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Players Championship Video: Ian Poulter in a race with darkness

Ian Poulter in a race against darkness at the Players Championship (foto Getty)
Ian Poulter in a race against darkness at the Players Championship (foto Getty)

Ian Poulter was in a particular hurry in the first round of the Players Championship on the PGA Tour. Due to the thunderstorm interruptions, the round could not be played to the end. But Poulter, who was already on his last few holes, didn’t want to get up at the crack of dawn on Friday just to finish one more hole and then wait who knows how long. So speed was the order of the day.

Players Championship: Darkness gets players going

Players use this strategy from time to time. The reason for this is that once a player has teed off on a hole, the hole may be finished if the round is interrupted due to darkness, should the players wish to do so. The situation is different if the round is interrupted due to thunderstorms. Because of the dangerous situation, players have no choice.

The speed did not harm the Ryder Cupper. Almost it would have been two birdies to finish. After winning the stroke on 17, he almost holed a chip from 15 yards for birdie on 18, but the ball stayed less than 20 inches from the hole. He eventually holed it for a round of 73.

It’s actually not the first time Poulter has rushed the final holes at TPC Sawgrass, either. There were similar images at the 2011 Players Championship:

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PGA Tour

Players Championship: Masters Champion Hideki Matsuyama WDs

Hideki Matsuyama withdraws from The Players Championship. (Photo: Getty)
Hideki Matsuyama withdraws from The Players Championship. (Photo: Getty)

The flagship tournament of the PGA Tour, the Players Championship, started on Thursday morning local time in Florida. At the TPC Sawgrass, however, the fans will have to do without another top-class player. Hideki Matsuyama has cancelled his participation in the “fifth major” at short notice due to injury.

Players Championship: Hideki Matsuyama withdraws

The Japanese player is suffering from a “persistent back injury”, the PGA Tour announced. Hideki Matsuyama was supposed to play the first two rounds at TPC Sawgrass together with Joaquin Niemann and Cameron Smith. However, due to the injury of the reigning Masters champion, Patrick Rodgers will now tee off for Matsuyama.

Matsuyama already with two wins on the PGA Tour this season

Matsuyama is generally in good form this season. The 30-year-old won already two times on the PGA Tour and recorded two top-10 finishes. Most recently he finished tied for 20th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. As a result, the FedExCup runner-up was considered one of the favourites to win the Players Championship. Matsuyama stood at the top of the leaderboard when the tournament was cut short by corona in 2020. After Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods, Matsuyama is thus the next well-known professional to miss the tournament. In a few weeks, the first Major of the year will begin for professional golfers. At Augusta National, Matsuyama will tee off as the defending champion. How serious the injury of the Japanese Major winner is and whether his participation in the Masters is in danger is still unclear at the moment.

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PGA Tour

Watch out for these golfers at the Players Championship 2022

Players to watch out for at the Players Championship. (Photo: Getty)
Players to watch out for at the Players Championship. (Photo: Getty)

The Players Championship is also called the “fifth major”. It is the first highlight of the year and the tournament with the largest prize money on the PGA Tour. The field of participants is peppered with the absolute top players in the world and thus promises a tough fight for the title. From the top 50 in the world rankings, almost all players will compete in the Players Championship, so it is difficult to identify clear favourites. Nevertheless, we want to get an overview of the field’s strongest competitors.

Players Championship victory could affect world ranking

The tournament’s biggest favourites are, of course, the players in the top 10 of the official World Golf Ranking. All ten will be travelling to Florida in a bid to take the title from last year’s winner Justin Thomas. Thomas himself, currently number 7 in the world, will be there to try and defend the title. He won the 20-million-dollar tournament in 2021 and has already proven that he has the ability and the nerve to prevail against the strong field. A clear advantage.

Jon Rahm, currently number 1 in the world rankings, is under particular pressure. He is in danger of losing his leading position on the world ranking list after 34 weeks. No less than four players could pass him with a good result this week: Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler. They are all hot on the Spaniard’s heels and will leave no stone unturned to climb to the top of the world rankings.

Pressure on Jon Rahm

Viktor Hovland has been in particularly good form in recent weeks, winning once already this year, finishing second once and recording two more top-10 finishes. Scottie Scheffler is also a strong threat to Rahm: the American has already won two of five tournaments this year.

One of them was last weeks Arnold Palmer Invitational. But Patrick Cantlay, last season’s FedEx Cup winner, and Collin Morikawa, who has been lying in wait for Jon Rahm at number two in the world rankings for some time now, will also put Rahm under pressure. Morikawa currently leads several rankings on the PGA Tour and broke last years record with a 66 at the Players Championship.

