The post Paddy’s parenting, Bryson’s dagger, Ryder Cup money | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Paddy’s parenting, Bryson’s dagger, Ryder Cup money | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

First, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe HERE to get it in your email inbox! It’s free. And it would make me happy.

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Paddy on parenting.

It’s a reflective time of year; it’s also PNC Championship week. And so I’m thinking back to a video that went viral this time last year, in the lead-up to the PNC: Padraig Harrington on how to introduce your kid to golf.

Harrington’s soliloquy was inspired by his son Ciaran, his playing partner for the week — and what he did right and wrong in Ciaran’s beginnings with the game. His insights, in four parts:

1. If you’re enjoying yourself, they’ll enjoy themselves.

“In hindsight, the best way, if you want to get your kid into the game of golf, is bring him somewhere where you’re not stressed. That’s very important,” Harrington said. “Kids pick up on that. Let them do what they like when they’re there, have a bit of fun if they want to hit one shot, two shots, 10 shots, play in the bunker, look in the water, or whatever they wanna do, let them do, and generally bring them home before they get tired.”

2. Quit while you’re ahead.

“So the best thing you can do with a kid early on in golf is say, ‘hey, we have to go home,’ and don’t wait till they’re tired and hate it. Wait till when they’re actually enjoying themselves, go home.”

3. But first, get a soda.

“When you’re finished, take 10 minutes to spend with your son or daughter and go and have a Coke, a Pepsi this week, go and have a Pepsi in the bar, wherever it is, and sit there have an ice cream, and spend 10, 15 minutes. Because if they have that 15 minutes alone time with you just, you and them, for the rest of their life, every time they play golf, they remember the 15 minutes they had with their father or mother, and that’s what would keep bringing them back to golf for the next day.”

4. Keep love first.

“If your kid gets good at the game, that doesn’t necessarily make them love the game,” Harrington said. “If your kid loves the game, it’s likely that they’ll become good at it. It’s the love should be first and, and it’s even more important to get a love of the game because we all know you plateau when you play golf.

“There’s many plateaus where it really gets frustrating. And if you don’t love it, those plateaus are going to stop you playing, you’re going to give up. Whereas if you love it, you’ll go through anything. So try and get the love of the game for the kids first.”

Paddy’s parenting — that’s golf stuff I like.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Lanto Griffin won Q-School, ensuring he’ll have full PGA Tour status for the 2025 PGA Tour season. One money quote from Griffin after the round of Sunday, a clutch seven-under 63: I want to experience this with my family, now with my baby and it’s — you just don’t want it to end. It’s like being at a really good concert, you just want there to be a couple more songs and that’s kind of what I felt this week.”

Jake Knapp and Patty Tavatanakit put a bow on their seasons with a victory at the Grant Thornton Invitational. Fun fact: This was the second time this year they won on the same day. The first time came back in February, when Knapp won the Mexico Open and Tavatanakit at the Honda LPGA Thailand.

Shaun Norris won the Alfred Dunhill Championship on home soil as the DP World Tour continued its African swing, shooting a final-round 67 to erase a six-shot deficit as competitors fell by the wayside coming down the stretch at Leopard Creek Country Club in South Africa. The win marked his second in as many starts after Norris won the Japan Tour’s Nippon Series JT Cup just two weeks ago.

“This changes a few things for me. I’ve got so much to look forward to over the next few years,” Norris said of his improved status. “But now it’s time for a holiday.”

If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

NOT-WINNERS

A few golfers who didn’t win but still kinda won.

Five other pros made it through a grueling Q-School week, which started wild and windy and finished with good old fashioned mega-pressure. A sentence on each with help from our Jack Hirsh:

Hayden Buckley: A PGA Tour member for the past two seasons who surprisingly fell out of the Top 125 after just two top-10s in 2024.

Takumi Kanaya: A seven-time Japan Tour winner who has already played in 11 major championships. Was a former World No. 1 amateur and was ranked as high as No. 49 in the Official World Golf Ranking in 2022.

Alejandro Tosti: PGA Tour rookie in 2024 who made headlines for some of his huge (and bold) tee shots, as well as some of his more controversial antics.

Will Chandler: Fired a final-nine 30 Sunday to jumpstart his career opportunities. Advanced from the second stage of Q-School after logging only 10 events on the Korn Ferry Tour this season and nine PGA Tour Canada events in 2023.

Matthew Riedel: Former standout at Vanderbilt University who graduated this spring and earned status on the Korn Ferry Tour through PGA Tour U. That also put him straight into the final stage of Q-School this week.

SHORT HITTERS

Six teams to watch at the PNC Championship.

When served with an ad broadcasting tomorrow’s Showdown odds, it occurred to me that the PNC Championship may be the most degenerate golf event to bet on, given the families and kids and whatnot. With that as inspiration, let’s run through the betting favorites (yes, real odds):

6. Team Singh (+650) — Vijay and Qass. The 2022 winners and the only squad to go 59-59 in event history.

5. Team Langer (+650) — Bernhard and Jason. Last year’s champs; they won in 2019 and 2014, too. Bernhard also won the last PGA Tour Champions event of the season so he’s entering in fine form. Dangerous team.

4. Team Woods (+500) — Tiger and Charlie. These guys are becoming seasoned vets at this event; with luck this will be their healthiest year yet.

3. Team Kuchar (+450) — Matt and Carson. Shot 57 in the first round last year but faded to T5 on Day 2. Back hungry.

2. Team Cink (+450) — Stewart and Connor. They won in 2013; can they turn back the clock?!

1. Team Daly (+300) — John and John II. They won in 2021; they’re locks to have the brightest pants. John II had a 71.78 scoring average at Arkansas last year, but I’m guessing they didn’t play any two-man father-son scrambles.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

From Daniel Berger and Nelly Korda.

During Grant Thornton week it’s interesting to hear what the LPGA and PGA Tour pros think of their partners’ games, and one fun bit of insight came from Daniel Berger and Nelly Korda, who realized on one approach shot that they were both pulling 7-iron.

“There was a couple times where I hit one in there yesterday and I looked in her bag and she was hitting the same club I was hitting,” Berger said. Korda was quick to add that her draw adds yardage, while Berger’s fade takes some off. But they were mutually impressed.

“It’s been very easy, she hits it in the fairway, she hits it on the green, she makes putts. I mean, it’s pretty clear why she’s No. 1 in the world and I need to get my act together,” Berger said.

“He’s a very much finesse player,” Korda said. “I always appreciate that when a player shows his artistic side.”

ONE BIG QUESTION

What’s up with Ryder Cup pay?

On Monday morning the PGA of America confirmed reports that yes, American Ryder Cuppers will be compensated for their participation in this year’s event at Bethpage Black. Specifically they’ll get $300,000 to give to a charity of their choice and another $200,000 as a stipend.

So how should you feel about this? Typically I just use this space to ask a question, not answer it, but here I’ll offer a suggestion: You do not need to feel any type of way about this at all! You do not need an opinion on this! Do these guys need the money? No, they do not. Do they deserve it? Yes, they probably do; they’re the ones everyone is coming to see. But the Ryder Cup is not made or broken by a couple million bucks in appearance fees and charitable donations. Pro golfers get paid to play just about everywhere else they tee it up. This seems [shrugs] fine.

News

With that said, Team Europe should absolutely lean into the idea that theirs is a purer devotion to the competition. Their team bond has traditionally been stronger than the U.S. side — this is easy bulletin-board material, if they need any more.

ONE THING TO WATCH

Bryson chirps Rory.

The Crypto dot com Showdown is coming Tuesday, and while I’m genuinely excited for Scottie/Rory vs. Brooks/Bryson I was a bit concerned that nothing about this match had broken through to the general sports world (through the NFL bubble, in other words). But that changed Monday with a devastating and actually pretty organic dagger thrown by Bryson DeChambeau in the direction of Rory McIlroy.

The exchange, at a Monday clinic:

McIlroy: “I’d like to go up against Bryson and try to get him back for what he did to me at the U.S. Open.”

DeChambeau: “To be fair, you kinda did it to yourself.”

You could argue this was history repeating itself, with McIlroy doing it to himself once again by tossing this alley-oop to DeChambeau, but it was good, if devastating, fun. Let’s hope there’s some fun and plenty of fire, too, come Tuesday night. I’m cautiously optimistic.

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

We haven’t yet hit the shortest day of the year, but we have crossed an important milestone: Last week we saw the earliest sunset of the year at 4:17 p.m. and now we’re headed in the right direction — 4:19 today! The mornings are another story (7:52 a.m. sunrise and still getting worse) but we’ll take the wins where we can get ’em. Spring is basically here.

We’ll see you next week!

Before you go, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

The post Paddy’s parenting, Bryson’s dagger, Ryder Cup money | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Scottie’s common sense, Bob Mac’s sunset beer, LIV rumors | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Scottie’s common sense, Bob Mac’s sunset beer, LIV rumors | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

First, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe HERE to get it in your email inbox! It’s free. And it would make me happy. (Ed. note: Some people have missed the last couple emails, this one should come through Monday evening, hang tight!)

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Appreciating the good stuff.

It’s natural to look forward. And, I think increasingly, cultural forces have us moving on to the next thing even faster than ever. That’s doubly true for athletes, who are likely inspired by some end goal (winning the championship, say) but in order to get there must lose themselves in the process. An athlete’s comfort zone is having something left to prove, some skill yet to master, some distance to the mountaintop left to climb. Actually reaching the summit? That can be tough to process, in its own way.

That brings us to Scottie Scheffler, who won again this weekend, this time at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, his ninth worldwide victory this season. He redirected questions about what the victory meant, as he’s used to doing by now, insisting that he plays not for money nor legacy but because he enjoys the competition. His is an aspirational outlook; if you’re in it purely for the joy of winning and the love of competing, you can soak up your victories while also looking ahead to the next chance to contend. Bravo, Scottie.

The crossroads of accomplishment, satisfaction and winning also brings us to Bob MacIntyre. The 28-year-old Scotsman ended up with a fairy-tale season, but it didn’t begin that way. This was his first full year playing the PGA Tour and it took time to adjust; he initially based himself out of Orlando, Fla. but soon found that untethering and unsatisfying. After several months he moved home to Oban to re-center himself.

It was right around that time that MacIntyre, missing home, brought home to him. He tapped in his father Dougie as a fill-in caddie for the RBC Canadian Open and, sure enough, won the whole damn thing. In the moments after the win I was struck by MacIntyre’s instincts. While CBS interviewer Amanda Balionis understandably assumed he’d then tap in for the following week’s Memorial Tournament, a big-money Tour event for which he was suddenly qualified, MacIntyre shook his head. He was headed home with his girlfriend and his family to celebrate a dream come true.

Things only got more outrageous for the popular Scot when he teed it up the next month at his home open, the Genesis Scottish, held at the Renaissance Club. MacIntyre fought off a loaded leaderboard that included Rory McIlroy and eventually outdueled Adam Scott, pouring in a big-time birdie putt at No. 18 to finish off a tournament win he’d dreamt of as long as he could dream.

The Hero can serve as something of a bookend to the year and is often a good time to ask players to reflect. Had MacIntyre gotten the opportunity to appreciate what he’d done?

“I’ve not done that yet and I don’t think I’ll be able to do that until later on in my life, to be honest with you,” MacIntyre said after a bogey-free opening round. “That’s just — it’s work. I try to go week to week, just try and improve every day, every week.” Later on in his career, he said, he’d have an easier time. As a competitor, that makes complete sense. But as a fan of great stories I wanted a moment of real-time reflection for MacIntyre, for his family and friends. Wins this special just don’t come along often enough to let ’em pass by.

I was relieved, then, to see him post a picture to social media on Monday following a seventh-place finish in the Bahamas. He’s sitting on a beach, wearing a grin and holding a beer, sun setting into the horizon behind him. Life’s good, Bob. Good on ya for taking a minute to stop and soak it in. Celebrating the good stuff — that’s golf stuff I like.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Another good week to remember that competitive golf truly never stops.

Scottie Scheffler won for the ninth time in 2024 — a total that now includes seven official PGA Tour wins plus Olympic Gold and the tiger trophy handed over by Scheffler’s childhood idol, tournament host Tiger Woods, on Sunday afternoon. Scheffler gapped the field by six shots thanks to a bogey-free final-round 63, low score of the day by four. What a fitting finish to a dominant year.

