Year – Golfing Agency

LIV golfers see rankings tumble as year draws to a close

detlef32 — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 11:47:13 +0000

The release of the final official world ranking for men’s golf for 2022 revealed some hard evidence about the impact joining the LIV Golf Series has had on some of the world’s top players in terms of their place in the global game.

Only seven golfers currently playing on the Saudi-backed tour are now inside the top 50 in the world. Cameron Smith, who only joined LIV Golf in August, and some of the other latecomers, are yet to feel impact of their PGA Tour ban and the lack of world rankings points for LIV Golf events, but those who were on board from the very beginning, including the likes of Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood, have seen their world ranking take a huge hit.

Fromer world no.1 Dustin Johnson has dropped to 41 in the world rankings since joining LIV Golf

Johnson has dropped 26 spots in the OWGR, from 15 to 41, in the space of just seven months, but on the flip side, as LIV Golf’s most successful player in 2022, he has earned $35.6 million in prize money since June and banked probably several times more than that in signing-on fees.

Cam Smith has dropped just one place in the rankings – from 3 to 2 – since joining LIV Golf after his Open Championship success, and it will take some time to dislodge him from the world’s top 10, but other leading names have taken far bigger hits, with Paul Casey dropping 27 places to 58, Westwood plummeting 86 places to 164, while Mickelson is now a lowly 213rd in the rankings, having dropped 141 places after being one of the first to sign to LIV Golf.

Among the other the other major winners competing on the Saudi-backed tour, Brooks Koepka has dropped out of the world’s top 50 and is now 52^nd after slipping 29 places; Louis Oosthuizen has seen his ranking decline by the same number and is now 50th; while Sergio Garcia is now ranked 113, having been 57th.

With the organisers of the four majors so far resisting any moves to bar LIV Golf from competing in next year’s events, those LIV Golfers already qualified for the Masters, US PGA, US Open and The Open in 2023 by dint of their past performances or world ranking will still be able to tee it up in golf’s marquee tournaments. However, it remains to be seen whether LIV Golf will be able to convince the organisers of the OWGR that their events should qualify for ranking points going forward, so the full impact of the lack of points won’t start to fully unravel until midway through next season.

LIV Golf has already lobbied the OWGR for its members to be given ranking points for its events, but with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour among those with positions on the OWGR Board, it remains unlikely that they will be offered an olive branch any time soon – although the request is currently ‘under consideration’.

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The year in golf and a look ahead to 2023

detlef32 — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 15:37:42 +0000

It’s fair
to say golf enjoyed a healthy bounce-back in 2022 after the previous couple of
years were mired by you-know-what.

With things now back to normal in the world of sport (at least on the face of it), it’s time to take stock and reflect on the last twelve months and what 2023 has in store for golf.

We sat down with eight-time Ryder Cup player, three-time European Ryder Cup captain, and Golf Care ambassador Bernard Gallacher to chat through the highs and lows of 2022, and what he thinks we’ll see in the year ahead.

Here’s what he had to say…

Bernard’s 2022 golf highlights

Rory McIlroy was the standout performer in 2022, despite not winning a Major. His superb, consistent play throughout the season and his Tour Championship win still meant he finished up the leading money winner on the PGA Tour. He also finished number one on the DP World Tour from only 10 starts and won the much-coveted Vardon Trophy for the fourth time. He currently sits top of the world golf rankings and is unlikely to move any time soon.

Scottie Scheffler had a fantastic season which saw him win The Masters, the WGC-Dell Match Play, and finish tied in second place at the US Open, just one stroke behind Matt Fitzpatrick. Tour colleagues also voted Scheffler the 2022 Tour Player of the Year.

Justin Thomas won his second PGA Championship in 2022, on the tough Southern Hills Golf Course in Oklahoma—beating Will Zalatoris in a play-off. Thomas’ low winning score of -5 was a real reflection of the difficulty of the course, which had narrow fairways, thick rough, fast greens, and was played in pretty strong wind.

