Si Woo Kim pulls off some late heroics, the PGA Tour kicks off the West Coast swing, LIV Golf readies for extra disruption and extra on this week’s version of the Monday Scramble:
It wasn’t fairly a Rahm-esque rally, however Si Woo Kim pulled off one other Hawaiian comeback Sunday to steal the Sony Open.
All through Kim’s spectacular however inconsistent profession, he has at all times been adept at sensitive pitch pictures – solely as soon as has he completed a season ranked worse than thirty second in strokes gained: across the inexperienced.
By no means did that repay greater than at Waialae Nation Membership, the place his tee shot into the seventeenth inexperienced bounded over the again and right into a grainy lie within the tough. Listening to Hayden Buckley ram house a birdie putt a gap behind him, Kim believed he had nothing to lose and went for the hero shot.
He pulled it off, pumping his fist and taking part in to the group:
The unlikely birdie stored Kim in a share of the lead and despatched a cost into what was an in any other case sleepy occasion.
On the ultimate gap, Kim hit a stellar shot from the golf green bunker after which two-putted from 40 ft to drag forward for good. Weekend 64s gave Kim his fourth Tour title, and first in two years. He’s again inside the highest 50 and warranted of a spot within the Masters.
Buckley may have used a few of Kim’s short-game prowess.
His strategy shot into the ultimate gap leaked excellent and wound up within the assortment space wanting the inexperienced, leaving a dicey pitch to an elevated inexperienced with a tucked, back-right pin. Buckley couldn’t get his shot nearer than 12 ft, and his putt to power a playoff drifted proper of the cup. He additionally missed a pair of putts inside 5 ft on the again 9, spoiling his bid for a breakthrough title.
“Profitable on the PGA Tour is the toughest factor to do,” Buckley stated, “and typically you simply get beat. I really feel like that’s what occurred right now.”
We’re solely two weeks into the “new period” of the PGA Tour, however thus far, no less than, it appears … very comparable?
Even earlier than it turned one of many Tour’s designated occasions with a bigger purse and assured high subject, the Sentry Event of Champions at all times carried the texture of a restricted invitational. And that’s as a result of it was – the spots reserved solely for match winners, with the sector now beefed up with the addition of the Tour Championship qualifiers. The brand new standing merely made what was already a superb occasion even higher.
The Sony Open was the primary non-designated occasion of the 12 months, however that, too, carried on a lot because it has for years. The occasion attracted almost as many top-50 gamers (14) as final 12 months (16), with Jordan Spieth and Tom Kim serving as headliners, and the 144-man subject produced an, um, eclectic leaderboard through which 9 of the highest 16 gamers going into Sunday had been on the lookout for their first win.
So, the Hawaiian swing had a bit of one thing for everybody – the entire stars at Kapalua, then the fellows making an attempt to change their profession trajectories at Waialae. That’s just about the way it’s at all times been. The one distinction now could be they’re explicitly calling out that standing.
However for all of the handwringing a couple of new A Tour for the celebs and B Tour for the center class, there stays a lot to love concerning the starting of the West Coast swing. This week’s American Specific has 5 of the highest 7 gamers on this planet. Subsequent week’s cease at San Diego has a smattering of stars too, together with heavyweight Jon Rahm. No less than early on, gamers will choose and select their favourite spots to fine-tune their video games and prepare for Augusta.
Because the season progresses, there’ll, in fact, be occasions that get pinched – Honda, Mexico, Rocket Mortgage and 3M instantly come to thoughts – however these tournaments have at all times struggled to draw the large names. As an alternative, these non-designated occasions will lean into what they CAN supply: a Masters berth, full FedExCup factors … and, oh yeah, a spot within the designated season opener at Kapalua.
That is the bridge 12 months till the PGA Tour unveils its revamped schedule for 2024 and past.
This week ought to lastly convey some readability.
After weeks of delays, boardroom reshuffling and courtroom wrangling, LIV Golf is predicted this week to formally announce its full roster of gamers for the 2023 league season, based on printed studies.
As colleague Rex Hoggard reported final August, Mito Pereira ought to be among the many newest batch of signings. The Chilean, ranked forty fifth on this planet, got here inside 4 strokes of successful the PGA Championship final Could earlier than a disastrous closing gap left him out of the playoff finally received by Justin Thomas. Pereira is predicted to hitch LIV’s robust Latin American contingent with Joaquin Niemann, Abe Ancer and Carlos Ortiz, all of whom had been Tour winners.
Following months of rumors, nevertheless, Pereira is the one participant who has been named in printed studies. LIV CEO Greg Norman stated in November that he anticipated to return “85 to 90%” of the gamers for this season – that means he was making an attempt to land six or seven extra gamers, which he stated would come from the highest 20 on this planet.
That doesn’t look like the case.
In different LIV-adjacent information, Golfweek reported that Rookie of the Yr Cameron Younger and long-hitting Cameron Champ had been amongst those that have been granted releases to play in subsequent month’s Saudi Worldwide, an Asian Tour occasion that’s bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund.
