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How the field will likely look for a November Masters

11 hours ago Golf External News, ,

While many questions remain about what a Masters might look like in November, one area where we have some clarity is what the field will look like.

Augusta National Golf Club announced Monday that this year’s tournament has new “intended dates” of Nov. 9-15. But part of that announcement included language from club chairman Fred Ridley about who will be invited down Magnolia Lane this fall.


BY Rex Hoggard


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The Grand Slam landscape has been dramatically uprooted by the coronavirus pandemic with golf’s major championship bodies announcing a schedule makeover.

“We want to emphasize that our future plans are incumbent upon favorable counsel and direction from health officials,” Ridley wrote. “Provided that occurs and we can conduct the 2020 Masters, we intend to invite those professionals and amateurs who would have qualified for our original April date.”

Masters qualification was already winding down when global competition ground to a halt last month, with only two remaining pathways to an invite: win one of four remaining full-point PGA Tour events, all of which have since been canceled, or sit inside the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings on March 30.

But 92 players had already qualified for this year’s Masters, a larger number than some fields in recent years even with those 11th-hour avenues removed. Eighty-seven players participated each of the last two years, while the field grew to 93 in 2017. The Masters has not had a field size over 100 since 1966, when 103 players participated.


BY Golf Channel Digital


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Here is a look at what the PGA Tour currently has proposed on its schedule for the remainder of the 2019-20 season.

If the tournament committee opted to make the final top-50 cutoff based on what the world rankings looked like when they were frozen on March 20, four more players who were not otherwise exempt would be invited: No. 44 Collin Morikawa, No. 45 Scottie Scheffler, No. 47 Christiaan Bezuidenhout and No. 49 Graeme McDowell. That could potentially swell the field to 96, though winners of tournaments should competition resume this summer will earn invites to the 2021 event.

“We would not be adding players to the field between now and the November event,” an Augusta National spokesperson told GolfChannel.com. “Those would be picked up by the 2021 tournament, per our usual qualifications.”

There are 19 Masters qualifying criteria, although lucky No. 19 is the final OWGR cutoff that had not yet come to pass. Here’s a look at how all 92 players for this year’s field qualified, with players who gained entry via multiple criteria listed only by the first way by which they qualified:

1. Masters champions (lifetime exemption): Angel Cabrera, Fred Couples, Sergio Garcia, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Phil Mickelson, Larry Mize, Jose Maria Olazabal, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel, Adam Scott, Vijay Singh, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Mike Weir, Danny Willett, Tiger Woods

2. U.S. Open champions (last five years): Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Gary Woodland

3. Open champions (last five years): Shane Lowry, Francesco Molinari, Henrik Stenson

4. PGA champions (last five years): Jason Day, Justin Thomas, Jimmy Walker

5. Players champions (last three years): Si Woo Kim, Rory McIlroy, Webb Simpson

6. Current Olympic gold medalist (one year): N/A

7. Current U.S. Amateur winner and runner-up: James Augenstein (a), Andy Ogletree (a)

8. Current British Amateur champion: James Sugrue (a)

9. Current Asia-Pacific Amateur champion: Yuxin Lin (a)

10. Current Latin America Amateur champion: Abel Gallegos (a)

11. Current U.S. Mid-Amateur champion: Lukas Michel (a)

12. Top 12 and ties from 2019 Masters: Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler, Justin Harding, Matt Kuchar, Ian Poulter, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele

13. Top 4 and ties from 2019 U.S. Open: Justin Rose, Chez Reavie

14. Top 4 and ties from 2019 Open: Tommy Fleetwood, Lee Westwood

15. Top 4 and ties from 2019 PGA Championship: Matt Wallace

16. Individual winners of PGA Tour events that offer full FedExCup points: Cameron Champ, Tyler Duncan, Dylan Frittelli, Lanto Griffin, Tyrrell Hatton, Max Homa, Sungjae Im, Sung Kang, Andrew Landry, Nate Lashley, Marc Leishman, Sebastian Munoz, Kevin Na, Joaquin Niemann, C.T. Pan, J.T. Poston, Cameron Smith, Nick Taylor, Brendon Todd, Matthew Wolff

17. Qualifiers for 2019 Tour Championship: Abraham Ancer, Paul Casey, Corey Conners, Bryson DeChambeau, Lucas Glover, Charles Howell III, Kevin Kisner, Jason Kokrak, Hideki Matsuyama, Louis Oosthuizen, Brandt Snedeker

18. Top 50 from final Official World Golf Ranking of 2019: Byeong-Hun An, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Adam Hadwin, Billy Horschel, Shugo Imahira, Jazz Janewattananond, Victor Perez, Andrew Putnam, Erik van Rooyen, Bernd Wiesberger




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Masters Tournament final-round broadcasts: 1973-77

1 day ago Golf External News, , ,


Thanks to the Masters Tournament’s YouTube page, you can watch full final-round broadcasts from Augusta National Golf Club. Check out these, from 1973-77. Click here for the full collection, from 1968-2019.

1977: Watson edges Nicklaus for first green jacket

1976: Floyd wins Masters by eight shots

1975: Nicklaus tops Miller, Weiskopf in epic finish

1974: Player slips on his second green jacket

1973: Aaron bests Snead in lone major win




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Masters Tournament final-round broadcasts: 1968-72

2 days ago Golf External News, , ,


Thanks to the Masters Tournament’s YouTube page, you can watch full final-round broadcasts from Augusta National Golf Club. Check out these, from 1968-72. Click here for the full collection, from 1968-2019.