Joaquin Niemann won the Saudi International, the final Asian Tour event of the season as well as the final International Series event. The win came with subtext: Niemann played two International Series events all season but finished third and then won, which jumped him to the top of the season-long standings. That meant he got the LIV spot that had been promised to the series winner but, because Niemann is already on LIV, nobody will earn promotion. Niemann also jumped back inside the top 100 in the world, though it’s clear he’s playing at a higher level than his No. 74 ranking suggests.

Johannes Veerman won the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, known as “Africa’s major,” which attracted a strong field from the DP World and PGA Tours. The American is off to a hot start in the 2025 DP World Tour season, which continues this week.

And Denmark’s Søren Kjeldsen won the final stage of PGA Tour Champions qualifying by eight shots; he’ll be joined on the senior circuit by Freddie Jacobson, Mark Walker, Felipe Aguilar and Brendan Jones after they made it through at TPC Scottsdale on Friday.

If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

NOT-WINNERS

A few golfers who didn’t win but still kinda won.

Tom Kim finished second to Scheffler, another chapter in the big bro-little bro rivalry the two have developed at home in Dallas and on Tour. While this wasn’t as close as a playoff showdown at the Travelers nor as fiesty as their Presidents Cup duel, it was a big step in the right direction for Kim, who just missed out on top-50 PGA Tour status at the end of the season but could be in fine form heading to 2025.

Justin Thomas showed out in his first tournament as a father; he had the 54-hole lead before Scheffler steamrolled the field but impressed with a new weapon — a 46-inch driver — in his bag. Thomas easily could have been on the Presidents Cup team and I think he’ll continue to show people why come the new year, where he surely already has Bethpage Black on the mind.

Akshay Bhatia also boasted a new driver this week, this one a Callaway prototype that he says helps counteract his extreme out-to-in swing path. “I’m, I would say, a unicorn person to fit because my club path is anywhere from four to nine right,” Bhatia said. “There’s just not many guys that swing a driver like I do. Just trying to find something that we can keep the spin down but it doesn’t go left. It’s just a hard balance.” So far, so good: Solo fourth at the Bahamas.

And Keegan Bradley quietly finished fifth at the Hero, showing the sort of form that will feed into one of 2025’s most guaranteed storylines: is there any way the U.S. Ryder Cup captain can play his way onto the team?

SHORT HITTERS

Major contenders you forgot.

We discussed this on Monday afternoon’s Drop Zone recording (subscribe on Spotify or Apple); when that publishes first thing Tuesday I’ll post it here (update: now below this paragraph!). But as the year comes to a close I thought it would be fun to look back and see who I’d already forgotten had contended at the four men’s majors. Here’s one from each:

-The Masters leaderboard was chock-full of talent heading to Sunday’s final round. Scheffler led by one over Collin Morikawa, who was one stroke ahead of Max Homa, who was one stroke ahead of Ludvig Aberg, who was one stroke ahead of Bryson DeChambeau, who was one stroke ahead of Xander Schauffele. But tied with Schauffele in T6? That would be Cameron Davis, who like me lives in Washington but unlike me is a Tour winner, amateur hypnosis enthusiast and one-time Masters contender. Still, he faded Sunday to T12 as Scheffler took the air out of the tournament on the back nine.

-You may remember two specific pairings from the PGA Championship: DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland were the chase pack, storming ’round Valhalla on Sunday and making their way to the 18th tee each six under par for the day. DeChambeau would go on to birdie 18 and set the clubhouse lead, which Schauffele and Morikawa were chasing from the final pairing. Morikawa couldn’t buy a birdie while Schauffele eventually won the whole thing, but lost in that shuffle was the fact that there was another twosome in between those groups. Shane Lowry shot one under par on Sunday to finish T6, while Sahith Theegala needed two late birdies just to salve a 73 that left him T12.

-At the U.S. Open, you’ll remember DeChambeau leading by three shots entering the final round over Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay and…Matthew Pavon! The Frenchman made some Sunday bogeys but did well to hang in on a brutally tough golf course in pressure-packed conditions. He played the final six holes in two under par (DeChambeau played the same stretch in one over, and McIlroy in three over) to finish solo fifth.

-And the Open Championship was loaded with fascinating contenders, not least of which was Dan Brown. The unheralded Englishman, who was playing in his first-ever major, was the first-round leader and held the lead through much of Saturday, at which point he double-bogeyed 18. His Sunday 74 kept him out of contention but in the house at an extremely impressive T10.

ONE DUMB GRAPHIC

Wizards, take note.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

From Scottie Scheffler.

No top pro takes a swing change lightly, least of all the detail-oriented Scheffler, who is finishing off a historically good 2024 season. Insert change: how ’bout a new putter grip? Scheffler admitted after Thursday’s opening round that he and short-game coach Phil Kenyon had deferred the potential change until the offseason and that this seemed like the right moment to test it out.

“Figured this is a good week to try stuff just because you can practice and practice and do all the stuff at home, but there’s just something different about being in competition,” Scheffler said. “I really enjoyed the way it felt, I felt like I’m seeing some improvements in my stroke.”

The results spoke for themselves. Scheffler deployed the new technique on shorter putts, mostly inside 15 feet, and finished third in the field in strokes gained putting. Scheffler is dangerous every week; apparently he’s even more dangerous when he’s just testing stuff out.

ONE BIG QUESTION

Should players get paid to play the Ryder Cup?

I mean, yeah, probably. This topic swirled in the Bahamas this week again, with Tiger Woods echoing history (this was a topic of discussion in 1999, he said, and he thinks players should each get a large chunk of change to donate to charity) and Patrick Cantlay staying out of the fray (“I think that’s a media narrative and I’m not going to fall into that,” he said of talk the Americans were demanding pay) and Scheffler, as usual, making plenty of sense.

“I think every one of our players would pay to play in the Ryder Cup if that’s what was asked of us,” he said, referencing a McIlroy line about the event’s meaning. “I think it’s a little bit silly for a tournament that makes hundreds of millions of dollars to ask for the players to pay as well, but I think we all would. I definitely would.”

That particular resolution seems unlikely, though massive appearance fees also wouldn’t sit particularly well with a golfing public increasingly exhausted by money talk. Scheffler’s exhausted by money talk, too — he insisted, again, that he’s overpaid. But the question then becomes: if the players shouldn’t get paid from Ryder Cup profits, who should?

ONE THING TO WATCH

How hot will LIV’s hot stove get?

Last week saw renewed rumors of Tony Finau to LIV ultimately shot down by Finau himself in an interview with Golfweek; his much-scrutinized Hero WD was due to a procedure on his knee. So now what? Now we wait as see, I guess, but it feels unlikely that any massive Jon Rahm-style transaction would take place this winter. As a result, LIV’s biggest upcoming may well be LIV CEO Greg Norman himself, who confirmed over the weekend that, while he’ll stay with LIV in some capacity it won’t be in his current position.

Anyway, I usually slide a video in here, so this is a sideways shift: Here’s the Ryder Cup doc I mentioned last week. It’s so beautifully shot it’s worth watching for vibes alone. Una Famiglia:

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

I have moved into an office located above a bakery. I have an extreme sweet tooth. This is proving to be something of a personal challenge. Will keep you posted.

We’ll see you next week.

Before you go, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

The post Scottie’s common sense, Bob Mac’s sunset beer, LIV rumors | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post LIV moves, Tiger’s presser, Ryder Cup difference | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post LIV moves, Tiger’s presser, Ryder Cup difference | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

First, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe HERE to get it in your email inbox! It’s free. And it would make me happy. (Ed. note: Some people have missed the last couple emails, we’re getting it fixed, hang tight!)

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Speaking the language.

I got a chance to preview the Ryder Cup’s documentary on Team Europe, Una Famiglia, which debuts tomorrow (12/3). And while I won’t give anything away I’ll just say that watching the film transported me back to the opening ceremonies in Rome, where European captain Luke Donald stepped on stage and greeted the crowd in (what sounded to me, someone who doesn’t speak any Italian) perfect, flowing Italian.

It wound up being an emblematic moment for the week that followed. Team Europe obsessively prepared for all the little stuff and they treated every detail like it was vitally important. That carried over to the on-course action; they did the little stuff to win matches and their collective preparation and attitude elevated the experience for their players and fans, too. The more we’re asked to evaluate different forms of golf competition and content, that’s something that I find appeals to me over and over: If you care as a competitor, I care as a viewer.

Taking time to learn the language — that’s golf stuff I like.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

This was the first week of the offseason for both the PGA and LPGA Tours, but fear not: there’s always tournament golf going on.

Ryggs Johnston won the ISPS Handa Australian Open, turning his new DP World Tour card into the biggest victory of his young life in just his second start on the tour.

Peter Uihlein won the International Series Qatar on the Asian Tour, his second International Series win of the year; he jumped to No. 1 in the series standings as a result. (More on that in a moment.)

And Shaun Norris won the season-ending Golf Nippon Series JT Cup on the Japan Golf Tour, marking the emotional end of a three-year title drought for the South African journeyman.

If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

NOT-WINNERS

A few golfers who didn’t win but still kinda won.

Marc Leishman finished T3 at the Australian Open, earning a berth in next year’s Open Championship as a result. The tee time at Royal Portrush guarantees the Aussie will play a major for the first time in three years as he’s seen his chances diminish since joining LIV Golf.

Anthony Kim jumped nearly 2300 spots in the OWGR after earning his first world ranking points in a dozen years; his T37 finish in Qatar got him to No. 2,314.

And these aren’t winners so much as intriguing travelers: PGA Tour mainstays Max Homa, Corey Conners, Will Zalatoris and Mackenzie Hughes headline the Nedbank Golf Challenge on the DP World Tour. Throw in top local talents Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Thriston Lawrence plus Team Europe Ryder Cup hopefuls like Thorbjorn Oleson, Jordan Smith, Nicolai Hojgaard and more and you’ve got a decent first-week-of-December field.

SHORT HITTERS

LIV making moves.

-The picture seems to be getting clearer around Greg Norman‘s replacement as LIV Golf CEO; Sports Business Journal first reported that LIV was expected to hire former Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment CEO Scott O’Neil for the position.

–Thomas Pieters was traded from Bubba Watson‘s Range Goats to Dustin Johnson‘s 4 Aces in the first official transaction of LIV’s offseason; the Range Goats’ GM told Sports Illustrated the move was made to free up a spot for another free agent. Plenty of internet sleuths have made the connection between that spot opening up and the fact that Tony Finau withdrew from the Hero World Challenge without explanation, but it’s worth staying patient as these same internet sleuths do not have a 100 percent hit rate. (Wednesday update: Finau says he’s staying…)

-There’s an interesting ripple effect to Peter Uihlein taking the lead in the International Series standings; if he hangs onto that spot it will just ensure his return to LIV for 2025. Ever since LIV abandoned its chase for world ranking points it has been looking to up flexibility for teams to sign whoever they want; the only other “exempt” spot will come from the tour’s Q-School this month. I expect John Catlin, who has played as a LIV sub in the past and is now No. 2 in the International Series standings, to find a home on LIV regardless of how the season finishes — but this is a reminder that LIV really is trending towards a league that’s nearly all free agency.

–Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson have been busy this offseason well beyond the boundaries of tournament play; DeChambeau’s ace chase was probably the biggest golf news of the week, his Break 50 challenge with Tom Brady wasn’t far behind and Mickelson made waves with the announcement that he and Grant Horvat will be teaming up for some challenge matches. I wrote about this over the weekend but until there’s some mega-resolution in the pro game it feels like we’re watching an increasingly decentralized sport. Especially in the offseason, of course…

-LIV’s Promotions event will run Dec. 12-14 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for that single spot; it’ll be interesting to see who signs up and, naturally, who emerges.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

From Mark Blackburn.

You’ve definitely heard golf people talk about using the ground for power, but what’s a simple way of describing how they do that? Enter Top 100 teacher and Tour coach Mark Blackburn.

“By pulling our trail foot back and pushing our lead foot forward, that creates rotation,” Blackburn said here. “The best players are pulling very hard back with their trail foot and pushing forward with their lead foot.”

Easier said than done, of course. But that’s at least an easy visual to start with.

ONE BIG QUESTION

Who’s next up for LPGA commissioner?