Sheffield’s Matt Fitzpatrick lifted the nation’s spirits when he won the US Open, following in the footsteps of Tony Jacklin and Justin Rose. He clenched victory at the Country Club in Brooklyn—the same venue where he won the US Amateurs in 2013. Matt has a good, no-nonsense technique, an excellent temperament, and one of the best caddies around in Billy Foster. I predict more Major wins ahead.

Cameron Smith won the landmark 150^th Open at St Andrews in 2022. He also won the Tour Championship at Sawgrass and The Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii with a PGA Tour record score of 34 under par! He also won the Australian PGA in his home nation, but his deflection to the LIV Tour means it’s difficult to predict the future.

John Rahm is another golfer who had an outstanding season despite not winning a Major. However, he recorded two runners-up on the US Tour before winning the Mexican Open to claim his seventh win on the PGA Tour. Over on the DP World Tour, Rahm won the Spanish Open for the third time at Club de Campo in Madrid, before winning the season-ending DP World Championship in Dubai—not bad!

Twenty-five-year-old Cameron Young only turned pro in 2019 but is an outstanding prospect. A product of the Korn Ferry Tour, he first came to attention when he finished third in the USPGA Championship and was runner-up to Cameron Smith at the Open.

Tom Kim is only 20 but was the leading money winner on the 2021/22 Asian Tour. He finished third in the co-sanctioned Scottish Open, which won him ‘Special Temporary Membership’ on the PGA Tour, which he won twice on—at the Wyndham Championship and the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas. He becomes only the second-ever player to win twice on the PGA Tour before age 21—the first was Tiger Woods!

Lydia Ko has been a prodigious talent even from an early age. She was the number one ranked women’s pro golfer at just 17. Still just 25, she was won 19 tournaments to date on the LPGA and a further 12 tournaments around the world. She finished the 2022 season by winning the Ladies Tour Championship and the LPGA Player of the Year.

Charley Hull plays on both the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour. She’s been one to watch ever since she turned professional in 2013, winning the 2014 Order of Merit and Player of the Year. Hull has represented Europe at the Solheim Cup five times, and won the Ascendant LPGA in Texas in September. I particularly admire her swing, but her general attitude also means she has the potential to win Majors in the future.

24-year-old Nelly Korda has one Major
win to her name at present, and has won an impressive eight times on the LPGA and
twice in Europe. She’s also a reigning Olympic champion, currently sitting
number two in the world rankings behind Lydia Ko, having previously held the
number one position. It’ll be a good battle between the two to see who comes
out on top in 2023.

What didn’t go so well for golf in 2022?

How can we not talk about LIV Golf?

Greg
Norman’s tour continues to disrupt the game and cause major issues to the
traditional, well-established Major tournaments. The PGA Tour, in particular,
sees LIV Golf as a real existential threat.

Personally,
I’m not at all confident that the ongoing issues can or will be resolved in
court, purely because there’s such ill feeling on both sides of the argument.

Players like Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, Bubba Watson, Matthew Wolff and Martin Kaymer all had pretty anonymous seasons by their standards, and LIV’s supposed star player Dustin Johnson looked way off the pace when he dropped down to a tie for sixth place at the Open in July.

The reality
is that playing just eight tournaments a year is simply not enough to maintain
a good competitive game. In 2023, however, LIV says it will consist of 14
tournaments—but even that is still short of ideal.

The Masters has already confirmed it will allow LIV golfers to compete in 2023, but we’ve no confirmation regarding the other Majors yet. Time will tell.

Related: Bernard Gallacher fears Greg Norman will not reach a compromise over LIV Golf

Looking ahead to golf in 2023

2023 is Ryder Cup year, which gives Europe a chance to redeem themselves after the humiliating 10-point loss at Whistling Straits in 2021.

The European side will have huge partisan support in Rome—something which was, of course, missing in the US due to COVID travel restrictions.

I fully
expect Europe to put on a much better display than in 2021, but they may have
to play without the likes of Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey and Ian
Poulter as things stand. Captain Luke Donald will have a few sleepless nights
when he comes to picking his wild cards, that’s for sure.