Other players in the top 10 who will be competing at TPC Sawgrass are Rory McIlroy (winner of the 2019 Players Championship), Xander Schauffele, Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith.

Sergio Garcia also has an impressive record. He has made the cut at TPC Sawgrass 17 times in a row, a feat many a golfer has despaired of. In addition to eight top-15 finishes, he has finished third once, second twice and won the tournament once. Not to be forgotten: his hole-in-one on the famous 17th hole in 2017.

Even underdogs can surprise on the PGA Tour

Not only the winners can sow panic. This year, for example, four winners celebrated a victory on the PGA Tour for the first time before the start of March. They are Tom Hoge, Scottie Scheffler, Luke List and Sepp Straka. They will all be competing again this week.

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PGA Tour

Tiger Woods with emotional speech at Hall of Fame induction

Tiger Woods received the World Golf Hall of Fame award from his daughter Sam. (Photo: Getty)
Tiger Woods received the World Golf Hall of Fame award from his daughter Sam. (Photo: Getty)

On Wednesday evening the time had finally come: After a slight delay – the ceremony was postponed due to the Corona pandemic – Tiger Woods was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. His daughter Sam gave the presentation speech at the event at the PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach on the evening before the Players Championship and handed over the trophy to her father, who was honoured for his achievements and credits in golf. Woods himself looked back on his life in an emotional speech.

Laudation by daughter Sam

The introductory speech was given by Woods’ daughter Sam, who looked back on some moments in her life with Tiger Woods. “In 2007, my dad found himself in a position to make an 18-foot putt to force a U.S. Open playoff, which he missed by a foot,” Sam recounted in her speech. “He then had to rush to the airport, fly from Pittsburgh to Orlando, and drive to the Winnie Palmer Hospital. Within five minutes of walking into the hospital room, still wearing his red golf shirt, on June 18, I was born. He may have lost that day, but he won the greatest gift of all.”

The 14-year-old also shared anecdotes from Tiger Woods’ life as a father, recounting holidays, violin concerts and football matches. Above all, however, the work ethic “train hard, fight easy” had determined the life of the now 46-year-old. This was also the case a good year ago, when he had to train “harder than ever”. Sam spoke of the “scariest moments” of her life as not being clear about the superstar’s health. “You’re not only going to be conducted into the Hall of Fame, but you’re standing here on your own two feet,” Sam said, explaining why her father deserved it. “You’re a fighter,” she said, describing the milestones of the 15-time major winner, who became the first black golfer to win a major tournament and won his fifth Masters in 2019 after an incredible comeback.

Tiger Woods with emotional acceptance speech

“I inducted you into the Dads Hall of Fame a long time ago,” Sam finished her speech, “but today I am so proud to present my dad, Tiger Woods, into the World Golf Hall of Fame.” With these words, the daughter, dressed in red, presented the award to her father, who thanked her in an emotional speech. In doing so, the 82-time PGA Tour winner significantly overstayed his seven-minute speaking time, talking about his family, racism and his work ethic in a total of 17 minutes. Woods began his journey through time 40 years ago when golf took hold of him at the tender age of six. He told how he secretly sneaked onto the golf course with his father because he was still too young, how he collected golf balls and earned his first money putting, how he was not allowed into some clubhouses as a black youth and how he only had two questions: “Where is the first tee? What’s the course record?”

At the age of 14, his family was at a crossroads and made a “tough decision.” His parents took out a second mortgage so the 14-year-old Woods could continue playing golf. His mum stayed at home while Tiger travelled with his father Earl to play the AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) Tour. It all wouldn’t have been possible “without the sacrifices from mom and dad,” said an emotionally moved Woods, who was finally able to pay off the mortgage with his first big sponsoring deals. He said his father, who died in 2006, instilled in him the work ethic. “If you don’t go out there and put in the work, if you don’t go out and put in the effort – one, you’re not going to get the results, and two, and more importantly, you don’t deserve it. You need to earn it,” Woods said. “So that defined my upbringing. That defined my career.”

In that career, Tiger Woods has broken countless records and taken golf to a new level. For this, he has now been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. In addition, Tim Finchem, former commissioner of the PGA Tour, four-time major winner Susie Maxwell Berning and the late golf course developer Marion Hollins were also honoured on the evening for their achievements in golf.

