The PGA Tour’s West Coast Swing begins at American Express in La Quinta, California.
These past two weeks can serve as a microcosm of what’s to come on the PGA Tour.
In the year South Korea’s Si Woo Kim, who won The American Express in 2021, returned to the winner’s circle at the Hawaii Open last week. He rallied from a 3-shot deficit over the final three holes to pick up his fourth PGA Tour victory, putting him on a leaderboard that didn’t include many familiar names.
None of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking were stuck in Hawaii for the second week, with a handful of stars there including Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, Gary Woodland and Billy Horschel missing the competition after most competed to start 2023 at the more lucrative Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Conversely, the race that Bob Hope made famous in the California desert was packed for The American Express. Five of the top 10 players in the world and 10 of the top 20 players line up in the Coachella Valley. Scottie Scheffler said. So are Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Will Zalatoris and Cameron Young.
Changes to the $100 million Player Impact Program requirements bode well for American Express. The new PIP rules require players to compete in 20 tournaments, including 12 senior events, the players, the four major teams (if eligible) and three other tournaments of their choice. Many chose to play at La Quinta.
“You want to beat the best, and I’m glad people came,” Rahm said at a news conference Wednesday. “It’s good that more players are trying more events. I think it’s because of some of the new events that have happened during the year. We have all those big events that we have to play, if we want to get that PIP award.
“This opens up all those, let’s say lower events, that you need to play. It opens people’s eyes to maybe some events that you haven’t played before because your schedule changes a little bit. I know I’m one of those.”
Here’s what to watch in men’s professional golf this week:
What’s next on the PGA Tour?
American Express
When: Thursday-Sunday
Where: La Quinta Country Club, La Quinta, California
Winning Champion: Hudson Swafford
Bag: 8 million dollars
Three stories to watch:
Where is Mickelson? Six-time major champion Phil Mickelson has been an American Express host for the past three years. But like many of Mickelson’s longtime sponsors, American Express cut ties with him after his controversial comments about the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf financiers were published by author Alan Shipnuk in February 2022.
Another big change: The tournament’s former philanthropic arm, the Mickelson Foundation, has been replaced by American Express Impact Golf, which provides funding to local organizations.
Swafford, a two-time winner of the event, will also not return to defend his title. He is one of the PGA Tour players suspended by commissioner Jay Monahan for appearing in conflicting event broadcasts at LIV golf events. Past champions and current LIV golfers Patrick Reed and Pat Perez will also be no-shows.
Two world number 1? Rahm and other players have criticized the official World Golf Ranking’s new formula for awarding more points to smaller (but more elite) fields like the Tournament of Champions.
Now, according to popular OWGR guru Twitter calculations, there may indeed be a co-no. No. 1 in the new world rankings on Monday — No. 5-ranked Cantley beat American Express and No. 2-ranked Scheffler finished eighth alone. There is never a common no. 1s in OWGR.
🚨 Break
As things stand now, if Patrick Cantlay wins @theamexgolf And with Scotty Scheffler finishing solo 8th, the two could share 1st place in the world standings and Rory would drop to #3. #OWGR
(It will change if there are further changes in the field)
— Nosferatu (@VC606) January 17, 2023
In that case, current No. 1 player Rory McIlroy would drop to third, according to OWGR Guru.
Scheffler, who spent most of last season over the top, was asked at a news conference Wednesday about sharing the top spot.
“It’s going to be really funny,” Scheffler said. “I guess that’s never happened before. Yeah, it would be a little bit weird to have two No. 1s. Maybe there’s a patch or something to see who’s going to be the real No. 1.”
Shawfel’s Return: Schufele, who was forced to withdraw from the championship due to illness after the eighth hole of the second round, is scheduled to play on Thursday. But he admits his back is still bothering him.
“Yeah, it hurt a little bit,” Schaufele said. “I haven’t done anything and it’s been a lot of work, so I’m a little sore, I’ve probably been in more swings than I’d like these three days. So it needs more work. I’ll just have to be a little more patient coming back.
Schauffele said he probably spent too much time on the practice range the last few days.
“A lot more swing than I wanted,” he said. “I’m that golfer who’s like, ‘One more,’ and it’s like, 50. You know what I mean? I’m that guy. I think we’re those guys and guys out here who are tour pros. I’m definitely guilty of it.”
PGA Tour Power Rankings
1. John Rahm
Rahm’s season-opening Championship win gave him one of at least seven consecutive seasons, tying Justin Thomas for the longest active presence on the tour.
2. Rory McIlroy
You can watch the world’s No. 1 golfer compete in the Dubai Desert Classic next week.
3. Scottie Scheffler
He will have the chance to defend four titles before mid-April at the WM Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and the Masters.
4. Patrick Cantlay
The California native has three straight top 10s at the American Express and leads the event with at least five rounds in average (67.17) and birdies per round (6.17).