The Solheim
Cup is also taking place in Spain in September. Suzann Petterson, who holed the
winning putt at Gleneagles in 2019, is the European captain, while Stacy Lewis
captains the American side.

Europe won the last time out in the US, and I expect an equally-exciting match between two pretty evenly-matched sides this time, too.

2023 also
sees the phasing in of various changes to the Rules of Golf. The rules are
somewhat complex, but perhaps the most notable changes to mention are the new modifications
for players with disabilities.

From January, a new Rule 25 consisting of multiple provisions for those living with disabilities will automatically apply to all competitions and all forms of play, instead of it being down to individual competition committees deciding whether to adopt such rules and provisions on a tournament-by-tournament basis. This can only be a good thing as far as inclusivity in golf is concerned.

We should also acknowledge Tiger Woods as we look ahead to 2023. The veteran golfer has vowed to compete in the four Major tournaments despite his ongoing injury problems, and I sincerely hope he does. It’s hard to imagine the big tournaments without him.

Up and coming golfers to look out for in 2023—Bernard’s top picks

Of course,
the best golfers in the world are all well-established and well-known. But what
about those more ‘on the fringes’, as it were, with exciting futures ahead?

We asked Bernard that exact question.

Jordan Smith

Big things were expected from Jordan Smith after he won the prestigious Porsche Open in 2017, but his form has dipped since. However, he secured an emotional win at the Portuguese Open more recently, so here’s hoping he can now kick on with his career.

Richard Mansell

Richard Mansell is a product of the Challenge Tour, and gained his full status on the European Tour back in 2020. With one professional win and a second-place finish in the 2020 Andalusia Open under his belt to date, he also led the 2021 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship by four strokes going into the last four. He fell away in the end but will still have learnt lots from the overall experience.

Nicolai & Rasmus Højgaard

These young Danish twins were the first brothers to win back-to-back tournaments on the European Tour in 2021. They’re both outstanding prospects with a bright future in golf for sure.

Adrian Meronk

Adrian Meronk became the first-ever Polish golfer to win on the European Tour when he won the Horizon Irish Open in 2022. Even more recently, he held off Adam Scott to win the Australian Open by an impressive five strokes. He stands at an almighty 6’6 and is another I expect to go on to achieve big things in golf.

Connor Syme

Scottish golfer Connor Syme turned pro in 2017 after a stellar amateur career, and featured in the Walker Cup the same year. He’s got no wins so far on the DP World Tour but is more than ready to break through in 2023.

Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra

The 22-year-old Spaniard was ranked number two on the Amateur World Rankings before turning pro in 2021. He currently plays on the LIV Tour, where he won the Bangkok Invitational this year. It still remains to be seen whether he’ll reach his full potential playing on the LIV Tour, but the ability is undoubtedly there.

Linn Grant

Linn Grant is a Swedish golfer of Scottish heritage through her grandfather. She turned pro in 2021 after an outstanding amateur career, and already has nine professional wins under her belt, including the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed on the DP World Tour—making her the first woman to win on a men’s Tour. She won the 2022 Ladies European Tour Order of Merit and is also qualified to play on the LPGA. She has the potential to emulate her compatriot Annika Sörenstam—arguably one of the best women’s golfers of all time.

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Cameron Smith adds to career-defining year with victory at 2022 Australian PGA Championship

detlef32 — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 15:08:42 +0000

When looking back at the wild world of golf in 2022, you will be hard pressed to tell the tale without Cameron Smith. Adding to what has already been a career-defining year both on and off the golf course, Smith claimed the 2022 Australian PGA Championship — the third of his career — at Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane, Australia.

Playing in his home country’s PGA Championship for the first time in three years, the world No. 3 was able overcome weather, nerves and his fellow countrymen en route to his fifth win of the year. Getting the better of Jason Scrivener and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune, Smith finished with a 72-hole total of 14-under 270 to win by three shots.

“It’s awesome, mate,” Smith said. “I really didn’t think I had it in me this week me to be honest. The start of the week was a little bit scratchy. The game just got better and better as the week went on other than the front nine today.”

