about how a lot golf has emphasised cash. He additionally spoke throughout Pebble Beach at a personal perform, which prompted Nantz to ask Hughes to share his views:
“I just think that it’s kind of unfortunate where we are in the game right now, where it seems that it’s just all about the money, it’s all about, ‘How much money can I make?’ Kind of lost the spirit of the game in the process,” Hughes mentioned. “The reason I play the PGA Tour wasn’t because I wanted to make a million dollars. I wanted to compete against the best players in the world, make an impact on the communities that we play. That’s been the dream since I was a kid. It seems that some guys have lost a little sight of that.
“Now we’re in a place where I think fans are just generally a little bit kind of fed up with it, to be honest. Those are the people that drive our sport. So I’d love to appeal to the masses a lot more and certainly the way we’re going right now to me isn’t quite it.”
The profitable new PGA Tour already has had three $20 million tournaments and the opposite 4 tournaments have had a mean purse of $8.6 million.
That interprets into 12 gamers already at $2 million or extra earlier than the PGA Tour even will get to the Florida swing, and 7 of them haven’t gained but. Through seven tournaments, 30 gamers have already got cleared the $1 million mark.
Twenty-five years in the past, solely 9 gamers surpassed $2 million for all the season.
Past champions Anna Davis and Tsubasa Kajitani are the among the many prime 43 amateurs on this planet who’re confirmed for the 72-participant discipline on the Augusta National Women’s Amateur this 12 months. The discipline represents 18 international locations and all six continents on which golf is performed. … Ford has grow to be a title sponsor of the Arizona match on the LPGA Tour. The Ford Championship is March 28-31 at Seville Golf and Country Club southeast of Phoenix. Ford beforehand was the title sponsor of the PGA Tour occasion at Doral in 2006. … With one match left earlier than the Florida swing, the Masters has added three winners to the sector by seven tournaments, and just one participant within the prime 50 of the world rating (Byeong Hun An at No. 43) shouldn’t be already eligible. The discipline at present is at 80 gamers.
Seven of the final 11 winners at Riviera are Masters champions.
“You watch sports for an escape from other nonsense, but I think golf has brought a lot of nonsense onto its plate. And now you don’t get just golf, you get a lot of other stuff going on. It’s a bit of a circus.” — Mackenzie Hughes.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