5. Tony Finau
Finn has three wins and six top-10s in his last eight starts. That’s a heater. He has 74 birdies at American Express over the past three years, the most by any player.
6. Will Zalatoris
Zalatoris is back in prison for the 11th time in Kapalua after more than four months out due to a back injury.
7. Justin Thomas
The state PGA Championship winner has won twice before, making his 25th start at Kapalua in 2023.
8. Max Homa
Homa How often will he be asked about carding a 9-under 61 to set the Cal senior record on the North Course at the Los Angeles Country Club in 2013 and between June’s U.S. Open there?
9. Cameron Young
The 2022 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year has the length to go very low this week, perhaps just enough to pick up his first PGA Tour victory. Tied for 13th at Kapalua.
10. Tom Kim
A year ago, Kim made his fifth PGA Tour debut with American Express, sponsor-free. He is ranked 154th in the world. This week he is 14th. He missed out on the Sony Open after winning for the fifth time at the Tournament of Champions.
Is LIV Golf’s TV deal coming?
“Coming up another hour after ‘Jack Hanna goes wild’, live coverage of the second round of the LIV Golf Invitational Mayakoba in Mexico.”
After months of speculation, it looks like LIV Golf finally has a local TV partner. It’s not the cable network they thought would air a second season of the Saudi-backed circuit, which has been rumored for weeks. According to various reports, LIV Golf is on the verge of signing a media rights deal with The CW Network, known for rebroadcasting “Bob’s Burgers,” “Family Guy” and “Divorce Court,” instead of broadcasting live sports. Events.
In fact, the CW currently has no other sports properties. In the deal, TV rights will reportedly share advertising revenue with LIV Golf. In the year In March 2020, the PGA Tour reached a nine-year media rights deal with CBS Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN, which will pay the tour more than $6 billion over the life of the deal.
LIV Golf will continue to pay for production costs, as it did during the inaugural season, with tournaments being broadcast on YouTube, DAZN and the circuit’s official website.
“I think it’s a very positive step in the right direction,” an agent with LIV Players told ESPN on Wednesday. At this point, getting eyeballs was critical to continued success.
The second season of LIV Golf is scheduled to take place at Eli Chameleon Golf Course in Mayacoba, Mexico on February 24-26. Fronted by two-time Open winner Greg Norman, the league has announced locations for just seven of the 14 tournaments planned for 2023. Events will also be held in Arizona, Australia, Singapore, Oklahoma, Spain and West Virginia.
The full announcement of the LIV Golf 2023 schedule and the 48 players in the 12 teams is expected in the coming days.
The CW, which is mostly owned by Nexstar Media Group, is distributed to 123.5 million homes across the US. While LIV Golf promises to grow the sport and reach audiences, the CW’s average viewer is 58 years old, according to NexStar.
“The bottom line is that they’re on network TV now,” the agent said. “If the Lakers and Warriors are playing on TV, I don’t think people care if they’re on channel 8, 12, 24 or 36. They just care that they’re tuned in. They’re on everybody’s channel now. Channel lineup for a 14-year-old or an 85-year-old.”
Sports Business Journal first reported the potential deal between LIV Golf and The CW. LIV Golf has reportedly been in talks with Fox Sports about airing the tournament on FS1 or FS2, with LIV Golf paying for the airtime.
Best social media of the week
Story time with Fred Couples is always fun.
Joe Lacava drove @fredcouplesgolf 22 years for each event. 😳
All because of Fred’s mischief in the desert. pic.twitter.com/lwt1PXdld6
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) January 17, 2023
And we thought Jim Furyk’s swing was confusing.
I go A or C in this bag. But I have a theory on this – if you grow up in the north, the putter goes with the driver. It goes with conflicts in the southern part. Just what I saw as a child….. https://t.co/QQmvdQI2DP
— Jim Furyk (@jimfuryk) January 17, 2023
Those trophies also come with a couple of nice invitations. Argentina’s Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira won the Latin American Amateur Championship and advanced to the Masters, US Open and The Open.
Chubby in the water?
T Box Spanish lessons for Si Woo Kim with @Nicolas_Ech 😂 pic.twitter.com/FaJ6rnsMuS
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 18, 2023
True.
That’s a deep hole.
A golf game video game is coming
EA Sports is set to release its first golf game on console since 2015 this spring, and on Thursday EA Sports PGA Tour plans to show off in-depth gameplay.
Check out EA SPORTS PGA Tour Gameplay 👀⛳️ first
This Thursday at 11am ET 🗓️ Full in-depth discussion on the upcoming game
Watch live ➡️ https://t.co/WShHGDEZq4 pic.twitter.com/d1BFNmKCxP
— EA SPORTS PGA TOUR (@ESPORTSPGATOUR) January 17, 2023
According to previous EA Sports news releases, players will compete in all four major events, the FedEx Cup Playoffs, The Players, as well as additional tournaments in the LPGA, US Amateur and Korn Ferry Tour.