Smith’s game has gotten “better and better” not only throughout this week but throughout this year as a whole. Entering 2022 with three worldwide victories to his name and only one of which resided on the PGA Tour, the Australian shattered what many believed his ceiling to be and continues to do so.

A duel with Jon Rahm kicked off Smith’s 2022 at the Tournament of Champions in Kapalua. Needing to set the PGA Tour scoring record, a scorching Smith reached 34 under for the week to eek by the then-world No. 1 by a single stroke. Finishing atop a limited field of only 38 competitors, it really wasn’t until the spring when the conversation around Smith began to move from “He’s a pretty good player” to “He’s one of the best in the world.”

A weather-riddled Players Championship saw many of the world’s finest curl up as a brutal system rolled through the Jacksonville area the week of the “fifth major.” With a bit of tee time luck on his side at the onset of the tournament, Smith converted this golden opportunity into a golden moment with 10 birdies in the final round at TPC Sawgrass.

Highlighted by his wedge shot on the famed island green par-3 17th, Smith’s bold action on the 71st hole of the championship gave him his biggest victory to date. Similar words would be uttered just four months later when a comeback for the ages transpired at the oldest major championship in the game.

Five birdies in a row and a back-nine 30 saw Smith leapfrog crowd-favorite Rory McIlroy the final day of the 150th Open. Taking on water throughout the third round, Smith reset on Sunday and leaned on his trusty putter for his last stroll around the Old Course at St. Andrews.

Boasting 25 one putts on the week, it was an unlikely up-and-down from behind the road hole bunker on the 71st hole that secured Smith’s first major championship and the title “Champion Golfer of the Year.” Celebrations, beers from the Claret Jug and praise ensued, but not before an eyebrow-raising moment occurred at his winner’s press conference.

“I just won the British Open, and you’re asking about that? I think that’s pretty not that good,” said Smith when asked about a potential move to LIV Golf.

With rumors swirling, intensifying and seemingly coming to life in real time, Smith was again bombarded with questions ahead of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Brushing off the interrogation in a way only a man with a mullet can, the 29-year-old ultimately chose to join the PGA Tour rival after completion of the Tour Championship.

“It felt like I didn’t sleep for a few months,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I was constantly thinking, ‘what will other people think?’ That was a really big factor for me. I feel like I do most things by the book and to be one to step away … was really tough for me.”

Smith’s decision paid dividends almost immediately. Falling one stroke short of a playoff in his debut at LIV Golf Boston, Smith made amends two weeks later with a victory at LIV Golf Chicago. Rounding out his inaugural LIV campaign with a 7-under 65 at Trump National Doral, Smith single-handedly carried his team Punch GC to within one of the LIV Golf Team Championship.

Fast forward to present day, and Smith should have no issues sleeping after his win at the 2022 Australian PGA Championship. Adding to what was already a memorable year, yet in the same sense equally bizarre, Smith has now captured five victories in five different time zones on three different continents on three different tours.

While McIlroy will head into the new year as world No. 1 and winner of the season-long races on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, it may actually be Smith who was the most eye-catching, head-scratching, thought-provoking player of 2022.

Winner of two of the biggest prizes in golf, the subject of controversy and again a champion in his home country, Smith will continue to saunter on. While the path may be one less traveled moving forward, it is a path no less, and one which helped shape Smith’s world class year.

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Lawrence claims Rookie of the Year title after double-winning season

detlef32 — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 12:32:17 +0000

Thriston Lawrence has become the first South African to be crowned Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year, after a breakthrough season on the DP World Tour that included two wins, six further top-10s and a Major debut.

His breakthrough victory not only secured a DP World Tour exemption, it also led to his first appearance in a Major as part of The Open Qualifying Series, and he went on to finish inside the top 50 at the 150th Open at St Andrews.A first professional victory on European soil followed in August when he secured the Omega European Masters title after a play-off with Matt Wallace at Golf Club Crans Montana in Switzerland. That win led to another landmark, as he moved inside the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career.