Mollie Marcoux Samaan stepped down Monday as LPGA commissioner after three-and-a-half years in the role, with her resignation unscheduled but not a shock. Her tenure was marked by ups and downs; she oversaw purse increases, subsidized health care coverage and increased travel stipends, which make very real differences in players’ lives. But there was a sense that the league hadn’t fully rallied to moments of opportunity, like Nelly Korda‘s historic winning streak or a terrific moment turned terrible at the Solheim Cup, and Marcoux Samaan didn’t articulate a clear path to take the tour to the next level.

So what’s next? It feels like the LPGA Tour is at a crossroads. This is a moment of opportunity for a popular sport with big-time potential stars. But it’s also a league that needs its events feeling bigger — faster, more dramatic and with better TV coverage. Perhaps in time Marcoux Samaan will be seen as a successful bridge from Mike Whan, who served for over a decade beginning in 2010, to the tour’s next inspired thinker. I have a question, but not an answer: Who will that be?

ONE THING TO WATCH

Tiger Woods’ Tuesday presser.

It’s time for Tiger Woods‘ annual (semi-annual, if you count the Genesis) State of the Tiger address, which will take place in the Bahamas on Tuesday ahead of this week’s Hero World Challenge. We’re likely to get plenty of non-answers about the status of negotiations between the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund — but that doesn’t mean we won’t learn anything. Woods is near the center of all things professional golf, which means it’ll be plenty interesting to read between the lines. What he says or doesn’t say should tell a story of its own.

I’m also curious to hear him project his own playing schedule for the PNC Championship and all of 2025. How engaged is he in the TGL? How likely is he to play the Genesis? Where does his health compare now to a year ago, or two, or three? We haven’t seen much of Woods since the Open Championship; even as tournament host, golf will be glad to have him back.

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

I’ve concluded that the most important element for offseason golf is low wind. Sunny and windy? Brr. Cloudy and windy? Double brr. Drizzling and calm? We can make that work. Thankful for a sunny stretch here, though. Easier to get out and walk off the stuffing.

We’ll see you next week.

Before you go, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

The post LIV moves, Tiger’s presser, Ryder Cup difference | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

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First, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe HERE to get it in your email inbox! It’s free. And it would make me happy.

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Stepping away on your terms.

We knew it was Lexi Thompson‘s finale. Sunday’s fourth round at the CME Group Tour Championship was the final day of what Thompson has called her final full season on the LPGA Tour, marking the end of an era for an iconic LPGA presence. Thompson’s retirement announcement came back in May, ahead of the U.S. Women’s Open, which allowed her legions of fans a chance to bid farewell, so there was plenty of build-up to the waning moments of her round at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla.

“I think ever since I was super young I have held a lot in,” an emotional Thompson said post-round. “I think as athletes you’re always told to be strong and be intimidating on the golf course. Don’t show any sign of weakness … it’s kind of like, this time I’m actually letting myself feel those emotions and actually be real.”

Thompson wasn’t the only one calling it a career at the end of 2024. An impressive list of LPGA mainstays — 11 total, according to Golfweek — had already announced their departures. That included Thompson, Catriona Matthew, So Yeon Ryu, Angela Stanford, Mariajo Uribe, Laura Davies, Amy Olson, Gerina Mendoza and Brittany Lincicome.

It included I.K. Kim, who didn’t break the news until after her final round at St. Andrews, when she let it slip to R&A head Martin Slumbers. (She’d told her friends and family just the night before.) And it included Ally Ewing, who saved some of her best golf for last and finished strong with a T16 showing at the CME.

“Having family here but then also as many players that came out and supported me, finishing on 18 and even just the notes that have been left in my locker this week, it’s been incredibly special to have built relationships like this,” Ewing said.

And then there was Marina Alex.

For years, Alex admitted, she’d admired athletes who’d gone out on top. The image of Suzann Pettersen, who’d retired after holing a Solheim Cup-winning putt, had been etched in her mind for years.

“I thought that was one of the most incredible things I’ve seen from a player. I was like, ‘wow, that’s really cool. Way to go out on top.’ When you know, you know, and that’s that. I always wanted in some fashion that for myself.”

Alex almost earned herself that opportunity. She finished T6 at the Maybank Championship in October and then made it all the way to a playoff in the Toto Japan LPGA Classic, which she ultimately lost, just missing the chance to ride into the sunset a winner. She missed her next two cuts, a reminder that nothing ends perfectly. But a final-round 66 in Naples to lock up a T12 finish? That was pretty close. The craziest part? She’d kept it a secret.

“You never are going to get that fairytale experience, you know, win, walk away,” Alex said. But I’m so happy for the last month of golf. It’s truly — golf doesn’t owe you anything. To be able to at least get a little bit of feeling like it’s the best golf I’ve ever played and I’m leaving with that, I’m really thankful for it.”

Alex admitted that it was tricky not to tell her friends on tour. “Tell one person, might at well tell 20,” she said. But she appreciates the bond they share having played together for a decade-plus.

“I have some unbelievable friendships. I think there is an unwritten bond so many of us have out here just through traveling and the hardship, the good and the bad.

“I don’t want to whine and say this life is terrible. It’s amazing — and we know that. But it’s challenging. It’s hard. We all kind of share that struggle. For all of us who have known each other for an extended period there is a lot of intertwined just bonds and relationships.”

Going out on your terms — that’s golf stuff I like. As for what’s next?

“Right now, I’m just really ready to rest my brain and mostly, like, my heart,” Alex said. “This is a hard job emotionally and I’m finally ready to hang that up and not live and die by the golf course.

“I’m really looking forward to that.”

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Jeeno Thitikul won the CME Group Tour Championship thanks to a preposterous eagle-birdie finish and pocketed the first-place check of $4 million, the biggest prize in women’s golf, in the process. (This also brought her season earnings to a record $6.06 million, while Nelly Korda‘s seven-win campaign was second at $4.39 million.)

Maverick McNealy won the PGA Tour’s finale, the RSM Classic, thanks to an epic 72nd-hole birdie combined with a couple bogeys from his competition one group ahead. After a decorated college career, the win was McNealy’s first on Tour in his 100th made cut.

Elvis Smylie won the BMW Australian PGA Championship, edging his Aussie idol and mentor Cameron Smith by two shots in what is technically the first event of the DP World Tour’s 2024-25 season.

And Patrick Reed won the Link Hong Kong Open on the Asian Tour — his first victory in nearly four years — thanks to a wild 59-66 weekend.

If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

NOT-WINNERS

A few golfers who didn’t win but still kinda won.

Joel Dahmen was the talk of the RSM Classic; he’s a favorite not only among fans but Tour pros, too, and his top-125 status was in serious jeopardy heading to the weekend. First he needed a five-footer just to make the cut. Then he needed an epic Sunday rally and delivered a clutch six-under 64, enough to lift him to No. 124 in the standings. More on that here (and around the internet; Dahmen’s triumph left its mark) but if you want a taste of what that felt like for onlookers? Here’s Dahmen’s PGA Tour peer Mark Hubbard‘s reaction:

And if you suspect that fate was on Dahmen’s side, well, you’d have some evidence for that. Here was his second shot at No. 4 on Sunday:

Nearer the top of the leaderboard, three pros finished a smidge outside a playoff. Amateur (and Florida State student-athlete) Luke Clanton was paired with recent Tour winner Nico Echavarria; both were sitting at 16 under, both pulled their approach shots left at No. 18 and both made bogey. Daniel Berger, looking to cap off his comeback season with a win, saw several short birdie looks go wanting in the final holes and finished T2 beside them.

And Angel Yin was two shots clear of Thitikul with two holes to play and finished par-par — but somehow lost outright. Despite her opponent’s heroics, she still finished second alone and will have a consolation prize of $1 million. For Yin, who was in a wheelchair earlier this year due to injury, the finish capped off a remarkable turnaround.

“That I’m pretty awesome,” she said with a smile, asked what she’d learned about herself. “That [I couldn’t] walk and finished second. So I’ve learned that I just need to believe my myself and that’s what I did.”

SHORT HITTERS

Who’s in — and who’s out?

–Daniel Berger moved way inside the top 125; he started the week at No. 127 and finished at No. 100. He sounded plenty confident on the weekend despite a lengthy layoff from professional golf.

“To me, it doesn’t really concern me because when I play 1/10th of what I’m capable of, I’m at a level that’s — it’s going to sound terrible, but I think I’m just at a different level than some of the other guys I’m competing against,” he said after Saturday’s round. “Regardless, anytime you take two years off of anything competitive, it just takes a while to come back. I’m giving myself 12 more months to be where I want to be.”

–Henrik Norlander moved in, too — but not by much. He made the cut on the number and rallied with a 63-68 weekend to climb into T17 for the week and No. 120 for the season.

-Then there was Dahmen, whose rollercoaster week saw him finish at No. 124 — the same place he started.

“Makes you appreciate things a little more when times are tough,” he said afterwards. “I thought a lot about everything. It came down to the last putt this week. I hit thousands of golf shots this year, missed a lot of cuts, had a lot of opportunities to do everything, so it didn’t have to come to this. So I was thankful for the opportunity today, but I don’t want to go through this ever again.”

–Sam Ryder secured the last safe spot; he missed the cut but held onto No. 125 when Hayden Springer slipped down the leaderboard with a Sunday 70 and finished at No. 127.

–Zac Blair and Wesley Brian were the two players to start the week inside the number and finish outside; they played alongside Dahmen in the first two rounds but each missed the cut, fading from Nos. 123 and 125 to 126 and 128, respectively.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

Mav on his final 6-iron.

McNealy credited his brother and new caddie Scout with keeping him in the right frame of mind coming down the stretch. So what was their conversation before that final 6-iron approach?

“It was 185 [yards] and 185’s usually a perfect 7-iron, but [the wind] was in off the left,” McNealy said. “I knew that pin was slightly on the back side of the grain change and I knew that putting from long at that pin was great.

“I’ve been working on hitting cuts and I just thought — I told Scout, ‘195 [yard] 6-iron.’ A 6-iron is like a 200 club, so I didn’t need to kill it, but I just needed good solid one. He told me, ‘compress it, just smash down, take a divot.’ Scout’s coaching has been pretty simple lately, he says swing left and take a divot. So I just swung left, took a divot, all came out right on line, dead center of the clubface and it couldn’t have been a better time for it.”

As always: sounds simple, when he puts it that way…

ONE BIG QUESTION

Who would be out?

Lately there’s been plenty of talk around the adjustments the PGA Tour will make to its membership beginning at the end of next season. That includes shrinking many fields plus reducing “full” PGA Tour cards from 125 to 100.

“I have to get better to be in the top 100,” Dahmen admitted post-round.

I’d argue the effects of the change are overstated; the Tour is really just guaranteeing that players with a card get into the events they should get into, and players in the 101-125 category will still get plenty of starts. But say the changes had been implemented this season — how would it look?

The Tour tweeted out the list of Nos. 51-125. The far-right column includes some winners who’d have multi-year exemptions, like Rickie Fowler and Matt McCarty. But most others would be staring down partial status for 2025 and trying to figure out what sort of schedule they’d be able to play.

ONE THING TO WATCH

Tiger Woods’ next tournament.

On Monday the 15-time major champ announced that he was “disappointed” not to tee it up in next week’s Hero World Challenge. It’s no shock that Woods isn’t ready — his latest back surgery was in September — but Woods had initially considered the possibility of recovering in time to tee it up in the Bahamas.

So now what? The team of Tiger and Charlie Woods had been expected to fill out the final spot in the PNC Championship; perhaps Tiger is sitting out to guarantee he’s in full health for what he’s called “our fifth major.”

And then there’s the TGL, the arena golf league co-founded by Woods, which is slated to kick off in January. Golf’s TV ratings have been buoyed by Woods’ presence for decades — part of the value proposition of the TGL is that he’ll play. We’re assuming he’ll be good to go, but it’s worth monitoring what golf fans have grown accustomed to monitoring for nearly two decades: the state of Tiger’s health.

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

The Christmas tree is up. A pre-Thanksgiving tree shop is unprecedented in my household but with Turkey Day this late it was important to adjust on the fly. Eat up, gang. Sneak in a morning nine if you can. We’ll see you next week.

Before you go, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

The post Pro’s secret retirement, Tiger’s next start, Dahmen’s heroics | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Rory’s tearful finale, Nelly’s surprise, a ‘ridiculous’ slow-play fix | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Rory’s tearful finale, Nelly’s surprise, a ‘ridiculous’ slow-play fix | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

First, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe HERE to get it in your email inbox! It’s free. And it would make me happy.