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PGA Tour

Justin Thomas has a new apparel deal with Greyson Clothiers

Justin Thomas has a new apparel sponsor (Foto Getty)
Justin Thomas has a new apparel sponsor (Foto Getty)

Justin Thomas and Greyson Clothiers announced their future collaboration on Monday. The fashion brand is now the official outfitter of Justin Thomas. Just a year ago, Thomas had lost a large portion of his sponsors as a result of a homophobic outburst at the Tournament of Champions. Among them was his old supplier Ralph Lauren, who had very quickly withdrawn in the wake of these remarks. Since then Justin Thomas has appeared without an official outfit sponsor. But already during this time he played again and again in outfits of the brand Greyson.

Justin Thomas, the biggest name in Greyson’s player lineup

Then on Monday it became official: the new partnership was announced on all media channels. Thomas is now the biggest name in the company’s athlete lineup. Other sponsored players include Luke Donald and Harry Higgs. Both Greyson Clothiers and Justin Thomas are excited about the newfound partnership, “What’s interesting about the deal is that the head of Greyson, Charlie Schaefer, was the former design lead for Ralph Lauren. He was also at Ralph Lauren when Justin Thomas became a partner at the company. Now they are crossing paths at his own company. A true friendship has grown between Thomas and them, Greyson let it be heard on Instagram.

Justin Thomas had fallen out of favor with many of his sponsors 14 months ago. At the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the American had made homophobic slurs on the course. Ralph Lauren and other sponsors stopped their cooperation with the golfer shortly afterwards. Back then, he had apologized and expressed his “deepest” shame.

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PGA Tour

The Players Championship money shower: PGA Tour sets records

The current defending Players Championship champion: Justin Thomas (Photo: Getty)
The current defending Players Championship champion: Justin Thomas (Photo: Getty)

It is The Players Championship time! The world’s best golfers meet on Ponte Vedra Beach on Thursday, for a very exciting week. The “unofficial fifth” major tournament will take place in Florida, and this year the prize money is higher than ever before.

A total of $20 M will be paid out to the tournament participants. That is five million more than last year. Read this article to find out how the prize money has increased year after year, even though “The Players” is not one of the four major tournaments.

PGA Tour not only increases the Players Championship prize money

That golf is only played by the “rich and famous” is an outdated cliché. The sport has long since developed more and more into a popular sport and offers everyone the opportunity to try it out. Looking at professional sports, however, one quickly realizes that a lot of prestige and, above all, money are at stake.

A good example of this is the prize money on the PGA Tour, which has reached a new record high this year alone. Jay Monahan, commissioner of the PGA Tour, stated at the beginning of the season that prize money for 2022 will increase “from $367 million to $427 million.”

In particular, the upcoming Players Championship in Florida will benefit. While the total prize money was $15 million last year, it has now been increased by another five million. From March 10-13, golf’s elite will meet at TPC Sawgrass to determine the winner of the PGA Tour’s highest-paying golf event.

The Players Championship reward over the years

When the Players Championship was first held in 1974, the total prize money was $250,000. The winner, Jack Nicklaus, received $60,000 for his victory at the time. Over the years, the prize money continued to increase. In 1987, for example, the “pot” cracked the one million dollar mark for the first time.

Another milestone was certainly the win of the tournament by Hal Sutton in 2000, who was able to collect over $1M for winning the tournament. Justin Thomas enjoyed a victory bonus of 2.7 million dollars in 2021. That sum will be surpassed again this year.

The Players Championship’ 22 reward

The winner of this year’s Players Championship will receive 3.6 million dollars alone. This means that the bonus for the winner has increased by an incredible sixty-fold from the beginning.

However, that prize money in golf as a whole has increased many times over since the 1970s. And that is not the end of the line. The PGA Tour already announced that the prize money of its flagship tournament will increase to $25 million by 2025.

For instance, the following table shows the win bonuses of the top 5 for the upcoming Players Championship.

Ranking Prize Money
1. $3,600,000
2. $2,180,000
3. $1,380,000
4. $980,000
5. $820,000

Players Championship eclipses major tournaments

Although the tournament at TPC Sawgrass is not one of the majors, it has something over the four competitions. It is the highest paying event on the PGA Tour. Compared to the Masters, which takes place in about a month at Augusta National Golf Club. The Players Championship offers near twice as much.

According to media reports, the premiums for the upcoming Masters amount to the $11.5 million from last year, while the Players Championship boasts as little as $20 million. Last year’s Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama’s victory bonus also represents just about half of this year’s Players Championship winner, at around $2 million.

Major comparisons

The 2021 British Open was also listed at a total of $11.5 million, while the PGA Championship gave $12 million and the US Open $12.5 million. Concrete figures for prize money in 2022 are not yet available.

The thought is that the PGA Tour is pushing up the Players Championship prize money to motivate major tournaments, over which Tour has no control, to follow suit.