Lawrence racked up six further top-10 finishes, including a tied second finish at the Kenya Open and third place at the Irish Open, on the way to finishing 14th in the DP World Tour’s season-long rankings.“It’s a dream come true,” said Lawrence, who is currently 90th in the OWGR.

“If you look at the names on the trophy, it’s incredible. A year ago, I didn’t even have a category, so when I started off with a victory, it came to mind straight away to go for this award. To have accomplished it is an incredible feeling – I’m very grateful and honoured. Winning twice in my first season on tour was incredible, but it’s not where I want to end. It’s onwards and upwards from here.”Lawrence is a PING staff player and currently has the brand’s G425 Max driver and 3-wood in the bag, along with a set of iBlade irons, Glide 4.0 wedges and a PLD Oslo putter.

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Tiger set to play twice before end of the year

detlef32 — Thu, 10 Nov 2022 14:17:09 +0000

Tiger Woods is to end a four-month break from competitive golf by playing in the Hero World Challenge in December.

The 15-time major winner confirmed on Twitter that he will tee up in the 20-man annual event he hosts in the Bahamas, which begins on December 1 and marks his first start since he missed the cut at The Open in July.

He will make a further appearance a week later on December 10 in ‘The Match’, a 12-hole exhibition alongside Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

The additions to Woods’s schedule, albeit limited, offer a positive sign about the state of the 47-year-old’s fitness as he battles the impact of injuries sustained in a serious car accident in 2021, not least because he indicated he might not play again this year after struggling at St Andrews in the summer.

In addition to tournament host Tiger Woods, the field for the Hero World Challenge features defending champion Viktor Hovland, Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Will Zalatoris, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Hideki Matsuyama, Cameron Young, Sungjae Im, Max Homa, Tom Kim, Kevin Kisner and Tommy Fleetwood.

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Cameron Young named 2021-22 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year after earning nearly 95% of votes from peers

detlef32 — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 19:37:15 +0000

Cameron Young was named the 2021-22 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year on Wednesday as the 25-year-old earned a whopping 94% of the vote from other players. Young’s award follows an impressive debut that featured seven top-five finishes, including a pair of near-victories at two majors, as well as strong efforts at the Genesis Invitational and Wells Fargo Championship.

“It’s very special,” said Young Wednesday at the CJ Cup in South Carolina. “I know the namesake Arnold Palmer obviously was a giant in the game of golf, and we have him to thank for a lot of what we do today, what the PGA Tour is. To be related to that in some small way is very cool. I know we had a very strong rookie class and I know it’s voted by my peers, so it’s a huge honor to be thought of in that way, just to kind of finish the year that way.”

Young’s best stuff often came at the biggest events. He finished runner-up to Cam Smith at the Open Championship in July and T3 at the PGA Championship in May, narrowly missing out on a playoff alongside Justin Thomas and Will Zalatoris. Throw in big-time performances at a handful of other PGA Tour stops, a 19th-place finish in the FedEx Cup and $6.5 million earned in his first full year on Tour, and it’s clear there was no other choice.

“Congratulations to Cameron Young on being voted PGA Tour Rookie of the Year by his peers,” said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan in a statement. “Cameron’s career has seen a remarkable rise over the last several years, and he quickly became a favorite among fans last season with the style in which he attacks the golf course. And, of course, given Cameron’s Wake Forest ties, receiving the Arnold Palmer Award as PGA Tour Rookie of the Year will certainly hold a special significance for him.”

The CJ Cup marks Young’s second event of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season, and he’ll play alongside several other stars, including 2021-22 PGA Tour Player of the Year, Scottie Scheffler. Young, who was part of the 2022 United States Presidents Cup team, finished T53 at last week’s Zozo Championship to start his 2022-23 PGA Tour season.

Despite all of Young’s success last season, however, he still came up short of what he coveted most: a Tour victory.

“Obviously had my fair share of chances, and I would hope one of them’s coming at some point,” said Young. “Yeah, it would be great just to finish out the year on a high note. And anytime you win out here — well, I don’t know, but supposedly it’s very special. Yeah, it would be a great place to do it, for sure.”