It’s not but identified whether or not these gamers will truly tee it up within the Feb. 2-5 occasion (held reverse Pebble Seashore), however Younger’s inclusion could be notably fascinating – he stated final 12 months at East Lake that he was very intrigued by the LIV mannequin, and that his solely remorse was that the profitable supply for the breakaway league had come so early in his profession, when he nonetheless had a lot he needed to attain and didn’t need to jeopardize his standing.
See You in Augusta: Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira. Staked to a four-shot lead in one of many recreation’s most consequential novice tournaments, all of the 22-year-old from Argentina did within the closing spherical was publish a way-too-easy 67 that allowed him to cruise to the title on the Latin America Novice Championship. Severely spectacular stuff, given the entire perks up for grabs. With the victory, he’s now invited to 3 of the 2023 majors, together with in a couple of months on the Masters. Fernandez de Oliveira additionally joined Niemann and Alvaro Ortiz in successful the LAAC a 12 months after ending in second place.
Laughable: Ian Poulter. It’s solely Jan. 16, however we have already got what is certain to be one of many 12 months’s pettiest quotes, with Poulter whining that the European Ryder Cup staff’s official Twitter account didn’t formally want him a cheerful birthday. Take note, in fact, that Poulter’s new employer, LIV Golf, hadn’t both … till they rushed and pushed one out about 20 minutes after he complained. Scrumptious.
To Be Decided: Tiger Woods’ Ryder Cup function. On the Sony, U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson stated of Woods: “He’s part of the staff. It’s only a matter of to what diploma, proper?” It’s a stretch to suppose that Woods will even be thought of for what ought to be a loaded squad; he’s doubtless simply to play the majors, if that, and Marco Simone is “positively hillier” than Augusta Nationwide, based on Johnson. Woods was concerned behind the scenes with final 12 months’s Presidents Cup at Quail Hole too, however he nonetheless wasn’t formally a part of the staff, earpiece in, zipping across the course in a cart. Will he be there, bodily, in Rome, or is it simply one other shadow captaincy?
Certainly one of These Days: Jordan Spieth. You by no means, ever, ever need to go full Camilo, however that’s precisely what Spieth did on the Sony, the place he shared the first-round lead however missed the reduce, by one, after a no-good, very-bad 75 at Waialae through which he stated that he didn’t do a lot mistaken, apart from being barely out of place. (For these questioning, the final participant to go from 1st to MC: Matt Each, in 2020.) Spieth wasn’t about to sweat the early exit, particularly with how a lot golf he’s quickly to be taking part in: Starting with the Phoenix Open, he’s set to play seven of the subsequent eight weeks.
Coming Quickly: PGA Tour Netflix doc. The docuseries following the lives and drama of the Tour is slated to be launched Feb. 15, the day earlier than the Tour stars start play at Riviera for the Genesis Invitational. Within the trailer launched final week, Rory McIlroy (who wasn’t beforehand introduced as having participated) appeared to take a seat for an interview, however the cameras additionally tracked others like Spieth, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau, in addition to LIV defectors Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Poulter. There can be memes – and, positive, in all probability some fallout, too.
Potential Harbinger?: Hero Cup. Led by a rejuvenated Francesco Molinari, the Continental Europe squad convincingly defeated Nice Britain and Eire to seize the tuneup for the Ryder Cup. Molinari’s 3 ½ factors had been tied among the many most of any participant because the 2018 main champion, having dropped not too long ago outdoors the highest 200 on this planet, nonetheless believes he can contribute to the European facet in a house recreation later this 12 months. “It’s an incredible motivation for me,” he stated. An in-form Frankie could be dangerous information for the People – it was 5 years in the past that he turned the primary European participant to hold a 5-0 report on the board in Paris.
New Look, New Sticks: Nelly Korda. Over the weekend Korda posted on social media that she had signed with Nike, however gearheads instantly seen that the membership she was swinging within the advert was reduce off. Scrubbed, too, was any point out of her on the Titleist web site; simply her sister Jessica appeared. However positive sufficient, on Monday morning, Korda was unveiled as a brand new TaylorMade staffer. She’ll debut her new gear this week on the season-opening Event of Champions.
Be the Change You Need: Adam Scott. The affable Aussie has been on Tour for 20 years, however for the primary time he’ll serve on the Tour’s 16-man Participant Advisory Council. And, similar to that, he is additionally one of many three nominees (together with Maverick McNealy and Kevin Streelman) for PAC chairman. It’s one other blow for LIV Golf, which had been actively courting Scott, but it surely additionally can also be a win for the Tour, which is able to profit from the veteran’s considerate strategy and likability throughout the membership spectrum.
Blown Fantasy Decide of the Week: Tom Kim. After a spectacular begin to the 12 months, Kim headed to Honolulu and put up a stinker, lacking the reduce after rounds of 72-69 – his first MC since final 12 months’s PGA. Kim led the sector from tee to inexperienced at Kapalua however he was out of kinds on the greens at Waialae, placing up the worst SG efficiency of his younger profession in Spherical 1, dropping almost FIVE strokes (4.989) to the sector. Yeah, let’s go forward and chalk that one as much as a fluke.