Golf fans have plenty to look forward to when the balls start flying again at Ponte Vedra Beach on Thursday and the winner is determined from the field of prominent participants. The golfers themselves are also likely to be full of anticipation, after all the winner can expect not only 600 FedEx Cup points and a lot of prestige, but also the tempting sum of 3.6 million euros

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PGA Tour

Rory McIlroy: “I feel like I play well enough to win tournaments.”

McIlroy talks about his first round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour (Foto: Getty)

Following his first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on the PGA Tour Rory McIlroy was very pleased with his form and the outcome of day one. In a post round interview he discussed his play and his feelings about the course and youngsters like Will Zalatoris. Read the interview here:

Q.  Rory, they talk about golf courses fitting a guy’s eye, Graeme said that about you. Is there something about the mental component when you get to Bay Hill because you’ve done so well here?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I think you turn up at any golf course where you’ve had success, and automatically you’re going to have some confidence coming in. I’ve shot some really nice scores here. I think the last couple of years I’ve opened up the tournament really well with scores similar to what I shot today.

Yeah, I feel there’s a nice flow to this golf course where you can really build a score. You have par-5s, one every few holes, and you’ve got a couple of scorable par-4s. As long as you don’t do anything stupid and you keep it in play, you feel like you can sort of methodically build a score on this golf course. That’s what I tried to do today.

I played the par-5s particularly well, and that was the bulk of the score. I’ve sort of said this all along. I don’t feel like you need to do anything — like you can play within yourself here and still shoot a good score, I feel, if you’re just disciplined and pick off the birdies where you’re supposed to.

Q.  Can you talk more about your stellar play on the par-5s.

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I hit a couple of really good long irons into a couple of them. I hit a 4-iron into 12 and a 4-iron into 6. They were probably two of the best long irons I hit in a while. So when I start hitting long irons like that, I know my swing’s in a pretty good place. Seeing shots like that certainly gives me some confidence.

Q.  And do you prepare differently as the course conditions get tougher?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I was actually pretty surprised at how firm the greens were already. From the Pro-Am yesterday, we played at a similar time to today. The golf course is firmed up already. I think with this weather and the sort of warmer weather that’s coming over the weekend, it’s just going to get more and more firm as the week goes on. Then that places a premium so much more on just getting the ball in play. Fairways and greens and just being really disciplined with your game.

Q.  You talked about 6 yesterday, specifically the tee shot and having choices. When you hit a shot like you did there today, does it embolden you to be maybe more aggressive the rest of the weekend?

RORY MCILROY: That was as far left as it needed to be. I was trying to hit it into that fat part of the green, like that front third. I did — the wind maybe took it a little further left than I wanted to. I hit it well enough I knew it was always going to cover.

No, I mean, you just — that hole, you’re trying to get your tee shot away. Then if you do, you’re just trying to from there just get the ball down in three and make a birdie and move on.

Q.  Rory, Adam was just over here talking about how nice it is to play with you. He likes watching your swing. He thinks it maybe rubs off. Isn’t it sort of the same about him?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, any time I play with Adam, it’s a good pairing. We chat about all sorts of stuff. I feel like we’ve got quite a bit in common. Yeah, anyone could watch Adam Scott swing the club all day long. He’s got a nice rhythm.

Yeah, it’s nice. If he feeds off me, I certainly think I feed off him a little bit too.

Q.  Do you like having no runoffs or fewer runoffs around these greens? Why or why not?

RORY MCILROY: Not. I prefer the runoffs. I think it separates the good chippers from the bad chippers. I feel like, when you miss a green when the rough is like this, you know, it’s half skill, half guesswork, luck. There’s a little bit more that goes in. I think, whenever you miss greens and there’s runoffs and it gives you options, I think that’s where the guys with the better short games separate themselves. So that’s why I like runoffs. I like that style.

So, yeah, I don’t particularly understand why they did that this year, but it presents a different challenge. You just have to adapt to that.

Q.  Do you think most TOUR players like the thick rough, though, because as long as they know the lies, they kind of —

RORY MCILROY: It certainly makes it a little simpler if you don’t feel like you’ve got a great short game. But like even next week, for example, wherever that second cut is, it’s not too long, I think even a cut like that, I feel like the guys can really show their skill around the greens if they have that skill.

And it’s fun to see. I think that’s the other thing with — it’s fun to see different shots and you can play it certain ways. Obviously, a setup like this this week, that takes that out of the equation. You basically miss a green, and you’ve pretty much got just blast it out and try to hole the putt.