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

A meaningful road trip.

Nelly Korda‘s week at The Annika began with a star-studded pro-am pairing. This Caitlin Clark crossover event wasn’t just a publicity stunt — it was a win-win-win opportunity for the biggest superstar in women’s golf, the biggest superstar in women’s basketball and the greatest game in the world. It was a win for the LPGA, which drew what may have been its biggest pro-am crowd ever. It was a win for Clark, who admitted she’d had the round in mind for months and spent the day geeking out around Korda. And it was cool for Korda, who rarely plays with someone approaching her athletic equal and was impressed with Clark’s composure in front of big crowds in her secondary sport.

“Just chitchatting on the golf course, asking her questions, her asking me,” Korda said. “We just felt like two friends hanging out.”

Korda’s week proceeded like a dream. Even though she was coming off an injury, she and one of the game’s other biggest stars, Charley Hull, rose to the top of the leaderboard by the weekend, no doubt thrilling tournament organizers in the process. The two played in the last group off on Sunday; Hull began the final round with a one-shot lead over Korda.

“I always enjoy playing with Charley. She’s always a fun time. Hopefully we give a good show,” Korda said.

Korda’s week concluded in epic fashion; it proved a “good show” indeed. After three bogeys in her first eight holes, Korda flipped a switch at the turn and ripped off birdies on 11-12-13-14-15. Five in a row took her from chaser to chased; she seized the lead and never looked back. By the time she two-putted No. 18 for par she’d clinched a three-shot win, the seventh of her incredible season.

“There’s nothing like being in the hunt, the adrenaline feeling on the back nine, and being in contention. I love it so much,” she said.

But the moment that really stuck out came at the end of her winner’s interview. “We often see your mom and dad out walking,” Golf Channel’s Karen Stupples said. “But we see your brother is here.”

Nelly’s brother Sebastian Korda is among the best American professional tennis players; he reached a peak of World No. 15 this summer. Because he and his sisters are each constantly on the road they don’t often see each other in action, so this was a special afternoon; Seb had driven a couple hours to catch his sister’s final three holes.

“I did not know that,” Nelly said to Stupples, catching her brother’s eye in real time. “I just saw him.”

Stupples double-checked. “This is your first time seeing him?”

And with that, as we neared the conclusion of a year that had already included a half-dozen wins, a major, a horrifying 10, a series of shocking missed cuts, a Solheim Cup signature moment, a neck injury and even a literal dog bite, we saw a side of Korda we hadn’t.

“Yeah, and this is my first time winning in front of him,” Korda said, and now she was barely holding back tears. “I haven’t seen him in a couple months — so it’s nice to see him.”

And off she went to give her baby brother a champagne-soaked hug. Winning in front of the people who matter the most? That’s golf stuff I like.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

–Rory McIlroy won the DP World Tour Championship, finishing his rollercoaster 2024 season with an exclamation point. “I’ve been through a lot this year professionally, personally,” he said. “It feels like the fitting end to 2024.” While McIlroy acknowledged that even he will look back at this season with mixed feelings — the near-miss at the U.S. Open may never really leave him — this was a meaningful way to finish.

“I think I would have been miserable for a few weeks if I hadn’t won today,” McIlroy admitted. “It would have just added to the list of ones that I felt I let get away, and for one to not get away and to get over the line and be the final event of the year, it feels nice.”

He offered a fair appraisal of his year, too, in the context of the best players in the world.

“I know how people are going to view my year and I view my year similarly but at the same time, I still have to remember I won four times and I won a [sixth career] Race to Dubai. I accumulated a lot of big finishes and big performances, and the two guys that had better years than me have had career years. Xander [Schauffele] won two majors, and Scottie [Scheffler] won a Players and a Masters and an Olympic gold medal. They are the only two guys this year that I think that have had better years than me.”

This win was a testament to McIlroy’s longevity. It was also a reminder of what we have to look forward to next year.

-With her win, Nelly Korda became the first player since 2011 to win seven times in an LPGA season and the first American since 1990. She’ll have one more chance to add to her total at the CME Group Tour Championship next week.

–Rafael Campos won his first PGA Tour event in fairytale fashion. He entered the week a new father; his wife Stephanie gave birth to their daughter Paola on Monday. But he also entered the week at No. 147 in the FedEx Cup and on the brink of losing his card; only the top 125 after next week’s RSM Classic receive full status for 2025.

But Campos arrived in Bermuda on Wednesday and embraced everything the event had to offer, namely the island’s famously wild conditions and the challenges that come with it. He fired a Saturday 62, bounced back from a missed one-footer on Sunday and held steady down the stretch en route to a three-shot win.

“I just can’t believe this is actually happening to me after such a year,” Campos said. “I’m just grateful to be able to call myself a PGA Tour champion. It’s something I’ve dreamt about all my life — I just want to call my family.”

–Max McGreevy won the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament on the Japan Golf Tour, holding off a talented field that included Akshay Bhatia and Hideki Matsuyama, who finished T2.

-And two members of LIV Golf won in returns to their home tours; Dean Burmester won on the Sunshine Tour in South Africa while Lucas Herbert held off fellow LIV star Cameron Smith at the PGA Tour Australasia’s NSW Open.

If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

NOT-WINNERS

A few guys who didn’t win but still kinda won.

-On the PGA Tour, Andrew Novak threw down the best result of his career with a runner-up finish in Bermuda. Sam Ryder finished T5 to go from outside the magic number (No. 135 in the FedEx Cup) to inside (No. 122). Vince Whaley finished T5 in Bermuda, too, to move from the bubble (No. 123) to safety (No. 113). Wesley Bryan had a turbulent 61-74 weekend to finish T17; he’s up from No. 128 to No. 125 and will enter the RSM Classic directly on the bubble.

Adrien Dumont de Chassert didn’t finish better than T30 in a full-field PGA Tour event all year but showed out in a T3 finish in Bermuda. And Kevin Kisner finished T29, his best result since Nov. 2022.

-On the LPGA Tour, Charley Hull backed up her the LET win she’d earned in her most recent start with her fourth top-10 of the LPGA season. Weiwei Zhang finished T2 alongside her to secure her card for the 2025 season. And Rose Zhang finished T5, her best result since winning the Cognizant Founders Cup back in May.

SHORT HITTERS

10 pros who earned PGA Tour cards.

With the DP World Tour’s final event of the year came the final list of guys who earned PGA Tour status for next season. For the second consecutive season, the DPWT’s 10 best players earned dual membership — let’s buzz through ’em.

10. Tom McKibbin is a 21-year-old Northern Irishman who grew up in Belfast and played Holywood Golf Club — yes, Rory McIlroy‘s home course — growing up. He snagged the 10th and final spot thanks to a T11 finish in Dubai.

“He’s done amazingly well, and I think his game is going to be suited for America,” McIlroy said post-win.

9. Rikuya Hoshino is a 28-year-old from Japan who won his first DPWT title this season; he’s also a six-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour.

8. Antoine Rozner is a 31-year-old Frenchman who has won three times on the DPWT; he’ll hope to follow in the footsteps of countryman Matthieu Pavon, who rode this same exemption into a PGA Tour win earlier this year.

7. Thorbjorn Olesen is a 34-year-old Dane who is, strangely, earning his PGA Tour status through this category for the second consecutive season. Sitting in 157th in the FedEx Cup, Olesen chose to play the DPWT’s fall schedule instead of the FedEx Fall on the PGA Tour. It proved a wise choice: He finished T12-T2-T7-T3 to secure his spot.

6. Matteo Manassero is a 31-year-old Italian and onetime prodigy who is playing his best golf in a decade. You’ll remember Manassero as a 16-year-old playing alongside Tom Watson at the 2009 Open; you’ll also remember him as a teenage winner on the DPWT. Now he’ll get to make new PGA Tour memories.

5. Niklas Norgaard is a 32-year-old Dane whose best season yet included his first DPWT victory; he’s never played a stateside full-field PGA Tour event and has never been in a major championship, either.

4. Jesper Svensson is a 28-year-old Swede who won the Porsche Singapore Classic for his first DPWT victory and, at No. 96, currently slots in as the world’s third-ranked Swede behind Ludvig Aberg (No. 5) and Alex Noren (No. 53).

3. Paul Waring is a 39-year-old Englishman who has barely played in the U.S. as a pro but punched his ticket thanks to a gutsy win in Abu Dhabi last week. He and McKibbin are, interestingly, the only pros on this list from traditional golfing hotbeds in the U.K. and Ireland.

2. Thriston Lawrence is a 27-year-old South African who put together arguably the most consistent season on the DPWT in 2024; he started the season with a runner-up finish in Dubai and added four more second-place results over the course of the season. Short of winning, he did about as well as he could have and he should be a factor on Tour next year.

1. Rasmus Hojgaard is a 23-year-old Dane whose brother Nicolai earned his PGA Tour card through this pathway a year ago; Rasmus barely missed out and was relegated to Ryder Cup cart driver while his brother made his Team Europe debut. Now the title of best Hojgaard is back in question — Rasmus’ second-place finish in Dubai secured him the top exemption spot to the PGA Tour and he’s up to No. 45 in the world, the best number of his career. (Nicolai is currently No. 58.) Now we’ll be seeing double on the PGA Tour — and perhaps even at Bethpage next fall.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

Nelly Korda on fear.

“The middle of the season [golf] felt like the hardest thing in the world,” Nelly Korda said on Inside the LPGA this week, speaking about her rollercoaster summer. “And there’s all the criticism that you hear but you don’t want to look at — it’s tough to deal with.

“And then I was afraid to make mistakes, but to the point where, when I was afraid to make mistakes, I started making more mistakes, because I was so afraid of them. And I just had to tell myself look, I’m a human being, I’m going to have good days and I’m going to have really bad days and those doesn’t define me. I can’t be afraid of making mistakes because it’s just going to eat me alive.

Korda added that she’s “still madly in love” with golf. That may be her biggest asset of all.

ONE BIG QUESTION

What to do about slow play?

Charley Hull ripped the LPGA’s woeful pace of play after Saturday’s round had her finishing in the darkness despite no significant delays.

“It was crazy,” Hull said of the third round, which she said took five hours, 40 minutes to complete. “I’m quite ruthless but I said listen, if you get three bad timings, every time it’s a two-shot penalty [and] if you have three of them you lose your tour card instantly. I’m sure that would hurry a lot of people up and they won’t want to lose their tour card.

“That would kill the slow play, but they would never do that.”

Hull’s right — they never would. But slow play is one thing pro golf can’t continue to screw up. Yes, it’s always going to be a delicate balance. Yes, pros are playing for greater and greater prizes. Yes, greens are only getting faster and tricker as the years go on. But as every other sport doubles down on keeping the action going and keeping eyeballs on the screen, golf can’t get slower. Per Beth Ann Nichols of Golfweek, the Annika’s sponsor, Gainbridge, has requested they shrink the field from its current 120-player size. That’s probably a good call, but it’s treating the symptom rather than the root cause.

Is Hull’s solution the correct one? No, probably not. I’ll add another half-baked idea to the pile, though: after a certain amount of time (30 or 40 seconds, say), players will be zapped with some light doses of electric shock, just enough to screw ’em up on a full swing. Plenty of incentive to hit the ball in the allotted amount of time. Let’s try some stuff. That question, then: What stuff?

ONE MERGER UPDATE

Trump, Yasir and Jay.

On Friday, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan accepted an invitation to play golf with President-Elect Donald Trump at Trump International in West Palm Beach, Fla.

On Saturday night, Trump was spotted ringside at Madison Square Garden, where he was flanked by…Yasir Al-Rumayyan! The PIF governor and LIV chairman sat directly next to Trump throughout the evening.

What do these meetings, which were first reported by the Washington Post, actually mean? That remains to be seen, and perhaps not a whole lot. But it is a reminder that the next U.S. president is at the center of several Venn Diagrams involving professional golf, Saudi Arabia and U.S. politics.

ONE THING TO WATCH

Caitlin Clark plays 18.

How’d the 22-year-old look with a club in hand? Here’s her complete pro-am round:

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

We haven’t gotten a Christmas tree yet but we’re officially making tentative plans to do so. Welcome to mid-November. The Leaf Rule is in full effect.

See you next week!