1972: Nicklaus goes wire to wire for fourth jacket

1971: Coody overcomes Nicklaus, Miller

1970: Casper downs Littler in 18-hole playoff

1969: Archer edges Casper, Knudson, Weiskopf

1968: Goalby wins when De Vincezo signs incorrect card




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LPGA announces additional schedule changes; set to resume play in June

3 days ago Golf External News, , , , , , ,

The LPGA announced Friday morning that four more of its events are being postponed and one more is being cancelled.

The season is now temporarily set to resume June 19-21 at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in Rogers, Arkansas.

That’s now 14 LPGA events that have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with 10 postponements or rescheduled events and four cancellations.


BY Golf Channel Digital


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Here’s a look at some events on primary tours that have been canceled or postponed amid the COVID-19 concerns.

Friday’s news includes the U.S. Women’s Open being moved from its June 4-7 date to Dec. 10-13 at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas.

The other changes announced Friday:

  • The Pelican Women’s Championship in Belleair, Florida, originally scheduled for May 14-17, will now take place Nov. 12-15.
  • The ShopRite LPGA Classic in Atlantic City, New Jersey, originally scheduled for May 29-31, will move to July 31 to Aug. 2.
  • The Meijer LPGA Classic in Grand Rapids, Michigan, originally scheduled for June 11-14, is working on a date to reschedule.
  • The Pure Silk Championship in Williamsburg, Virginia, originally scheduled for May 21-24, will not take place in 2020 but will return in its date on the 2021 LPGA Tour schedule.
  • The Kia Classic, previously postponed in March, will now be held Sept. 24-27 in Carlsbad, Calif.

“We are so thankful to all our partners for their flexibility and willingness to work with us during this very difficult time,” LPGA commissioner Mike Whan said. “This has been a truly collective effort to reschedule tournament dates and work together to provide LPGA players with as many playing opportunities as possible once it is safe for us to resume competing again. As we watch the world come together in this battle against this virus, we are so thankful for all of the support from our valued partners and we continue to wish for the health and safety of all the extended members of our global LPGA family.”




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Report: New major dates, revised schedule close to being unveiled

4 days ago Golf External News, , , , , ,

Could a revised professional golf schedule be on the way?

According to a Golfweek report, which cited three anonymous sources with knowledge of discussions, golf’s governing bodies are close to making a joint announcement in unveiling updated schedules for the majors and the PGA Tour, one that would include three or four major championships and a Ryder Cup in a four-month span.

Here are some of the details outlined in the report:

• Initial discussions had The Players Championship, which was canceled after 18 holes last month because of COVID-19 concerns, being rescheduled, but those plans have since been nixed.

• The last holdup on an official announcement is The Open Championship, which the R&A confirmed Friday had yet to be moved from its original July 16-19 date. The new schedule would see The Open being played at Royal St. George’s on Sept. 17-20, a week before the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, which would keep its original dates.

• If The Open stays in its current slot or is canceled, the U.S. Open would likely fill that mid-September window, allowing it to remain at Winged Foot. However, if the U.S. Open, which still has yet to be rescheduled from June, is forced to a later date in the fall, it likely would need to be played elsewhere.

Simpson: Could be June or July before Tour play resumes

Simpson: Could be June or July before Tour play resumes

• USGA chief brand officer Craig Annis told Golfweek that it is becoming “increasingly likely” that the U.S. Open will be postponed. The USGA has reportedly been in talks with two potential replacements, 2021 host Torrey Pines and last year’s host Pebble Beach. “If we get beyond September we would need to find a U.S. Open-ready course in a place with the right climate and agronomics, with consideration to available daylight hours,” Annis added.

• The PGA Championship would become the year’s first major, taking place Aug. 6-9 at TPC Harding Park.

• And arguably the biggest news: the Masters would move to November, specifically Nov. 12-15.

Currently, the PGA Tour schedule is slated to resume May 21-24 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, but per this report, the Tour is instead targeting a mid-June restart.

Further details of what other Tour events would be affected by this new schedule and when next season’s wraparound campaign would begin were unknown.




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Canadian Corey Conners puts Olympic dream on hold

5 days ago Golf External News, , , , , ,

When the world rankings were frozen last month in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, Corey Conners was safely among the 60 players qualified for this year’s Olympic Games.

The Games were going to be among the highlights of Conners’ career, but last week’s decision to postpone the Tokyo Olympics until the summer of 2021 put that dream on hold.

“It was disappointing. I’d worked really hard and that was a big goal of mine,” Conners said on Wednesday during a conference call with reporters. “Things happen that are out of my control. I just want to work harder next year and represent Canada in Japan.”

Olympics


BY Ryan Lavner


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The 2020 Tokyo Olympics have officially been postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak.

It was Conners’ victory at last year’s Valero Texas Open that lifted the Canadian into Olympic consideration. Not having the opportunity to defend that title this week in San Antonio is another example of how much things have changed since the coronavirus halted play on the PGA Tour last month. But Conners remains optimistic.

He’s embraced this time away from golf and allowed his mind to “reset.” He also said that depending on when the Tour begins its schedule again there is still a chance to complete a meaningful season.

“If we’re able to get started at [the Charles Schwab Challenge, May 21-24] and play through the summer I think there will be enough sample size for guys,” Conners said. “I feel like a lot of players ramp up their schedules in the summertime and if we get started in May at Colonial I think that would be reasonable to call it a full season.”




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