Q.  Rory, you’ve won early in the year versus not winning early in the year. Does it mean anything? Does it matter?

RORY MCILROY: It’s nice to win just regardless. I mean, regardless of when it comes in the season, it’s nice to win. Or in the year. This is my fourth start of the calendar year, and I’ve had one really good chance to win and probably one other half chance.

Yeah, I feel like I’m playing well enough to have chances to win golf tournaments, but all you can ask of yourself is to keep putting yourself in those positions on Sundays, and then you see where your game really is. Hopefully, this is another week where I put myself in a position where I can really see where my game is when the pressure’s on.

Q.  In Dubai on that Sunday, that seemed to sting you.

RORY MCILROY: Standing on the — after birdieing 13, standing on the 14th tee with a one or two-shot lead with five holes to go, and I did all the — in Dubai, I did all the hard stuff right. I made par on 14, par on 15, par on 16. And then you’ve got two gettable holes on 17, 18, and those are the holes where I made the mistake.

So I did the hard part, and whenever the opportunity came to sort of shut the door and win the tournament, I didn’t do that. I think that was what was most frustrating about that.

Q.  I think I heard you say that you felt you had a turning point in your putting, one of the earlier interviews. When was that, and what did you find?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, like putting is — like with putting, I feel half the battle is already done before you hit the ball — reading the green, getting your setup right, aiming the putter. I think I just got a little bit lax on that side of things.

I’ve actually really enjoyed not having a green book. I feel like it’s got me more into the putts. I feel like I’m more — I’m not consulting a green book as much. Honestly, I feel like it’s benefited me these last few weeks, and that’s been a nice thing.

It’s just been a little bit setup, just a little bit of setup, and a little bit more green reading and practicing that. Those two things have — those have stayed constant, and I’ve putted well because of that.

Q.  Did you find that on your own, your caddie, or Fax?

RORY MCILROY: A little bit of both. I was putting with Fax before going to the Middle East, and I just felt like I started to creep a little too far away from the ball. Eye line was a little too far inside, and what happens then is my right arm leaves my side. I really like, if I can keep my right arm in my side and the shaft plane and my right arm match up, it sort of becomes almost automatic from there. It’s almost like your right arm acts as a piston, and that’s the feel I like. Just setting up like that and having that constant is important for me.

Q.  Rory, as someone who came up young and was pretty polished on and off the golf course as you were, I’m curious what your impression is of Will Zalatoris. While you’ve gotten to know him. He hasn’t been out here that long. What do you see in his game and how he handles himself?

RORY MCILROY: Great player, obviously. Hell of a ball striker. Drives the crap out of it. Hits his irons good. He’s got a nice flight. He can hit it up in the air. I don’t know him that well. I don’t even know if I’ve played with him on TOUR at this point, but from what I’ve seen with him obviously playing in front of us today and watching him on TV, he seems like a great kid. Kid — I can’t believe I’m saying kid. He seems like a great kid with a lot of potential and a really bright future.

Q.  On the rough, is it around the greens, is it a hit and hope, or do you have a certain distance you take it back if you have to hack it out ten yards?

RORY MCILROY: It depends on the lie. Some are hit and hopes, and others, if you get a decent lie, it’s more technique-based. But there’s a little bit of both in there.

Q.  Off the fairway, does it cost you a shot?

RORY MCILROY: You’d have to look at the stats, but it’s probably close to it.

Q.  When you’re in position to win, do you feel like you’re supposed to?

RORY MCILROY: When I’m in a position to win? Like Dubai, for example?

Q.  Anything.

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, I think with the experience that I have and the tournaments that I have closed out in my career, if you’re two ahead with five to play, I think you should win that, yeah.

Q.  Generally in position on Sunday, I guess your attitude if you don’t, on your reflection time, is it always something that you blame yourself, or is it ever something where you acknowledge doing something different?

RORY MCILROY: Sometimes someone just plays better than you and you’ve done all that you can. You’re always going to nitpick and think there’s things you could have done better. I’d say 25 percent of the time it’s someone’s just played better than you and you’ve given it your all. But I’d say three-quarters of the time there’s self-error in there somewhere.

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PGA Tour

Rory McIlroy: ” I’m maybe a little more outspoken than other guys in our game.”

Speaking his mind: Rory McIlroy at the press conference before the Arnold Palmer Invitational. (Getty)

Among the players, Rory McIlroy is considered one of the loudspeakers on the PGA Tour. The Northern Irishman forms an opinion on many topics and tries to classify current events. At the press conference before the Arnold Palmer Invitational, McIlroy explains why he thinks it’s important to express his opinion and what he thinks of the current discussion surrounding PIP and Phil Mickelson. Read the complete interview here:

Q: Rory, you’re going to be making your eighth start here. What is it like to be back, especially as a past champion?

