Marcus Byrd was like a bunch of other kids who played golf and idolised Tiger Woods in his prime. When the superstar was competing at Congressional Country Club outside Byrd’s hometown of Washington, DC, he attended with his father, decked out in Woods’ signature red and black.
A pattern is emerging for Max Homa. Similar to Tiger Woods, he’s got his favoured tracks, and he’s got a great affinity for the tournaments in his home state.
Just as the NRL has its replay centre called ‘The Bunker’ and the English Premier League turns to its ‘VAR’, the PGA Tour plans to have its own rules hub at its headquarters in Ponte Vedra, Florida, beginning with the 2025 season.
While the scheduled Wednesday through Saturday playing of last year’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines was originally met with some disappointment and skepticism—and then it nearly went into Sunday when the playoff between winner Luke List and Will Zalatoris ran late—there wasn’t a lot of complaining on the players’ end.
So far in this calendar year, the prospects for impressive fields in early tournaments on the West Coast are equal to or better than they’ve been in the most recent years before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Late last year, the rumours were running wild, and yet Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele stood back probably chuckling, and just watched the circus for a while.
It’s a sweet gig for the PGA Tour players at Kapalua next week as they start the calendar year with the Sentry Tournament of Champions, but three big names won’t be there.
Their commitment to the PNC, which was expected, means that Tiger Woods will play three times in December after not playing any competitive golf since the Open Championship in July.
In LIV Golf’s short time in existence, it has been among the most pressing questions regarding its long-term viability: What are the prospects for getting a television deal that would deliver a far larger audience than its current life on YouTube?