Before you go, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

The post Rory’s tearful finale, Nelly’s surprise, a ‘ridiculous’ slow-play fix | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post A shocking PGA Tour grad, Dahmen’s chase, golf’s Trump question | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post A shocking PGA Tour grad, Dahmen’s chase, golf’s Trump question | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

First, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe HERE to get it in your email inbox! It’s free. And it would make me happy.

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Graduation.

After his first round at this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Paul Waring admitted that he had his sights set high.

At 39, Waring is nobody’s idea of a rising star. The Englishman came into the week as a solid member of pro golf’s upper-middle class, sitting at No. 48 in the DP World Tour’s Order of Merit and with one career win, the 2018 Nordea Masters, to his name. But after opening with 8-under 64 in his 332nd DP World Tour start, Waring admitted he was chasing another win and everything that comes with it.

“There’s other targets [beyond this week], obviously Top-25 for The Open, PGA Tour cards. There’s so much money to play for these last two events. Two solid weeks will push me right up the list. That’s the goal I’m actually going with. It would be great to play next week, don’t get me wrong, but the target’s a little bit bigger than that in my eyes,” he said.

Then came Friday, when Waring brought Yas Links to its knees with a course-record, 11-under 61 that got him to an outrageous 19 under through two rounds. Again he admitted he was thinking bigger picture.

“There are bigger things in my career that I do want to go and do and as I said yesterday, top 25 spots get an Open spot next year, that’s something I want to try and achieve, and [see] if I get somewhere near a PGA Tour card.”

His comments were a sign of the times. I wrote last week about the current state of the DP World Tour, which is stuck between identities — it’s a stopoff for big-time PGA Tour stars, it’s an outlet for semi-eligible LIV pros and it’s a truly global tour with an epic international schedule but it’s also a feeder tour, granting its 10 best pros PGA Tour cards for the following season and taking some cast-offs who fall outside full PGA Tour status in return. The DPWT seems like a fantastic place to play, it has a better-than-ever schedule and it’s shown gains in spectators as well as TV ratings — and yet it’s clearly not the pinnacle of competitive golf.

Back to Waring, then, who weathered a middling third-round 73 and held just a one-shot lead as play finished on Saturday and he delivered this pithy British perspective as he stared down the thought of a sleepless night and a Sunday battle.

“It’s a game of golf tomorrow, isn’t it? Game of golf in the sunshine. I’ll be playing with Niklas [Norgaard] again, great lad, good friend of mine. Looking forward to the challenge of it now.”

In that final round, Waring was terrific. He birdied No. 1. He birdied No. 2. Up ahead the top-ranked players in the field were making charges — Rory McIlroy was four under through six holes and Tyrrell Hatton was on his way to an eight-birdie, no-bogey 64 — but Waring plugged along, adding birdies at 7 and 10 and keeping a clean card otherwise.

He looked destined for a possible playoff when, tied with Hatton for the lead, he hit it to 40 feet at the par-3 17th. But he holed that putt — “as soon as it left the blade, I knew it was in,” he said gleefully, later — and closed with a birdie at the par-5 18th to finish off a two-stroke win. Good game of golf in the sunshine.

Waring looked to be in shock in his post-round interviews. This was his first Rolex Series win and he’d just earned the biggest victory and biggest winner’s check of his life. “I’ll probably still be hungover Thursday,” he said, looking ahead to this week’s DP World Tour Championship.

But I was most struck by his reaction to earning his PGA Tour card — one of the things he’d been chasing hardest. As it sunk in, reality seemed more complex than his dream.

“I was quite happy living in Dubai, to be honest with you,” Waring said, sounding a bit like the dog who’d caught the car. “It’s going to be a long way to travel, a long commute over to America. But I’m looking forward to that. It’s a new challenge.”

Setting a goal and surprising even yourself when you reach it? Getting a win and watching your life change? Appreciating the present even as you look to the future? Pressing on to new, uncomfortable challenges? That’s golf stuff I like.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Paul Waring‘s second (and biggest) DP World Tour win moved him to No. 5 in the Race to Dubai and assured him a PGA Tour card for 2025.

A Lim Kim won the Lotte Championship at Hoakalei Country Club, earning her second LPGA Tour victory nearly four years after her first, which came in epic fashion at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open. “It was super fun. I haven’t felt this way in a long time,” she said.

Austin Eckroat made 11 birdies in a final-round 63 at the World Wide Technology Championship, validating his Cognizant Classic victory earlier this year. “I think that second win kind of solidifies that you can win on the PGA Tour,” Eckroat said post-round. “You can’t just say it was luck this time; I’ve done it twice. Pretty cool.”

Steven Alker won the season-long points race for the second time in three years, earning a $1 million bonus in the process and continuing to serve as inspiration for 45-to-49-year-old golf dreamers everywhere.

And Bernhard Langer, 67 years young, won his 47th PGA Tour Champions event thanks to a 30-foot walkoff bomb at the Charles Schwab Cup. Langer’s sustained excellence on this circuit borders on the absurd; he’d won at least once in each of his first 17 seasons on the senior circuit and was already the oldest winner in tour history. But he tore his left Achilles tendon playing pickleball early this year and the streak seemed doomed. It wasn’t. Rock on, Bernhard.

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NOT-WINNERS

A few guys who didn’t win.

Rory McIlroy debuted a new golf swing and tied for third in Abu Dhabi, keeping him squarely in the driver’s seat as he tries to close out his sixth season-long Race to Dubai title this week. He’ll want a couple holes back — he tripled his 17th hole on Friday and doubled his 18th hole on Saturday — but it was his third podium finish in four DPWT starts this fall and suggested these changes could take quickly.

Tyrrell Hatton finished one shot ahead of McIlroy and has now gone T10-1-2 in his three DPWT starts this fall; DataGolf bumped him to a career-high No. 5 in its player rankings on Monday morning.

Nataliya Guseva came up one shot short in Hawaii; she was attempting to become the first Russian winner in LPGA history.

Angela Stanford played her final LPGA Tour event (though we won’t begrudge her a comeback here and there) and hit every green on the back nine, a fitting finish to a top-tier ball-striking career for the seven-time winner. She finished T26.

And Max Greyserman finished fourth in Mexico, two shots behind Eckroat. The result was his fourth top-four finish in his last six starts, though he’s still chasing his first win. “Yeah, I’ve been playing some really solid golf, but need to play better golf, so that’s kind of the moral of the story,” he said. Greyserman is done until Hawaii in January, he said.

News

SHORT HITTERS

Five pros chasing PGA Tour cards.

1. Joel Dahmen finished T14 in Mexico, making an important move from No. 124 to No. 121 as he fights to secure fully-exempt PGA Tour status for 2025. “It would mean the world,” Dahmen said of retaining exempt membership. “I think it would mean more this year, just the grind that it’s been. Golf has been relatively easy for me for five years. Haven’t really been in this position before.”

2. Joe Highsmith made the biggest move in Mexico, jumping from just outside at No. 126 to all the way in at No. 112 and thus ensuring the presence of two underrepresented populations — lefties and bucket-hat-guys — on Tour for 2025.

3. Daniel Berger moved inside the number, too, jumping from No. 129 to No. 124 thanks to a T20 finish. Berger remains one of the PGA Tour’s most interesting characters; we’ve still hardly heard about his 18-month golf hiatus. Here’s hoping he keeps his card so we get more DB next season.

4. On the DP World Tour, Thorbjorn Olesen is among the most interesting pros who’s expected to earn PGA Tour status for 2025 — namely because he’ll do so for the second consecutive year. Olesen earned his card for the 2024 PGA Tour season but didn’t have the success of fellow grads like Matthieu Pavon and Bob MacIntyre, who each won. And this fall he prioritized European play rather than the FedEx Fall, a decision that proved wise thanks to a run of T12-T2-T7-T3. He’s now No. 7 in those rankings.

5. Matteo Manassero is two spots ahead of Olesen at No. 5; the one-time teenage phenom is playing his best golf in over a decade. It’ll be fascinating to see and hear more from the “Magnificent Manassero,” who won earlier this season for the first time after an 11-year absence from the winner’s circle.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

Change it all? Or don’t change at all?

Rory McIlroy, who leads the Race to Dubai, has spent the last few weeks with big-time swing changes in mind.

“I probably haven’t liked the shape of my golf swing for a while, especially the backswing,” he said pre-tournament. “The only way I was going to make a change or at least move in the right direction with my swing was to lock myself in a studio and not see the ball flight for a bit and just focus entirely on the movement.”

On the other hand, Thriston Lawrence is No. 2 in the DPWT’s standings and having the best season of his career. What’s been his secret to success?

“I think just not changing a lot. I think just what I’ve been working on two years ago when I got here for the first time, I’m still doing it today. So not changing and sticking to the game plan and sticking to routines. I do my warmup and not do anything on Mondays when I make the cut on the prior weekend. Just sticking to my guns and that has to help with consistency.”

So there you have it. Either burn it all down and start over — or don’t change a thing and double down on what you’re already doing. Choose your own adventure…

ONE BIG QUESTION

What does Trump’s election mean for the merger?

McIlroy suggested this week that Trump’s election could clear the way for a deal between the Saudi PIF and the PGA Tour. (Sidenote: I’d love to see this somewhere in the list of “top issue for voters” alongside stuff like “democracy” and “the economy” — are there any single-issue pro-golf-merger voters out there?) After all, Trump is materially invested in the outcome; he’s the owner of several courses that have hosted LIV events and has long had a cozy relationship with the Saudis. The question, then: is McIlroy right?

The beautiful thing about this section of the column is that I can just ask the question, not answer it. But I can also guide you to a helpful resource, namely a useful bit of journalism from The Athletic’s Gabby Herzig, who deep-dived this issue and found that yes, indeed, the priorities of the Department of Justice often mirror the priorities of the president. So a Trump presidency won’t guarantee anything but may well tip the scales toward a less aggressive pursuit of anti-trust concerns. More here, though.

ONE THING TO WATCH

New courses, new podcast.

GOLF is dropping a new podcast — Destination GOLF — which coincides with the drop of our latest Top 100 list. Good stuff all around from Josh Sens and Simon Holt, who tease a bit from that list and its movers and shakers in this clip below:

You can listen to the full pod on APPLE or SPOTIFY.

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

I got beers with a group of avid Seattleite golfers on Saturday after they’d finished a drizzly afternoon round; it was fun to shoot the breeze with a bunch of real-life golf sickos. I was also struck by how many Seattle transplants were part of the group — it was a reminder that, in a world with fewer and fewer built-in places to make friends, golf remains a terrific spot for exactly that.

(Also, again, shoutout to Washingtonian Joe Highsmith.)

See you next week!

Before you go, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

The post A shocking PGA Tour grad, Dahmen’s chase, golf’s Trump question | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Rory’s new doc, Tour tweaks, election distractions | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Rory’s new doc, Tour tweaks, election distractions | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

First, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe HERE to get it in your email inbox! It’s free. And it would make me happy.

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

An optimistic docuseries.

I have to admit something: I cannot stop thinking about the upcoming TGL docuseries following the league’s Boston Common squad, which consists of Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott.

Word of the show had already trickled out, but this week more details emerged. Here’s what led last Friday’s press release:

‘unCOMMON: Building A Boston Sports Team,’ is a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Creation of Boston Common Golf, the Tech-Forward Team Representing Boston and New England in TGL presented by SoFi.’

The series is five episodes; it kicks off the day after Christmas and runs once a week until Boston Common plays its first TGL match on Jan. 27th.

I am generally neutral, unopposed to and even intrigued by the creation of the TGL. Its offerings aren’t necessarily what I know and love about professional golf but it is, to use one increasingly common bit of industry jargon, additive. It’s different. It’s not another iteration of weekend stroke-play golf. It’s non-threatening. And it could be fun! And while I’m turned off by three separate phrases in that first sentence of press release — the capitalization of unCOMMON feels gratuitous, any reference to “Tech-Forward” does nothing for me and “TGL presented by SoFi” makes me think this entire thing is purely a vehicle for endorsement dollars; imagine the name of America’s football league being “NFL presented by Verizon” — I’m still moderately excited to see it all go down come January.

But I spend most (“all” if my bosses read this) of my working hours (and plenty off the clock) thinking about golf. How many are like me? My estimation would be “not enough to make this league work” but then, I wouldn’t have greenlit Holey Moley, either, and that draws more viewers than most PGA Tour events.