RORY MCILROY: Yeah, it’s always good to be back at Bay Hill. I didn’t play this event for the first few years of my career and finally came here in 2015, and I don’t think I’ve missed a tournament since.

We all know what Arnold Palmer means to the PGA TOUR and to the game of golf in general. So it’s always nice to be here and try to sort of remember his legacy and remember what he meant to everyone. He was probably the catalyst with maybe a few other guys of why we’re here today and why the game of professional golf is at such a high level.

So nice to be here, nice to pay our respects. Looking forward to another good week.

Q: And as you stated, you haven’t missed a tournament since you started, have five consecutive top tens here. What about this course and this tournament really clicks with your game?

It’s one of these courses that I don’t feel like I have to do anything special to compete. I can play within myself. You take care of the par-5s here. You play conservatively the rest of the way, especially how the golf course here has been set up the past few years. You play for your pars, and then you try to pick off birdies on the par-5s and some of the easier holes. If you just keep doing that day after day, you’re going to find yourself around the top of the leaderboard.

Yeah, it’s been a course that’s fit my eye from the first time I played here, and just one of those courses that I enjoy coming back to and feel like I can contend at.

Q: Rory, congratulations on finishing third, I think, on the PIP.

Thanks (laughter).

Q: Do you understand exactly why you ended up third, and were there any surprises on the list for you when you saw the top ten?

Not really. I mean, you look at the ten guys that are on there, and they’re the ten guys that have been at the top of the game or have been around the top of the game for a long time. Obviously, everyone’s seen the five metrics that go into it and how everyone ranked in those metrics. I feel like it’s a pretty self-explanatory system. That’s how the numbers sort of rolled out.

Yeah, it’s certainly not something that I’m checking up on every week to see where I’m at, but I think it went the way most of us expected it to go.

Q: Also, as you ramp up for this big stretch of golf tournaments, what are you kind of waiting to see in your game. What is it you’re kind of looking for as you do the run-up?

Just consistency. I mean, I felt like the three tournaments that I’ve played this year, I’ve played pretty well. I had a pretty solid week at Riviera without doing anything really special. I had a good weekend.

I think just more of the same. I’ve driven the ball pretty well. I’ve seen a bit of improvement in iron play. My short game’s been really good. If anything, just getting the consistency to a point where I feel like I can play like that day in and day out.

But the game feels good, so just sort of trying to keep doing what I’m doing.

Q: Rory, given your stature and success in the game, it gives you a voice. Do you feel though that, even if you weren’t a world renowned golfer, you would still speak out about injustices you see? And why are you that way?

Look, I’ll only voice my opinion on things that I believe I’m educated in and believe that I have a right to talk about. So there’s certainly things that I won’t get into just because I’m not completely educated on that topic and feel like giving an opinion probably isn’t the right thing to do.

But when it comes to golf and PGA TOUR stuff, I feel like I’m pretty educated on that stuff. And I guess with that voice comes responsibility to try to do the right thing. That’s all I try to do. I try to make comments or speak about things to do the right thing, and that’s the reason I’m maybe a little more outspoken than other guys in our game.

Again, it doesn’t go much further than the game of golf because I feel comfortable talking about that, but when you sort of delve into other things, I don’t think it’s my place to get into that.

Q: Speaking of education, I thought I read something about you once that you wanted to drop out of school in like the fifth grade?

I did drop out of school in — well, not the fifth grade (laughter). I dropped out of school pretty early, yeah.

Q: What does that say about you, if anything, that you’ve got this appetite for knowledge, for learning, for reading, and hated school?

Learnt my lesson. I didn’t have — I just had no — I had no academic ambitions when I was a youngster. I don’t know, I think I got to a point in golf where I was pretty — all I wanted to do when I was young was play golf. Didn’t care about school. Didn’t want to go. Wanted to just go practice, play golf. And now all I do most every day is go practice and play golf.

So I have other things I want to do and hobbies. I think as you get older, you get interested in more things and maybe just become a little more curious. I’ve sort of become that way. But, again, I’m the first one to say I don’t know — I know a little about a lot, but I’m not as smart on a lot of things as I am maybe on golf and things in and around this world.

Q: One more golf question. Finchem probably back in ’10 had talked about this idea of somewhat of a world tour schedule and also how difficult it would be to put together. They’ve been trying for a long time. Do you get a sense that, given the dynamics of golf right now, that it could be getting closer to that and that it would still be just as difficult to implement?

