Zozo Championship, LIV Jeddah and more.

Max Homa still after a week Owned by TwitterAnd golf fans around the world are doing something they probably never thought they’d be doing — the MENA Tour – as the PGA Tour heads to Japan, LIV Golf visits its home country of Saudi Arabia, and the LPGA takes a break before playing in South Korea. .

See what’s next in professional golf:

What’s next on the PGA Tour?

Zozo Championship
When: Thursday-Sunday
Where: Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, Chiba, Japan
Purse: 11 million dollars
Defending Champion: Hideki Matsuyama

Three stories to watch:

Matsuyama went home. Matsuyama, the 2020 Masters champion, is one of Japan’s most respected athletes, having become the first Japanese to win a major championship. In the year He won the 2021 Zozo Championship by five shots with a final-round 65. He struggled with back and neck injuries last season, but still managed two wins and a solitary fourth at the US Open.

Shawfel’s Return: Xander Schauffele, ranked sixth in the world, is the top player in the field. He returned to Japan in 2010. Zozo celebrated his Olympic victory with his grandparents by eating in his room at the hotel where he stayed for the championship. Schaufel said his wife, Maya, was born in Okinawa and plans to visit her grandparents after the race. He plans to have dinner with about 30 family members on Tuesday night. “It’s good to see my grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins,” Schuffel told reporters in Japan.

Japan is ready @ZOZOChamp 🤩

The range on Monday was all packed. @XSchaufele. pic.twitter.com/bzUopWJmSB

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 10, 2022

International Representation: Matsuyama is joined by Christian Bezuidenhout, Corey Connors, Cam Davis, Sungjae Im, Si Woo Kim, Tom Kim, KH Lee, Sebastian as the 78-man field includes 10 of the 12 players who competed on the international team. Munoz and Mito Pereira. The 72-hole event will have no cut (not to mention LIV Golf).

What’s next at LIV Golf

LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah
When: Friday-Sunday
Where: Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia
Purse: 25 million dollars

Three stories to watch:

Home game for LIV: The LIV Golf Invitational Series has come under fire for being funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, with protesters and players at the 9/11 event facing questions about the monarchy’s record of human rights abuses. This week looks different as the regular season finale takes place in King Abdullah Economic City, the world’s largest privately funded city on the Red Sea coast, about two hours north of Jeddah. The Royal Greens has hosted the Saudi International and the Saudi Ladies International in the past.

For the second and third races: Two-time senior champion Dustin Johnson completes the individual title at LIV Golf’s inaugural season. It will raise another $18 million. Runner-up gets $8 million and third gets $4 million. Brandon Grace of South Africa is in second place with 79 points. Patrick Reed finished third with 76 points, 20 points ahead of Cameron Smith. Winners are awarded 40 points, while runners-up receive 30 points.

Introducing your 2022 LIV Golf Personal Champion 🇺🇸🏆#LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/WCNHcBX7cK

— LIV Golf (@LIVGolfInv) October 10, 2022

Team competition heats up: The top four teams in the points standings after Sunday’s final round in Saudi Arabia will receive a bye to the first round of the $50 million LIV Golf Team Championship at Trump National Doral in Miami, Oct. 28-30. The 4 Aces (Johnson, Reed, Talor Goch and Pat Perez) won four of six events and qualified for the first round with 140 points. Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers are second with 80 points, Louis Oosthuizen’s Stinger GC is third with 72, and Sergio Garcia’s Fireball is fourth with 69.

What’s next on the LPGA?

BMW Ladies Championship
When: October 20-23
Where: Oak Valley Country Club, Busan, South Korea
Purse: $2 million
Defending champion: Jin Young Co

Three stories to watch:

Korean dominance. Jin Yang Ko rallied from a four-shot deficit in the final round to force a playoff and win the 2021 BMW Ladies Championship, the first event of the LPGA’s Asian swing. She became the second Korean player to win the tournament. Ha Na Jang He won the inaugural event in 2019, and the championship was canceled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Ko’s win was the 200th by a Korean-born player on the LPGA Tour.

Another first time winner? England’s Jodie Ewart Shadoff won last week’s LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship to become the 24th winner and party currently reigns supreme on the LPGA Tour. The most different winners in one LPGA season is 26, which happened between 1991 and 2018. Ewart Schadoff went wire-to-wire as the leader to win for the first time in her 246th event. This is her 10th first-time win of the season, which ranks her second in LPGA history. In 1995, there were 11 winners for the first time.

A great moment for this champion.

In his 246th start @jodie_ewart She won her first LPGA in @MEDIHEALChamp. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/N4zFaECBEL

— LPGA (@LPGA) October 10, 2022

Up and coming. 17-year-old Xiaowen Yin of China is one of 10 players to earn LPGA cards for next season after finishing in the top 10 on the Epson Tour money list. The season concluded Sunday with the final round of the Epson Tour Championship. Yin, who turns 18 in December, got her card at the end of August. Because of her youth, she travels with her parents to the races.

In the official world golf rankings

Cameron Smith, winner of his 150th Open Championship at St Andrews, jumped to world No. 2 on Monday behind Scotty Scheffler. Smith, now playing on the LIV golf circuit, swapped places with Rory McIlroy, who fell to third place. Although LIV golfers did not receive an OWGR score in the first six events, Smith moved up one spot. LIV Golf formed an alliance with the lesser-known MENA Tour last week, creating what it believes is a loophole for players to receive immediate points, but the OWGR board of trustees said it would not make a decision before this week’s event. Saudi Arabia. Here are some celebrities who moved up and down this week’s rankings.

moving up

Tom Kim
Current rank: 21
Previous rank: 15

The South Korean continued his inspired play from the President’s Cup to record his second win at the Shriners Children’s Open. He joins Tiger Woods as the only players to win twice on the PGA Tour before turning 21.