The point here is that the entire existence of the TGL is optimistic. The fact that league organizers think people will watch a new form of arena golf is optimistic. That they think people will buy into teams with geographical names but no other concrete ties to those places is optimistic. The expectation they’ll watch more golf when the zone already feels flooded is optimistic. And then, on top of it all, the expectation that they’ll watch a five-part docuseries on the creation of a league that doesn’t yet exist? If “optimistic” is halfway between “prophetic” and “delusional,” well, we may be teetering slightly towards the latter. Five episodes. That’s the same number as epic miniseries Chernobyl.

All of this adds up to the feeling that, ironically or not, I cannot wait to watch this series. The press release includes a team photo from Boston that includes Tyrrell Hatton, who left for LIV (and thus left TGL) nearly a year ago. Will they dive into the Hatton stuff or sidestep it? Will they address the destruction of the initial TGL stadium? An increasingly complex relationship between co-founders McIlroy and Tiger Woods? Will Hideki, who is notably absent from the trailer, make any sort of appearance? What does it mean that McIlroy says he’s “decided to go all in” on growing the game of golf?

I don’t know. One thing I do know is that I promise to offer a series review when it comes out; I’ll be glued to the screen. For the first episode, at least. Going all in on an idea that could be good or a complete flop? Sure, that’s golf stuff I like.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Nelly Korda won the LPGA’s Player of the Year award, clinching the points-based title despite making just 14 starts in a remarkably up-and-down year. Mostly up, though; six wins in seven starts is silly stuff.

Rio Takeda of Japan won the LPGA’s Toto Japan Classic in a tournament that was first shortened (Saturday was a rainout) and then lengthened (Takeda needed six playoff holes to take down Marina Alex). Takeda can cancel her Q-School plans; she’ll earn her LPGA Tour card with the victory.

Charley Hull won for the first time in two years in a Ladies European Tour event in Saudi Arabia. “Finally the bride and not the bridesmaid,” she wrote on Instagram. Her win came thanks to a final-round 66 at Riyadh Golf Club, which will serve as host to LIV’s Q-School next month as well as LIV’s opening event in 2025.

While the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Champions and LIV were all off, the top men’s golf was played on the Asian Tour and the Challenge Tour.

Canadian Richard T. Lee won the Indonesian Masters by four, moving him into second place in the International Series rankings behind John Catlin; the winner there will earn a LIV berth for 2025.

And Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan won the Challenge Tour’s finale, punching his ticket back to the DP World Tour for the first time since he turned pro in 2018. He’s also now the third-ranked Norwegian in the OWGR, though at No. 442 he still has a ways to go to catch former amateur competitor Viktor Hovland (No. 8).

If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

NOT-WINNERS

A few guys who didn’t win.

Reitan’s win we just mentioned? It came thanks to a missed putt from Danish pro Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, who missed this horrifying shortie at No. 18 to hand the Norwegian the victory. RNP is, remarkably, up to No. 87 in the world despite playing the Challenge Tour this season; his three wins and continued excellence moved him up to the big circuit before season’s end. Still, this must have hurt…

SHORT HITTERS

Five golf notes to distract you from the election.

1. Twins Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard, whose ongoing duel for Best Hojgaard has been featured in this column before, are nearly deadlocked in the OWGR; Nicolai is No. 55 while Rasmus is No. 56. This is incredibly cool to me.

2. The next (and 10th!) edition of the Match will not include any pro golfers (other than Bubba Watson, who’s joining a broadcast team that includes Trevor Immelman) but instead feature a multi-day West Palm Beach bonanza including Charles Barkley, Bill Murray, Mark Wahlberg, Wayne Gretzky, Nate Bargatze, Michael Phelps, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Blake Griffin. There is actually one fascinating golf story buried in here: Barkley’s emergence from the depths of golf-yip hell is worth our attention.

3. Bandon Dunes’ developer, Dream Golf, has another destination in the works: Old Shores is a new golf development coming to the Florida Panhandle, with Tom Doak set to design the initial 18-hole course. Dream Golf now has Bandon (in Oregon) and Sand Valley (in Wisconsin) while Rodeo Dunes (in Colorado) and Wild Spring Dunes (in Texas) each under construction. Assuming they stick to their detail-and-vibe-obsessed roots, this is good news for golfers everywhere.

4. Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley played Merion with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and former President Barack Obama last week. Check that — Saquon played. Hurts watched. The Eagles QB’s $255 million deal precludes him from playing golf, a fact that earned the internet’s ridicule. But fellas, while I support every QB’s right to play golf at all times, this seems like a fair concern. One study found that as many as 40 percent of amateur golfers suffered an injury over a two-year period of play, injuries concentrated in the back, elbow and shoulder — and it’s not like Hurts has in injury-proof swing (second slide below). Protect that man and his swing!

5. Co-favorites for this week’s World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico? That would be the quartet of Cameron Young, Ben Griffin, Doug Ghim and Max Greyserman. Fun fact: All four of ’em have at least one runner-up finish on the PGA Tour in 2024, but none of ’em have ever won on the PGA Tour. Maybe this is the week that changes.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

Breathe your way to success.

In her six-hole sudden-death playoff, one reporter noticed Marina Alex doing a lot of breathing. Why?

“At some point I felt like I was a little fatigued so I was starting to get tired so I was trying to pump myself up, actually,” she said. “[But] at the end of regulation maybe trying to calm myself down. There are always those levels, peaks, valleys of trying to get into the right headspace.”

That’s a useful reminder: It’s possible to be too calm over a shot.

ONE BIG QUESTION

Will the PGA Tour’s changes help?

Last week the PGA Tour informed its players about a slate of proposed changes to the Tour and its membership, including a reduction of guaranteed cards from 125 to 100, a reduction in field sizes, a scaling-back of Monday qualifiers and more. You can read a breakdown we did here but the big question: will they help?

I’d say that yes, the changes will help where they’re intended to. The general downsizing is meant to streamline the product and avoid increasingly awkward situations like players with status not getting into events or rounds not finishing due to darkness. While it hurts to think that fewer players will tee it up in Tour events, there are still plenty of opportunities to prove your worth; the sport will be, if anything, more fair.

So yeah, it’ll help. Will it help heal the divide between the PGA Tour and LIV? Probably not. That seems like a separate issue entirely, tabled for now to tabloid speculation, Department of Justice deliberation and ongoing, mysterious negotiation. But in time, maybe…

ONE THING TO WATCH

Sean Connery on why we play.

The man who played James Bond in arguably golf’s most iconic cinematic moment (in Goldfinger) had a few things to say about golf in this clip unearthed by Jamie Kennedy, in which he describes the game as immersive, addicting, revealing, endless. (More on that here.)

“As Jack Nicklaus says, it’s an unfair game and you have to accept that. It’s like life in that way,” Connery says. “It’s also a game that you can cheat at. It’s the easiest game in the world to cheat at. And the only one that suffers is you. Because you know. And you can’t unknow.”

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

The calendar turn to November means we’re in sicko season, where the skies open up but tee sheets do, too. Catch a dry window on a 50-degree day and you just might sail around untouched. As long as you can beat the impending darkness, that is…

We’ll keep trying to bring you to sunnier places. See you next week!

Before you go, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

The post Rory’s new doc, Tour tweaks, election distractions | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Norman’s LIV admission, Caitlin Clark’s new coach | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post Norman’s LIV admission, Caitlin Clark’s new coach | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

First, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe HERE to get it in your email inbox! It’s free. And it would make me happy.

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

In times like these (you can read “times like these” however you’d like: football season, the PGA Tour offseason, impending-cold-weather-so-not-really-golf season, pro golf’s current greed-and-lawyer-infused limbo season, etc.) some of the golf stuff I like is the simplest: someone falling in love with golf because it is, at its heart, a nearly perfect game.

Enter Caitlin Clark, who just won Rookie of the Year and supercharged a sports league in her day job and, now in her first WNBA offseason, is taking on a real challenge: fixing her slice.

I got a kick out of Beth Ann Nichols‘ Golfweek interview with Clark’s new coach (golf coach, that is, I can’t claim much inside intel on the Fever’s coaching search) Martha Foyer-Faulconer, the pro at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind.

Like the majority of amateur players, Clark battles a slice. And like most amateurs, when Clark hits the range she’s mostly interested in ripping driver.

“Oh, I just want to kill it,” she said.

But Clark herself said something earlier this year that stuck with me: “I think everybody just loves instant satisfaction in our world.” That’s true. Nowhere is instant satisfaction more sought and evasive than in golf, so, welcome to the pain house.

Still, thanks to athleticism and confidence and determination and work ethic and epic hand-eye coordination, Clark finds golf satisfaction quicker than most. An Instagram video of Clark and Foyer-Faulconer’s lesson shows some full-swing sends as well as a chipping tip — “hands forward, leaning left…” — that has Clark dialing in a bump-and-run in no time.

Clark is so popular right now that she could spend her time doing anything. Going to cool parties. Racking up endorsement dollars. Leaning into her celebrity. Instead? She’s working on her golf game. The stuff that money can’t buy?

That’s golf stuff I like.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Nico Echavarria won the Zozo Championship by a single shot, earning the second — and biggest — PGA Tour victory of his career. The Colombian 30-year-old broke Tiger Woods‘ tournament scoring record in the process.

“I just need 80 more victories to catch him. I’m on my way, though,” he said.

Ruoning Yin won the Maybank Championship for her second victory in three starts and her third of the season; she outdueled good friend Jeeno Thitikul by a shot. The 22-year-old from China now has five LPGA wins, halfway to the all-time Chinese record of 10 held by Shanshan Feng.

Ben An won the Genesis Championship in a playoff over Tom Kim; both had elected to play the DP World Tour this week in their home country of South Korea. His celebration? It kicked off in inspiring fashion with a teary hug with his grandmother.

Lee Chieh-po won the International Series event in Thailand, securing his first Asian Tour win nearly a decade after his first season on tour.

And Padraig Harrington won the Simmons Bank Championship with a closing 5-under 67 for his third PGA Tour Champions win of the year.

If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

NOT-WINNERS

A few guys who didn’t win.

Max Greyserman is becoming an excellent almost-winner; he finished T2, one shot back of Echavarria, and has now logged three runner-up finishes this year.

“Feel like there’s a reason some of the top guys are so good,” he said. “Obviously their skill level’s very high, but they’re able to put themselves in contention a lot so they just get comfortable in those moments. I think I might have finally gotten there. I just didn’t quite get it done today, but happy with how I battled and how I fought with the game that I had.”

Justin Thomas, rolling with a new putter, made just one bogey all week and finished T2 alongside Greyserman. Thomas said he was “obviously bummed and disappointed” but, big-picture, felt encouraged in his first start since missing out on the Presidents Cup.

“I played so well. I played plenty well enough to win the tournament,” he said.

Rickie Fowler played his way into the mix and played well enough to stay there, finishing with a six-birdie, no-bogey final round. Fowler was typically even-keel in his description of the week — great being back in contention, he said, and he relishes trips to Japan to sample some sushi and sake — but his fourth-place finish was his third consecutive top 25 and his best result since winning in Detroit last year.

Jeeno Thitikul came up one shot short in Malaysia and had this to say about a few birdie putts that slid by on Sunday:

“You know, it’s just golf. Some holes you miss; some holes you make it. I think I’m really proud of what I did out there, especially like three holes towards the end.”

She’s up to No. 7 in the world and, alongside Yin, has cemented herself as among the world’s best players, period.

And while the Monday Finish does not condone locker-breaking (this is featured in our official code-of-conduct policies) I have to admit part of me appreciates Tom Kim‘s passion for damaging a locker after his playoff loss on Sunday. He hasn’t quite dialed it all in. He has maturing to do (his apology on Monday reflected efforts to those ends). But golf is facing an apathy crisis, and Kim is part of the solution. (f you want the full story, our Alan Bastable talked to Kim’s agent, Ben Harrison, too — seems like Kim broke a hinge on the door rather than, like, Hulk-ripping it out of the locker.)

SHORT HITTERS

Five things that aren’t happening in golf this week.

1. The PGA Tour is off for a week; they’ll resume play a week from now in Los Cabos for the World Wide Technology Championship. In the meantime you can study up on those at risk of losing their cards, like Joel Dahmen (No. 124), Alejandro Tosti (No. 128) or Daniel Berger (No. 129).