So I certainly think there’s been steps taken that have got us closer to that point. Obviously, this strategic alliance between DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR buying a stake in European Tour Productions, Jay having a seat on the board in Europe, they’re certainly working much closer together, which is a great thing. I think it needs to be that way.

The game of professional golf, everyone needs to be trying to pull in the same direction instead of pulling against each other. I think we’re getting closer to that spot. I think it would be easy for — it’s not as simple as this, but the guys at the PGA TOUR could just literally walk down the street to the guys in the ATP and just have a chat about what they do.

It’s two very, very different structures and different schedules, but I think there is a path where one day there could be — it might still be two Tours running side by side parallel to each other, but basically for — it would be a global tour, a global schedule.

Q: Would it be important for Europe’s identity?

I think so. I think there’s quite a long history and tradition and heritage there. You go back to — yeah, the formation of the European Tour wasn’t that long after the PGA TOUR. I think European Tour was in the ’70s, and PGA TOUR was in the late ’60s. So there’s history there that you would like to keep.

Q: Are you surprised that so many golfers and sponsors have separated themselves, distanced themselves from Phil, who’s one of the legends of the game, or do you think his comments were so volatile that that was necessary? And how unfortunate is the whole situation?

It is unfortunate. I think Phil has been a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf, still is a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf. It’s unfortunate that a few comments that he thought he was making in confidence or off the record got out there and were — not used against him, but this whole situation is unfortunate.

Look, Phil will be back. I think the players want to see him back. He’s done such a wonderful job for the game of golf, and he’s represented the game of golf very, very well for the entirety of his career.

Look, we all make mistakes. We all say things we want to take back. No one is different in that regard. But we should be allowed to make mistakes, and we should be allowed to ask for forgiveness and for people to forgive us and move on. Hopefully, he comes back at some stage, and he will, and people will welcome him back and be glad that he is back.

Q: I know you to be a student of the world and what’s going on and you’ve traveled all over the world. The world is such a tender place right now. What do you do to sort of put that aside so you can focus on your day job?

I try to look at the news once a day and sort of leave it at that. You sort of try to keep up to date with current events and everything that’s happening. I guess I have to understand that sitting in my position right here in Orlando, Florida, there’s not much that I can say or do that’s going to help the situation. So I can just focus on what’s most important to me, which is my family and my golf, and live my life.

THE MODERATOR: That’s all the time we have for questions. Rory, we thank you for taking the time to talk with us, and we wish you the best of luck this week.

Categories
PGA Tour

Tiger Woods wins the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program

Can look forward to eight million US dollars: Tiger Woods is ranked first in the PGA Tour's Player Impact Programme. (Photo: Getty)
Can look forward to eight million US dollars: Tiger Woods is ranked first in the PGA Tour's Player Impact Programme. (Photo: Getty)

The top 10 of the Player Impact Programme for 2021 have been announced – and Tiger Woods walks away with eight million US dollars. The superstar leads the ranking just ahead of Phil Mickelson, who had already claimed the title on Twitter, and Rory McIlroy, the PGA Tour announced on Wednesday. The objective bonus programme is designed to reward players who generate positive interest in the PGA Tour, with the top ten players being paid a total of 40 million US dollars.

Tiger Woods: No tournament on the PGA Tour, still winner

The fact that the winner of this ranking is Tiger Woods comes as a surprise only because the 46-year-old was seriously injured in a car accident a year ago and has not played an official tournament since. But the PNC Championship at the end of last year may have been the deciding factor, when Woods came second with his son Charlie, played amazingly good golf again and thrilled the masses – NBC Sports reported 53 percent more viewers than the year before. It is precisely this attention that is rewarded in the Player Impact Programme, which is made up of a total of five categories: Google searches, Meltwater mention (mentions in the global media), MVP Index (reach in social media), Nielson Score (visibility during TV broadcasts of the PGA Tour on tournament weekends) and the Q-Score, which indicates the general level of awareness.

Player Impact Progamm Preisgeld
1. Tiger Woods 8 Mio. US-Dollar
2. Phil Mickelson 6 Mio. US-Dollar
3. Rory McIlroy 3,5 Mio. US-Dollar
4. Jordan Spieth 3,5 Mio. US-Dollar
5. Bryson DeChambeau 3,5 Mio. US-Dollar
6. Justin Thomas 3,5 Mio. US-Dollar
7. Dustin Johnson 3 Mio. US-Dollar
8. Brooks Koepka 3 Mio. US-Dollar
9. Jon Rahm 3 Mio. US-Dollar
10. Bubba Watson 3 Mio. US-Dollar

Looking at the more detailed breakdown of the individual scores, it is noticeable that the 15-time major winner leads the Google Searches, Meltwater Mention and Q-Score categories (and thus 3 out of 5 categories). This is not surprising, as Woods is the poster boy of golf and has repeatedly been a topic in the media, especially due to his serious accident. The record PGA Tour winner was “only” 43rd in the Nielsen score, which is quite remarkable in view of the fact that he only played one tournament.

