The PGA Tour’s West Coast Swing begins Thursday at the American Express in La Quinta, Calif.
These two weeks could be the epitome of what the PGA Tour will look like in the years to come.
South Korea’s Siu Kim, who won the American Express in 2021, was back in the winner’s circle at the Sony Open in Hawaii last week. He recovered from his three-stroke deficit on his final three holes to take his fourth victory on the PGA Tour.
The top 10 players on the Official World Golf Rankings didn’t stay in their second week in Hawaii after taking part in the more lucrative Sentry Tournament of Champions starting in 2023. Kim, Gary Woodland and Billy Horschel missed the cut.
Conversely, the fields of American Express, the tournament Bob Hope made famous in the California desert, are absolutely packed. Five of the top 10 players in the world and 10 of the top 20 players play in the Coachella Valley. We have Scotty Scheffler. So are Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schaufle, Will Zaratris and Cameron Young.
A change in the requirements of the $100 million Player Impact program is good for American Express, arguably the best sector in at least 20 years. New PIP rules require a player to participate in his 20 tournaments. This includes 12 promoted events, The Players, 4 majors (if eligible), and his 3 other tournaments of choice. Many chose to play in Lahi Quinta.
“You want to hit the best. It’s nice to see people coming. It’s good that more players are competing in more events,” Rahm said at a press conference on Wednesday. I think that’s because there were some new events that year, and the fact that there are all the big events you have to play if you want to earn PIP rewards.
“It opens up to everything you need to play, like the lower events. The schedule changes a bit so it opens people’s eyes to some events they probably haven’t played in the past. I know I’m one of them.”
Here’s what to see in men’s professional golf this week.
What’s next for the PGA TOUR
american express
when: Thursday to Sunday
Where: La Quinta Country Club, La Quinta, California
Defending Champion: Hudson Swafford
wallet: $8 million
Three stories to watch:
Where’s Mickelson?: Six-time major champion Phil Mickelson has been the official host of American Express for the past three years. However, like many of Mickelson’s longtime sponsors, American Express announced in February 2022 that author Alan Shipnak made controversial comments about Saudi investors in his PGA Tour and his LIV Golf. After that, he cut ties with Mickelson.
Another major change is that the tournament’s former charity, the Mickelson Foundation, has been replaced by American Express’ Impact Thru Golf, which funds local organizations.
Swafford, who has won the event twice, will not be returning to defend his title. He is one of his PGA Tour players to be suspended by Commissioner Jay Monahan for appearing in an event at LIV Golf without a competing event release. Past champions and current LIV golf players Patrick Reed and Pat Perez will also be absent.
Two World No.1?: Rahm and other players have criticized the official World Golf Ranking’s new formula for awarding more points to water-filled (but larger) fields than smaller (but more elite) fields such as the Tournament of Champions. I’m here.
Now, according to the popular OWGR guru calculations on Twitter, there may actually be a co-No. He is No. 1 in Monday’s new world rankings — if world No. 5 Cantlay wins his American Express and world No. 2 Schaeffler finishes alone at his No. 8 spot. There has never been a co-No. 1 of OWGR.
🚨Breaking
As it stands, if Patrick Cantley wins @theamexgolf And if Scotty Schaeffler finishes solo eighth, the two could share first place in the world rankings, dropping Rory to third… #OWGR
(will change if there are more changes in the field)
— Nosferatu (@VC606) January 17, 2023
In that scenario, current No. 1 player Rory McIlroy would drop to third, according to OWGR guru.
Schaeffler, who spent most of last season at the top of the rankings, was asked at Wednesday’s press conference about sharing the top spot.
“It will be pretty interesting,” Schaeffler said. “I don’t think it ever happened. Yeah, it would be a little strange to have two of his No.1’s. Putting off or something and who’s going to be his real No.1?” may check.”
Return of Schauffele: Schauffele, who was forced to withdraw from the Tournament of Champions with a back injury after eight holes in the second round, is scheduled to tee off on Thursday. However, he admitted that his back still bothers him.
“Yeah, it just hurts a little bit,” Schauffele said. “I didn’t do anything and I put a lot of work into it, so it hurts a bit. I probably swung more than I thought I would in those three days. So I have more work to do. I I’ll have to be a little more patient when I get home.”
Schauffele said he probably spent a lot of time on the training ground over the past few days.
“More swings than I could have hoped for,” he said. I am that man, and all of us who are tour pros are those people and are definitely guilty.”
PGA Tour Power Rankings
1. John Rahm
Rahm’s victory at the season-opening Tournament of Champions saw him record at least one in his seventh straight season, alongside Justin Thomas for the longest active winning streak on the tour.
2. Rory McIlroy
You can watch the incumbent world No. 1 golfer compete at the Dubai Desert Classic next week.
3. Scotty Schaeffler
He has a chance to defend four titles by mid-April at the WM Phoenix Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the WGC-Dell Technologies Matchplay and the Masters.
4. Patrick Cantley
The Californian has three consecutive top 10 finishes at American Express and leads the scoring average (67.17) and birdies per round (6.17) of any player with at least five rounds in the event.