2. The DP World Tour has now completed its “regular season” and is off; they’ll return next week, too, for the “playoffs,” the final two weeks of the season, in Abu Dhabi and then Dubai, where we’ll see some of the circuit’s biggest names teeing it up for its biggest prizes. The top 70 have qualified for the playoffs, Rory McIlroy (yet again) leads the Race to Dubai and there’s a fierce chase for 10 PGA Tour cards for the 2025 season; Guido Migliozzi and Romain Langasque are currently the last two in while Tom McKibbin and Thorbjorn Oleson are the first two out.

3. The PGA Tour Champions is off before its season finale, next week’s Charles Schwab Cup Championship. The field consists of the top 36 players on the points list following last week’s event; that list will include Jason Caron, the 52-year-old club pro who played just nine events this season, jumped from No. 53 to No. 35 after a T3 this week and still plans to keep his day job.

4. The Shriners Childrens Open is not happening again — at least not under its current banner. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Shriners is ending its sponsorship of an event it has headlined since 2007. This seems like an inevitable growing pain for the Tour’s fall schedule, which has seen sponsors shift or drop as its place as golf’s “offseason” is further codified.

5. While we’re seeing some LIV Golf stars pop up elsewhere — Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton on the DP World Tour, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson on YouTube, etc. — we’re getting used to others all but disappearing in the league’s five-month offseason. Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson are among those with no public plans to play anything between the circuit’s team championship in September and its resumption next February in Saudi Arabia. This isn’t breaking news, and for those two it may well be the ideal schedule. It’s just a reminder that, until something changes, there are certain pros who we’ll see at those 14 LIV events plus the majors and very little else.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

There’s more to life than speed.

His latest win means we’ve found another excuse to include Padraig Harrington in this section? Hell yeah.

While Harrington has been among golf’s most eager proponents of gaining speed, he admitted that during Sunday’s final round he took the opposite approach.

“I’ve tried to keep my speed up to compete with the young guys, so it’s an advantage when I come out here, for sure,” Harrington said Sunday. “Unusual for me, but I was trying to swing easy at the end, just keeping it tidy. But that’s because when you’re in contention, you’ve got a little bit more adrenaline. Yeah, it’s nice to have that advantage, it’s nice, I know I can get at a few more pins than other guys, but you’ve still got to hole the putts and hit the shots.”

It’s okay to back off. It helps when you’re starting with his baseline speed, of course…

ONE INTRIGUING ADMISSION

Greg Norman on LIV’s future.

Greg Norman revealed in an interview with Sports Illustrated‘s Bob Harig that his contract as LIV CEO is up next August, and while he expects a future with the league, he didn’t deny reports that they may be searching for a new leader. The article quotes Norman as largely bullish about LIV’s future and he praises their progress, three years in, but with one notable exception: the league’s TV deal.

“Where we’re falling short is due to the headwinds in not getting a network [TV] deal,” Norman told SI. “That creates uncertainty in the marketplace. (A lot of companies say) let’s see what happens. That rolls into sponsorship. We have an enormous number of big corporations who are talking to us and would be very keen to come on.

“Again, the question is what is going to happen with the deal? Whether it happens or it doesn’t is going to set the marketplace at ease. When we know what’ll do and the marketplace will know how to navigate the situation. But the headwinds continue from a scheduling and venue perspective as well.”

While LIV’s supporters have cited the league’s app and its streaming capabilities, Norman’s admission here backs the long-held idea that in sports, broadcast TV deals are still king, and without one LIV’s value is mostly theoretical. LIV launched on YouTube and on the league’s website in 2022, while in 2023 and 2024 its events played on the CW, though only on the weekends and often on tape delay (and LIV didn’t earn much from the arrangement). That’s at least part of the reason that LIV’s ratings have been minuscule when compared with the PGA Tour’s.

LIV’s deal with the CW reportedly expires at the end of 2024; it’ll be interesting to see where the league plays next.

ONE BIG QUESTION

Where’s the Ryder Cup headed next?

I’m glad you asked. We know about Bethpage next year, which has everyone fired up despite the $750 gate price. We know about Adare Manor in 2027, which has everyone fired up because it’s a surreal Irish golf resort and looks to be a spectacular spectator experience. And we know about Hazeltine National in 2029, which admittedly does not excite me as much as the others but the Midwest always brings it. We even know about the 2033 Cup at Olympic, in the Bay Area, which promises an epic site and hopefully a crowd to match.

As for 2031? Per Spanish site Ten Golf, that’ll be hosted by Camiral Golf and Wellness, the resort formerly known as PGA Catalunya, a dreamy spot about an hour from Barcelona. Our Sean Zak has further details here on the complexities that have led to this point, from funding to approval to more.

A two-part question, then: No. 1, how many scouting trips to Catalonia do you think I can justify between now and then? And No. 2, what’s the perfect site for 2035, Team Europe’s next open site, which will presumably return to somewhere in the UK, potentially Tommy Fleetwood’s theoretical option.

News

ONE THING TO WATCH

Vandy’s golf facility looks…nice.

Whatever you were doing in college, I’m guessing it wasn’t hanging out at a “golf house” like this one, an $11 million renovated facility at Vanderbilt Legends Club, home to the men’s and women’s teams.

College football’s outrageously-nice-facility recruiting wars have made their way to college golf.

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

Sort of a random aside, but Peter King — whose Monday morning football columns made this one look like a short, crude bit of chicken scratch — has been on a great American road trip and last week made it to the end of I-90, which happens to be very literally where the Seahawks play. Anyway, I’ve been enjoying his journey, which is properly wandering and feels like the best of Old Twitter, sharing entertaining musings about his explorations and experiences in the world.

Get out there, gang. But first: I’ll see you back here next week!

Before you go, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

The post Norman’s LIV admission, Caitlin Clark’s new coach | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post LIV’s next targets, 1 inspiring winner, selling the Ryder Cup?! | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post LIV’s next targets, 1 inspiring winner, selling the Ryder Cup?! | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

First, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe HERE to get it in your email inbox! It’s free. And it would make me happy.

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Perseverance.

Tim O’Neal has always loved golf. It hasn’t always loved him back.

At Q-School in 2000 he needed bogey on the final hole to get his PGA Tour card. He made triple. In 2004 he missed by a single shot when his birdie putt at No. 18 burned the edge. There were plenty of eyeballs on O’Neal, a promising black golfer who’d ripped off wins at Jackson State in college and even earned some investment dollars from actor Will Smith. But while he made it to the fringe of golf’s top levels, he could never seem to crack through.

O’Neal played on several iterations of the PGA Tour’s top feeder tour, earning status on the Buy.com Tour, which became the Nationwide Tour, which became the Web.com Tour, which is now the Korn Ferry Tour. He gained and lost that status several times and filled the in-between years in tournaments and mini-tours near home and in far-flung places. There were times he was tempted to quit but he never did; by 2013 he was one of the older players on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica but found some magic that season, winning twice. There were always enough signs that his game was there to keep going, and the last time O’Neal won a PGA Tour-sanctioned event was in 2016 at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, which was a PGA Tour Latinoamerica event at the time.

Until Sunday, that is.

O’Neal, who made it through PGA Tour Champions Q-School last year, entered the final round of the Dominion Energy Charity Classic three shots off the lead. He was in good position for his best finish of the season — he’d posted just a single top 10, a T7, in 23 starts in 2024 — but blew past that goal and fired the round of the week instead, a seven-under 65 punctuated by birdies on 16 and 18 to win his first PGA Tour Champions title by two.

O’Neal was emotional in his post-round interview as he tried to process the moment in real-time.

“It only takes one week, right? And this was my week,” he said.

If he struggled to make sense of the accomplishment, that was understandable. O’Neal now has something he’s been chasing for decades: stability. He earned $350,000 for the win. He plowed his way to the next round of the Charles Schwab playoffs. And he locked up his job for next season, too.

“You know, I like all these guys out here and I’ve learned so much the past two years playing out here on PGA Tour Champions,” he said when asked about the players who’d stuck around to congratulate him. “For them to feel that way for me, it means a lot because I feel like now that I’ve won, I feel like I belong.”

Perseverance and reward — that’s golf stuff I like.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

J.T. Poston won the Shriners Children’s Open, his third PGA Tour title and first as a father.

Hannah Green joined elite company with her third win of the season at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea, joining Lydia Ko and Nelly Korda in the three-plus group.

Julien Guerrier won the Estrella Damm Andalucia Masters, claiming his first DP World Tour victory nearly 20 years after turning pro. It took a par on the ninth playoff hole to get there.

MJ Maguire won the Asian Tour’s Black Mountain Championship in a playoff.

And Tim O’Neal‘s big win got him to the next round of the playoffs.

If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

NOT-WINNERS

A few guys who didn’t win.

Gary Woodland finished T9 at the Shriners, his second consecutive top-20 and his best result since brain surgery 13 months ago. He’s feeling better, he said, and that’s reflected in his play.

Michael Kim, a Tour winner who’s become well-known for his Twitter presence, fired a Sunday 62 — low round of the day by two — to dramatically increase his chances at keeping full PGA Tour status for 2025. He went from No. 129 to 112 with the T5 finish.

“I mean, it’s awesome. It’s not a huge monkey off my back, but a decent-sized one,” Kim said. Seems pretty huge to me.

In addition to Kim’s Sunday move, Matti Schmid and Rico Hoey shot Sunday 66s to lock up their PGA Tour cards for next year; they went from 105 and 102 to 84 and 83, respectively.

Others making moves: Woodland moved from No. 148 to 137 with his T9 finish. Alejandro Tosti also finished T9 to move from No. 136 to 127. Joe Highsmith jumped inside the number, at least for now, going from No. 133 to 125. Vince Whaley improved his number from 125 to No. 120.

Joel Dahmen fell outside the top 125 after a high-profile penalty-WD combo; he’s now projected at No. 129. And Daniel Berger slipped from 126 to 128 after a T39.

SHORT HITTERS

Five things to know, in brief.

1. Could the PGA of America sell the Ryder Cup? Golfweek columnist Eamon Lynch made that case here, suggesting it could fetch more from the newly former PGA Tour Enterprises group now than ever. If that’s a possibility, it’s fair to put on your tinfoil hat and connect the dots to the Cup’s $750 ticket prices. Could proving demand for high prices and generating a ton of revenue have the side-benefit of jacking up the event’s purchase price…?

2. Cognizant is out as the sponsor of the LPGA’s Founders Cup, per reporting from Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols. The event was founded in 2011 as a way to honor the legacies of the LPGA’s 13 founders and, with Cognizant’s help, soon boasted a $3 million purse. Now its future is in question. Nichols also writes that the Ford Championship in Arizona and the Portland Classic face sponsorship questions — though Black Desert is expected to add a big-money event to the calendar. Good read here.

3. LIV is looking for a new CEO to replace Greg Norman, per Sports Business Journal; they’ve enlisted an executive search firm to assist in the process. Norman is expected to stay with the league, though his role is not immediately clear. Some high-profile players including PGA Tour pros Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy plus LIV star Jon Rahm have suggested that Norman would need to step aside for negotiations on pro golf’s future to meaningfully progress.

4. TGL released its schedule for early 2025; things will kick off on Tuesday, Jan. 7 on ESPN in primetime with a showdown between New York Golf Club and The Bay Golf Club. Tickets for the 1500-person South Florida arena are going off at $160.

5. Wyndham Clark explained that PGA Tour players have been struggling with the mechanics of LIV pros potentially rejoining the league.

“If we 100 percent knew we could take the money and come back, then we all would have done that,” Clark said on the No Laying Up podcast this week. “Because we all would’ve been way richer and then you come back and actually play at the highest level.”

He intimated that, were it up to him, accomplished pros like Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson would be able to return. But he also didn’t suggest that negotiations are nearing any sort of finish line.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

There’s more to life than birdies. Kinda.

J.T. Poston had missed short putts on 16 and 17, cutting his lead over Doug Ghim from four shots to two. Then Ghim birdied 18 and suddenly Poston faced a must-make four-footer.

“Yeah, I told myself this is what you dream of. You got a putt to win on the PGA Tour. Just try and forget about the last two. Didn’t make very good strokes on either of them, but I told myself I’ve made a million of these and just do one more.”

He buried it.

ONE BIG QUESTION

Who’s joining LIV next?

There are more questions than answers when it comes to LIV’s 2025 rosters, but we learned a few more things this week.