Koepka and DeChambeau cash in

In this category, ” broadcast time”, Bryson DeChambeau is the leader, the 28-year-old also lands in third place in Meltwater mentions. So the “Brooks-Bryson-feud” seems to have paid off for the “Mad Scientist” and Brooks Koepka, as both stars land in the top 1o of the ranking and get a few extra bucks.

Surprisingly, Bubba Watson also made it into the top ten of the PIP. The 43-year-old wins the MVP Index category, i.e. has the greatest reach in social media, and does really well in Q-Score as third, compensating for the weaker categories. (The top 9 in each of the categories Google Searches and Meltwater Mention also occupy the first nine ranks in the PIP.) Collin Morikawa has already won quite a lot at the age of 24, but narrowly misses the top 10 in this ranking in eleventh place.

Player Impact Program: Payout tied to conditions

However, the stars of the PGA Tour only receive the money under two conditions: First, they have to participate in a “sponsor’s function”, such as an interview, Q&A session, dinner or similar, and second, they have to play an agreed tournament on the PGA Tour in order to collect the money. According to these regulations, the winner of the Player Impact Programme, Tiger Woods, only gets the money if he competes in a PGA Tour tournament that he has not played in the last four years. It is not known whether there is an exception for the superstar because of his special circumstances. For the coming year, the prize money pool has been increased by another ten million, so there will be a total of 50 million US dollars for the idols of golf.

Categories
Panorama

Portrait: Sepp Straka – first Austrian-born winner on PGA Tour

Sepp Straka 2016 in his first year as a professional (l.) and after his historic victory on the PGA Tour 2022. (Photo: Getty)
Sepp Straka 2016 in his first year as a professional (l.) and after his historic victory on the PGA Tour 2022. (Photo: Getty)

Sepp Straka is one of the few Austrian professional golfers currently playing on the world’s major tours. At the Honda Classic he achieved something that no Austrian had ever done before: he left the rest of the field behind him at a PGA Tour tournament and climbed to the top of the leaderboard. In the world rankings, he thus moved into the top 100. What is behind the sympathetic Austrian and his path to becoming a professional golfer?

Sepp Straka crossed the Atlantic at an early age

Sepp Straka was practically born to play golf. His American mother and his Austrian father met while buying golf gloves in Salzburg, Austria. On 1 May 1993, Josef “Sepp” Straka was born – two minutes after his older twin brother Sam. The two boys initially spent their childhood in Austria mainly on the football pitch, with Sepp beeing the goalkeeper. When the two took part in a one-week golf camp at the age of eleven, no one imagined that this would be the start of an impressive career. Big brother Sam decided for himself and Sepp that they would play a bit of golf from then on. But it soon turned out that the Straka boys had talent. At the Fontana Golf Club in Oberwaltersdorf, they evolved into hard-working golfers who played their way into the junior national team of Austria.

When the sons were 14, the family decided to move to America. Here the basis for Straka’s career on the PGA Tour was laid. Besides finishing school and studying business administration in the US state of Georgia, Sepp and Sam continued to swing their golf clubs eagerly. Sepp initially remained in his brother’s shadow for years. While Sam Straka was then unable to gain a professional career, Sepp applied to the Q-School of the Korn Ferry Tour and European Challenge Tour, which offered him a suitable platform for the switch to the PGA Tour.

On PGA Tour since 2019

In 2019, Straka became the first Austrian to qualify for the PGA Tour. Since then, he has been trying to compete against the best golfers in the world. His biggest successes here so far have included a third-place finish at the 2019 Barbasol Championship and several other top-10 finishes. In 2021, Sepp Straka represented the country of his birth, Austria, at the Olympic Games. His brother Sam supported him as a caddie at his side. With a record round on day 1, Straka initially took the lead in Tokyo, but then finished the tournament in tenth place.

February 2022: Straka makes history on PGA Tour

For Sepp Straka, a long-cherished dream came true at the Honda Classic in February 2022: It is not only the first victory on the PGA Tour for him personally, but also the first victory ever by an Austrian on the PGA Tour. In Florida, he not only received fame and honour, but also 1.44 million US dollars in prize money, a place in the top 100 of the world rankings for the first time and an invitation to The Masters 2022. In the winner’s interview, Straka described his appearance at the Major tournament in Augusta as a “lifelong dream”.