History was made.

Tom Kim is the first player since Tiger Woods to win two PGA TOUR victories before the age of 21. pic.twitter.com/cTUvjSFsdZ

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 10, 2022

Tom Hoge
Current rank: 35
Previous rank: 42

Hoge was the first-round leader in Las Vegas and tied for fourth, 4 shots behind Kim. It’s 1-for-9 when holding an 18-hole lead or common lead.

Legend Perera
Current rank: 41
Previous rank: 49

Pereira, who hails from Chile, is believed to be headed to the LIV Golf Invitational Series at some point. But now he’s playing on the PGA Tour and is tied for fourth in Las Vegas.

Si Woo Kim
Current rank: 73
Previous rank: 79

One had to wonder if Kim’s strong showing at the President’s Cup would jump-start his career. After recording just one top 10 in 29 tour starts last season, he finished eighth at the Shriners Children’s Open.

Matthew Nesmith
Current rating: 98
Previous rank: 162

Nesmith, from North Augusta, South Carolina, jumped a whopping 64 spots in the rankings after joining the Las Vegas runner. Nesmith loves TPC Summerlin — he has 16 consecutive rounds in the 60s in four starts.

Moving down

Dustin Johnson
Current rank: 24
Previous rank: 23

Johnson may have wrapped up the LIV Golf individual title with a 16th-place finish in Bangkok, but he continues to slide in the OWGR rankings. In the year By the end of 2021, it was 3rd in the world.

Brooks Koepka
Current rank: 33
Previous rank: 32

The former World No. 1 golfer has continued to slide through the ranks since joining LIV Golf. In the year It is the four-time major champion’s worst finish since finishing 34th at the end of the 2014 season.

Louis Oosthuizen
Current rank: 38
Previous rank: 34

Another LIV golfer, the South African, will play at the 2021 WGC-FedEx St. Jude was seventh in the world after losing to 17th at the invitational. He has four top-10s in five LIV Golf starts.

Daniel Berger
Current rank: 40
Previous rank: 37

The four-time Tour champion has not started since June’s US Open due to an injury. At the beginning of 2021, he was ranked 13th in the world.

Tiger Woods
Current rank: 1,206
Previous rank: 1,195

Woods, who was ranked No. 1 in the world for a record 683 weeks, played in just three majors last season and is seven places lower since returning from a car accident in February 2021. His career history.

On the record

PGA Tour rookie Taylor Montgomery is off to a hot start with three straight top-15 finishes in as many starts. The former UNLV player had his only third-place finish at the season-opening Fortinet Championship, tied for ninth at the Sanderson Farms Championship and 15th at the Shriners Children’s Open. Montgomery spoke to ESPN this week:

Q: What was it like playing in your hometown last week?

Answer: It was good. I grew up watching the tournament, so it was great to play in it. Obviously, sleeping in your own bed is great. After you leave the golf course, you go about doing things you normally do. You’re not going back to your hotel room and watching movies. You can actually go home, relax and have fun with your family.

Q: How much does local knowledge help?

A: They changed all the greens on this course, and I felt like I struggled a little bit on them. That’s probably the most putts I’ve missed within 5 feet in my last three or four years as a pro. They were mischievous and not yet settled. There were a lot of small breaks. Looking at the statistics, everyone had the same problem. They were just hard to read.

Q: What courses are you most excited to play on the PGA Tour?

A: Definitely the West Coast swing, all the courses in Hawaii and California. I really like Torrey Pines. I’m excited for that.

Q: How much of a transition has there been from the Korn Boat Tour to the PGA Tour?

A: Honestly, I think the Korn Ferry Tour does an amazing job of preparing you for the PGA Tour. Especially the courses we played last year were a big challenge. It feels like a PGA Tour event. I know we haven’t played the hardest PGA courses, the last three I played, but I know Torrey Pines is a tough one, and I like that place. If you’re playing well and consistently on the Korn Ferry Tour, I think you’ll do the same here on the PGA Tour.

Q: Is it true that you weren’t hitting a driver off the tee at one point in your college career?

A: I met my swing coach, John Sinclair from Dallas, Texas, about four or five years ago. I’ve always had a good short game. I had to say that because I’ve played with trees all my life. College was tough because I couldn’t hit a driver anywhere. I wanted to swing 134 mph, but position-wise it could go 80 yards to the left, down the middle, or 80 yards to the right. I’ve become a much better ball driver over the last couple of years. It really is all. [thanks] For the help of John Sinclair.

Q: What did Sinclair do to get you to call him?

A: We have changed a lot. I have changed the way I leave the club. I used to flip the club and I think that’s where I got all my speed. But I had no control over the face. This is where John helped me. I’ve never given up, but that’s helped me the way I’m leaving my club now. He did not teach me to bend my wrists; What I did was more natural because I felt the other way was too difficult. It’s a swing that I kind of developed.

Q: Are you going to stay in Las Vegas?

A: I bought my first house, and I think it will be built in seven or eight months. I’ve been looking for a while, but the houses in Las Vegas and everywhere else were very expensive. The last two or three starts have definitely helped at home. [Montgomery has won $889,375]. I live with my parents now.