Sergio Garcia told GolfMagic that Eugenio Chacarra is not in the team’s plans for 2025; Chacarra finished 39th in LIV’s standings and his next stop is uncertain. Garcia hinted that he’s hoping to add “a little bit of a different profile kind of player,” which suggests there’s a specific target in mind. One rumored possibility: U.S. Amateur champ (and current Arizona State Sun Devil) Jose Luis Ballester. Ballester’s longtime coach is Garcia’s father, Victor, and Ballester has spoken highly of Sergio’s mentorship.

Jon Rahm has a spot to fill on his Legion XIII team after Kieran Vincent was relegated. He told Golf Sin Etiquetas on YouTube that, while he doesn’t yet have a player signed, he has “six or seven in mind.”

Rahm said that one pro he’d been considering was Spanish and in the DP World Tour field this week. He also suggested that a Callaway staffer would be a good fit as he dreams of a sponsored team. Angel Hidalgo, a Spanish pro who edged out Rahm in a playoff a couple weeks ago, seems like one potential candidate; Rahm has seen his game up close (although he plays Cobra and wears Puma).

John Catlin continued his run of stellar play on the Asian Tour with a runner-up finish at the Black Mountain Championship; he’s in position to earn a LIV spot, too, if he maintains his No. 1 International Series ranking.

ONE THING TO WATCH

Michael Greller talks Spieth.

We’ve often heard Jordan Spieth talk to Michael Greller. We’ve even occasionally heard Greller talk to Spieth. But it’s not often we’ve heard Greller talk about Spieth. But then he got some ice cream with our Claire Rogers, which means here’s your chance.

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

Gamble Sands is arguably Washington’s hottest destination-style golf course. Now? It’ll be twice as good. The resort brought David McLay-Kidd back for a sequel and so he and associate Nick Schaan have brought to life “Scarecrow,” the property’s second full 18-hole course (there’s also a 14-hole short course).

The new course is on a more compact footprint, it’s hillier, it has even more expansive views of the nearby Columbia River and, although it’ll still boast generous fairways, small greens could make it tougher than the original. Hope to see you there when it opens in 2025.

But first, I’ll see you back here next week!

Before you go, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

The post LIV’s next targets, 1 inspiring winner, selling the Ryder Cup?! | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post The PGA Tour added Utah. These 5 states should come next | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

The post The PGA Tour added Utah. These 5 states should come next | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.

First, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe HERE to get it in your email inbox! It’s free. And it would make me happy.

GOLF STUFF I LIKE

A new venue — and a new lefty.

In several ways the PGA Tour’s fall events are still stuck in a weird limbo. They boast stronger, deeper fields than Korn Ferry Tour events but they’re clearly a step behind regular-season PGA Tour events, not to mention juiced-up Signature Events. In this current structure, winning the Sanderson Farms means winning a PGA Tour event, getting a multi-year exemption and earning an invite to the Masters. But it’s also a very different accomplishment than winning, say, the Genesis Invitational or the Travelers Championship or even the RBC Canadian Open. As golf fans it’s still not clear how we’re supposed to categorize the stakes of these competitions. Other than crystallizing next season’s top 125, I don’t know exactly what they mean.

But given its limitations, this week’s Black Desert Championship worked pretty damn well. Southern Utah may not be a massive population center but it is a golf destination on the rise. I’m fairly confident the TV ratings will be somewhere between “mediocre” and “dismal” — unless the blowouts in the 4 p.m. NFL slate had sports fans hunting for alternative programming — but for those of us sickos who watched a bit of the action, Black Desert brought it. The course was visually stunning in a distinctly different way than anything else on Tour and it was an interesting strategic test; the wind didn’t blow, so scores were plenty low, but there was a fairway-or-lava dynamic that made tee shots interesting and some slippery green surrounds that added dimensions to short-game shots.

Even better, the BDC crowned a worthy champion: Matt McCarty. Because Scottie Scheffler‘s effectively in his offseason, I’m not sure there’s anyone in golf who’s winning at the current clip of McCarty, who won three times in his last eight Korn Ferry Tour starts, zipped up to the PGA Tour and now won in his second week as a member.

In addition to McCarty’s rise serving as inspiration for small-college late bloomers to reach golf’s pinnacle, he’s also an exciting addition to another trend: the reappearance of the left-handed golfer. Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson cannot be replaced, but perhaps they can be recreated in the aggregate. With his win, McCarty jumps to No. 47 in the world and now joins beloved Scot and World No. 16 Robert MacIntyre, dogged Open Championship winner and World No. 22 Brian Harman, and dynamic, enthusiastic youngster and World No. 29 Akshay Bhatia inside the top 50 in the world.

So the inaugural BDC played things right. New venue. New market. Striking visuals. Winner on the rise. A lefty winner, at that. Doing your best in golf’s weird limbo — that’s golf stuff I like.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Matt McCarty won the Black Desert Championship by three shots, holding tight to his 54-hole lead (and building on it, thanks to his sporty back-nine eagle) and claiming the first PGA Tour title of his career.

Ruoning Yin won the Buick LPGA Shanghai by six shots and became the first woman from China to win the tour’s stop in her home country.

(This is niche but shoutout to the LPGA’s website, another winner; a couple months back they redid the site like a course designer would overhaul a country club in distress and disrepair. Good stuff!)

Dan Bradbury won the FedEx Cup Open de France (or the French Open, if you prefer) in our latest return to Le Golf National; Bradbury’s victory was the second of his DP World Tour career.

Jerry Kelly won on the PGA Tour Champions at the SAS Championship at Prestonwood in North Carolina for the 12th time but the first in more than two years and called this his “favorite” win yet.

If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

NOT-WINNERS

A few guys who didn’t win.

Two determined fortysomethings tied for third in Utah.

Kevin Streelman, 47, is in a fight this fall to earn back his status as part of the PGA Tour’s top 125. “I don’t have much to lose,” Streelman said after the first round. “It’s go for it this fall. If it doesn’t [happen], I’ll get in a few events, and if I’m done at age 47 after next year, it’s awesome. I’ll be home with my family for three years before the Champions Tour … whatever is meant to be is meant to be, but I’m going to go out swinging, that’s for sure.” He’s now No. 138.

Lucas Glover, 44, is a year removed from a shocking multi-win renaissance and finally re-finding his footing. He had a spectacular ball-striking week and shot 9-under 62 on Sunday to surge into T3 for the second consecutive week; the T3s are his first top-10s since last year’s wins.

“I still don’t know how any of this works,” Glover said of the fall schedule and his FedEx Cup standing (he’s now up to No. 61). “I’m here because I didn’t play good the regular part of the year. I think I got three or four weeks off now and show back up in Bermuda. All the math and — I don’t know, you need a Nobel math scholar to figure it out all. Just trying to play well.” Mission accomplished, this week.

And then, from our latest segment of “confusing Viking-esque names”: At the French Open, Rasmus Hojgaard finished T13 at 10 under par. You may have heard of Rasmus; he’s a young, talented Danish pro with five DP World Tour wins including one over Rory McIlroy at last month’s Irish Open. You may have also heard of his twin brother, Nicolai Hojgaard, who made it onto last year’s European Ryder Cup team and played the PGA Tour this season. Nicolai finished one shot behind his brother in T18 at 9 under par.

But get this: two other Danes finished at 9 under alongside Nicolai. The first is Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen. The second is Niklas Norgaard. What’s the point? There isn’t one, really, except that Rasmus Hojgaard is a different guy than Rasmus Neergard and Nicolai Hojgaard is a different guy than Niklas Norgaard. Hojgaards and Neergards and Norgaards everywhere you look. Nicolai is already on the PGA Tour; Rasmus H. and Niklas N. are likely to join him there next year. Buckle up, American broadcasters.

SHORT HITTERS

Five golf things to know, in brief.

1. Wyndham Clark told his side of the Tom Kim Presidents Cup controversy; here’s what we know before we happily move on.

2. Fun fact: There are more golfers in the 18- to 34-year-old age bracket than 65+. More here.

3. Sergio Garcia may pay his fines, rejoin the DP World Tour and make a run at next year’s Ryder Cup. He and the Bethpage fans have history: at the 2002 U.S. Open his back-and-forth with the rowdy crowds inspired Sports Illustrated to dub him “El Whino”. Maybe, 23 years later, both sides are ready for more.

4. The Showdown pitting Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau against Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler will go down Dec. 17 at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. LIV Golf’s account tweeted excitedly about it on Monday, no doubt eager to throw McIlroy and Scheffler on a LIVish graphic; I’m not sure the PGA Tour is quite as thrilled.

5. Caitlin Clark nearly made an ace. You can just imagine the legions of YouTube golfers reaching out to Clark’s team right now, hoping to catch a piece of the mania…

ONE SWING THOUGHT

Back to Matt McCarty.

We quoted McCarty last week before his win, so let’s go back for more. After his fourth win in 10 starts, he thought back to a tournament before he’d won any of ’em: He’d held a three-shot lead and then surrendered it the final round of a KFT event in Colorado — but it ultimately helped him:

“Yeah, I think the biggest thing I took [from that loss] is lots of confidence from that week, even though it sounds weird,” he said. “Just to put myself in that position out there on a course I wasn’t super comfortable … The last round I hit it fine. I just didn’t putt well. Was a little tentative. And I think just understanding that tightness and being tentative doesn’t lead to good golf shots is honestly the biggest thing I learned.”

That last bit seems crucial. “Tightness and being tentative doesn’t lead to good golf shots.” Easier said than done…

ONE BIG QUESTION

Where should the PGA Tour go next?

Now that the Tour has checked off Utah for the first time in six decades, which uninhabited states should it visit next? Factoring in venues, crowds, proximity to golf-hungry populations and personal bias, here are five…

Honorable mention: Illinois. I’m not including the Land of Lincoln because the John Deere is technically in Silvis, Ill. every July — but that’s a different Illinois than the Chicago area, which was terrific as BMW Championship host last summer and should have a Tour event more frequently.

5. Alaska

What, like you wouldn’t watch the Yukon Challenge? Bring in David McLay-Kidd to design TPC Matanuska Glacier, leave your mark as the best golf course in Alaska, tee off any time you want…

4. Pennsylvania

Next year’s Truist (the artist formerly known as the Wells Fargo) is coming to Philly Cricket Club next summer, which should serve as a proper litmus test. In my mind greater Philadelphia is ideal for a golf tournament — a blend of well-to-do Main-Liners and ungovernable Eagles fans? Sure! — so let’s make it happen.

3. Wisconsin

Let’s tap into the ghost of the Greater Milwaukee Open and take advantage of elite golf by the lake.

2. Washington

I’ll make no attempt to hide this list’s bias; I live in Seattle and I’m from (spoiler alert) Massachusetts. But it’s time the Tour returns to Chambers Bay. Amazon, Microsoft, T-Mobile — let’s make it happen!

1. Massachusetts

Okay, let’s talk full vision. I may expand on this for a future piece, but the simple version: Memphis and East Lake are fine Tour venues but they should be in the spring, not the summer. August in the Southeast is humid and lifeless. The Tour’s three playoff events should rotate as follows:

Playoff Event I: The West. I’m talking Chambers Bay (Wash.), Castle Pines (Colo.), Pebble Beach (Calif.) etc.

Playoff Event II: The Midwest. This is where Wisconsin and Chicago come in. Whistling Straits or Erin Hills (Wisc.), Olympia Fields or Medinah (Ill.), maybe even Crooked Stick (Ind.)? Okay, that sounds hot and humid, too, but you see where I’m going.

Playoff Event III: The Northeast. Let’s ping from Greater Boston to Long Island to Philadelphia and back, one every three years, constant rotation. This is your new Tour Championship. Does this ignore all existing big-time sponsorships tying the TC to Atlanta and East Lake? Sure it does. But that, for our purposes here, is not my concern. See you at The Country Club!

ONE THING TO WATCH

Watch and listen, in this case.

The absolute delight of the DP World Tour’s broadcast discussing Matthieu Pavon‘s cold shank is well worth your time:

NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

Signs of fall in Seattle: our farmer’s market is about to shut down for the season, which means my weekly mega-slice of pepperoni pizza is no longer within walking distance. You could argue going to the farmer’s market for pizza is very much not the point. Whatever.

We’ll see you next week!

Before you go, a quick request: If you like the Monday Finish, subscribe for free HERE to get it in your email inbox!

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

The post The PGA Tour added Utah. These 5 states should come next | Monday Finish appeared first on Golf.