5. Tony Finau
Finau has three wins and six top 10 finishes in his last eight appearances. That’s the heater. Over the past three years, he has recorded his 74-plus birdies in his American Express, most of which are the same for any player.
6. Will Zaratris
Zaratriz returned from a four-plus month hiatus due to a back injury to tie for 11th at Kapalua.
7. Justin Thomas
The incumbent PGA Championship winner tied for 25th at Kapalua, his first start of 2023.
8. Max Houma
How many times between now and the U.S. Open in June will Houma be asked about posting a record-breaking 9-under 61 at the Los Angeles Country Club North Course in 2013?
9. Cameron Young
The 2022 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year could be very low this week, perhaps long enough to pick up his first win on the PGA Tour. He was tied for his 13th place at Kapalua.
10. Tom Kim
A year ago, Kim received a sponsorship waiver to start her fifth PGA Tour with American Express. He was ranked 154th in the world. 14th place this week. He tied for fifth at the Tournament of Champions and failed to qualify for the Sony Open.
Is LIV Golf’s TV deal looming?
“Next up is Round 2 of the LIV Golf Invitational Mayakoba in Mexico, another hour after Jack Hannah’s Into the Wild.”
After months of speculation, it looks like LIV Golf has finally landed a domestic TV partner. That’s probably what cable envisioned airing the second season of the Saudi-backed circuit, not the network he’s been rumored to be on the air for several weeks. According to various reports, LIV Golf said he is about to sign a media rights deal with The CW Network. The CW network is known for rerunning episodes of “Bob’s Burger,” “Family Guy,” and “Divorce Court,” rather than live sports. event.
In fact, the CW currently has no other sports facilities. Advertisement revenue will reportedly be shared with LIV Golf, and he will not receive any television rights fees under the deal. In March 2020, the PGA Tour reached a nine-year media rights deal with CBS Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN, which will pay him more than $6 billion on the tour during the term of the deal.
LIV Golf will continue to cover the production costs, as in the first season the tournament was streamed on YouTube, DAZN and the circuit’s official website.
“I think it’s a very positive step in the right direction,” LIV’s agent told ESPN on Wednesday. At this point, getting the headline was important to our continued success, and I think this definitely gets our headline.”
The second season of LIV Golf will tee off February 24-26 at El Camaleon Golf Course in Mayakoba, Mexico. Led by his two-time British Open champion Greg Norman, the league has announced venues for seven of his 14 tournaments scheduled for 2023. Events will also be held in Arizona, Australia, Singapore, Oklahoma, Spain and West Virginia.
The full announcement of LIV Golf’s 2023 schedule and 48 players across 12 teams is coming soon.
The CW, which is majority owned by Nexstar Media Group, reaches 123.5 million homes nationwide. According to NexStar, LIV Golf has vowed to grow the sport and reach a younger audience, while The CW’s average viewer is he’s 58.
“The main thing is they’re on network TV now,” said the agent. I don’t think they care if it’s one of the 36 they care about being able to tune in and watch the channels they’re on a channel that has everyone now whether it’s 14 or 85 , channel lineup.
sports business journal first reported A potential deal between LIV Golf and The CW. LIV Golf was reportedly in talks with FOX Sports about broadcasting the tournament on FS1 or FS2, with LIV Golf paying for the airtime.
Best social media of the week
Storytime with Fred Couples is always fun.
Driven by Joe LaCava @Fred Couple Golf For all events for 22 years. 😳
It’s all because of Fred’s accident in the desert. pic.twitter.com/lwt1PXdld6
— PGA Tour Champion (@ChampionsTour) January 17, 2023
And Jim Furyk’s swing looked like a mess.
For this bag, I choose A or C. But there are theories about this. If you grew up in the North, putters are used with drivers. In the south it goes with the wedge. When I was a child, I noticed that… https://t.co/QQmvdQI2DP
— Jim Furyk (@jimfuryk) January 17, 2023
These trophies also come with a nice invitation. Argentina’s Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira won his Latin American amateur championship, qualifying for the Masters, US Open and British Open.
Gordita al Agua?
Tea Box Spanish Lesson with Kim Si Woo @Nicolas_Ech 😂 pic.twitter.com/FaJ6rnsMuS
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 18, 2023
truth.
It’s a deep bunker.
golf game video game come
EA Sports is poised to release its first golf game on consoles since 2015, and will release an in-depth gameplay trailer for the EA Sports PGA TOUR on Thursday.
First look at EA SPORTS PGA TOUR gameplay 👀⛳️
Gameplay details coming this Thursday at 11am ET 🗓️
Watch live➡️ https://t.co/WShHGDEZq4 pic.twitter.com/d1BFNmKCxP
— EA SPORTS PGA TOUR (@EASPORTSPGATOUR) January 17, 2023
According to a previous EA Sports news release, players will be able to compete in all four majors, FedEx Cup Playoffs, The Players and additional tournaments for the LPGA, US Amateur and Korn Ferry Tour.
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