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Scottie Scheffler voted 2022 PGA Tour Player of the Year over Rory McIlroy after four-win season

detlef32 — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 03:33:15 +0000

Well past the midway point of the 2022 season, Scottie Scheffler was on an absolute heater. While that victory pace may have cooled over the final couple months, Scheffler capped a dream season Saturday by capturing the 2022 PGA Tour Player of the Year award. Scheffler, 26, received the nod from his peers — the award is voted on by other PGA Tour players — over Rory McIlroy and Cameron Smith after picking up four wins at tournaments that ranked among the top 12 worldwide in strength of field.

Scheffler opened with wins at the Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play before acquiring his first career major championship victory at the Masters. In winning four tournaments across six starts, Scheffler became the top-ranked golfer in the world and ended the season with more money earned on the PGA Tour across a single season than any golfer in history ($14.05 million). Among other earnings, he also picked up $5.75 million in FedEx Cup bonus funds and $4 million from the Comcast Business Tour Top 10 to capture a grand total of $24.8 million this season.

Receiving 89% of the votes over McIlroy and Smith, his award was announced Saturday on ESPN’s “College GameDay.” Scheffler, a former golfer at Texas, was honored ahead of the Longhorns’ Week 2 college football game against No. 1 Alabama.

McIlroy, a three-time winner of this award, was also a three-time winner on the PGA Tour this season with his victories coming at the CJ Cup last fall and then over the summer at the RBC Canadian Open in June and in dramatic fashion to conclude the season at the Tour Championship where he topped Scheffler to pocket $18 million. That final win at a huge-money event felt like a culmination of McIlroy’s incredible season, one in which he posted top-eight finishes at all four majors including the Masters (2nd), PGA Championship (8th), U.S. Open (T5) and Open Championship (3rd). He ended the year with $28 million more in his bank account between tournament earnings, FedEx Cup bonuses and the Comcast Business Top 10 payout.

“Scottie Scheffler is going to win the Player of the Year,” said McIlroy after beating him at the Tour Championship. “There’s no doubt about that. You know, it would have been fitting for him to end his breakout season with a FedEx Cup title. I think he … deserves this maybe more than I deserve it. He played an unbelievable season. He didn’t have his best stuff today, and I played well and took advantage of that.

“Scottie will have plenty more chances to win FedEx Cups. Hell of a player, hell of a competitor. Even better person. Love his family. Look, it’s hard. You don’t really know what to say on the 18th green because he’s had such a great year, but he’ll be back, and he’s a great player, and I told him this certainly isn’t the last time that we’re going to have these battles on the golf course.”

It was Smith who ultimately won that Open by overcoming a four-shot deficit after 54 holes by posting a scintillating 64 across the final 18 at St. Andrews, jumping McIlroy in the process. Smith also won the Players Championship and a Tournament of Champions event, posting a T3 finish at the Masters along the way. However, we won’t see him on the PGA Tour next season as he parlayed his Open victory into a big-money contract with LIV Golf.

Events	25	16	18
Wins	4	3	3
Top 10s	11	10	7
Major wins	1	0	1
Major top 10s	1	4	2
Official money	$14.1M	$8.7M	$10.1M
Strokes gained	1.7 (5th)	2.1 (1st)	1.4 (11th)

Each of the prior three PGA Tour Player of the Year winners doubled as the FedEx Cup and Tour Championship winner, a streak that has now come to an end. Scheffler, however, reached a new milestone as the first golfer to win Player of the Year on the Korn Ferry Tour (2019), PGA Tour Rookie of the Year (2020) and PGA Tour Player of the Year since the awards were first established in 1990.

“On behalf of the PGA Tour, congratulations to Scottie on his remarkable season and his unprecedented achievements,” said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. “Undoubtably, one of the highest compliments a player can receive is the endorsement from his peers, and the fact that Scottie’s season was both dominant and consistent spoke volumes to the membership. And as gratifying as it has been to see his development on the course over the last several years, we are equally thankful that Scottie has embraced the role as an ambassador of the PGA Tour and the game of golf. With young stars like Scottie leading the way, the PGA Tour is in great hands for many years to come.”

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