Tag: USGA

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Panorama

Under The Eyes Of Tiger Woods: Unsuccessful USGA Debut For Charlie

Tiger Woods and son Charlie together at his USGA debut. (Photos: Getty)
Tiger Woods and son Charlie together at his USGA debut. (Photos: Getty)

Charlie Woods, son of golf legend Tiger Woods, celebrated a small milestone in his young golf career this week with his USGA debut. Accompanied by his father Tiger, the 15-year-old took part in the prestigious US Junior Amateur Golf Championship 2024, which his father won three times in a row between 1991 and 1993. Although he did not make the cut at the tournament in Michigan, qualifying for the event alone must be regarded as a great success.

Successful Qualification, Weak Tournament: Tiger Woods Experiences Frustrated Charlie

Charlie Woods played probably the biggest event of his young career this week as part of the 2024 US Junior Amateur Golf Championship. Last month, the 15-year-old won a qualifying tournament to secure his place in the event at the legendary Oakland Hills Country Club, which has already hosted six US Opens and the 2004 Ryder Cup, where father Tiger Woods suffered a historic defeat to Team Europe. Qualifying for the prestigious junior event should be regarded as a great success in itself and should overshadow Charlie Woods’ poor tournament performance. Nevertheless, it became clear in the first two rounds that the 15-year-old was unable to match the performance level of the top junior players and was visibly frustrated with his performance.

After rounds of 82 and 80, Charlie Woods clearly missed the cut, which was four strokes over par, and finished the tournament after just two days (+22). According to spectators on site, however, the 15-year-old not only struggled with his game, but also with inappropriate behavior from fans, as he had already done at a pre-qualifier for the PGA Tour. Twitter user @conman-stalions, for example, posted videos of the tournament and wrote that: “Charlie Woods. Impressive young man. Hundreds of fans on top of him. On 3 Tiger politely asked ‘They’re on top of him, 30-40 yards back’. Fans were walking, distracting. Crying baby during Charlie’s downswing on 9 that led to a skulled chip over the green.”

If Charlie Woods dreams of playing on the PGA Tour one day, he certainly has a lot of work ahead of him. Nevertheless, the positives outweigh the negatives in his USGA debut: despite all the pressure and attention, achievements such as successfully qualifying for the US Junior Amateur 2024 are certainly impressive. A 15-year-old should not be measured against the accomplishments of a father like Tiger Woods.

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Highlights Tours

Windfall at US Open 2022: USGA announces record prize money

United States Golf Association (USGA) CEO Mike Whan at the 2022 US Open (Photo: Getty).
United States Golf Association (USGA) CEO Mike Whan at the 2022 US Open (Photo: Getty).

The US Open is traditionally the major with the highest prize money. And it is set to remain so this year. After the US Masters and the PGA Championship gave a total of 15 million dollars to the top-ranked players this year, the US Open 2022 will go one better.

The US Open 2022 remains the most lucrative of the four majors

Last year, there was a total of $12.5 million in prize money at the US Open. Spaniard Jon Rahm also won $2.25 million of the total prize money with first place, the trophy and the glory. This year’s winner of the third major of the year can look forward to $3.15 million. This is 18 percent of the total prize money, which accordingly amounts to 17.5 million dollars. There is only one tournament in which there is even more money to be won: the Players Championship. Here, this year’s winner Cameron Smith won the record sum of 3.6 million dollars with a total prize money of 20 million dollars.

With these figures, the US Open remains the major with the highest prize money. The US Masters, as well as the PGA Championship, paid out a total of $15 million. Scottie Scheffler, winner of the Masters, and Justin Thomas, first-place finisher at the PGA Championship, each took home $2.7 million.

It remains questionable whether the increase is a reaction to the recently launched LIV Golf Invitational Series. Here, $25 million is paid out per tournament. Charl Schwartzel got $4 million for winning last week.

The distribution of the prize money

Of course, not only the prize money of the winner increases with the increase, but also that of the other players. Those who finish in the top 20 at the US Open 2022 have every reason to be happy: there will be at least $200,000 for all finishers in the top 20.

1st: $3,150,000
2nd: $1,890,000
3rd: $1,206,040
4th: $845,464
5th: $704,190
6th: $624,396
7th: $562,916
8th: $504,158
9th: $456,282
10th: $419,104
11th: $382,472
12th: $353,636
13th: $329,517
14th: $304,128
15th: $282,365
16th: $264,229
17th: $249,721
18th: $235,213
19th: $220,704
20th: $206,196 21st: $193,683
22nd: $181,170
23rd: $169,019
24th: $157,776
25th: $147,983
26th: $139,640
27th: $133,293
28th: $127,672
29th: $122,231
30th: $116,791
31st: $111,349
32nd: $105,909
33rd: $100,468
34th: $95,572
35th: $91,582
36th: $87,592
37th: $83,784
38th: $80,157
39th: $76,530
40th: $72,904
41st: $69,276
42nd: $65,649
43rd: $62,021
44th: $58,395
45th: $54,768
46th: $51,503
47th: $48,238
48th: $45,156
49th: $43,343
50th: $41,530
51st: $40,440
52nd: $39,535
53rd: $38,808
54th: $38,445
55th: $38,083
56th: $37,720
57th: $37,358
58th: $36,995
59th: $36,632
60th: $36,270

Categories
Top Tours

U.S. Open exemptions available during European Tour’s UK Swing

At the restart tournaments of the European Tour, places will be awarded for the US Open in Winged Foot. (Photo: Getty)
At the restart tournaments of the European Tour, places will be awarded for the US Open in Winged Foot. (Photo: Getty)

Participants in the European Tour’s new UK Swing will have even more to play for following confirmation that ten spots in the 2020 U.S. Open Championship will be available for the highest placed finishers in the mini order of merit after the first five events.

The UK Swing begins at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Lee Westwood at Close House, near Newcastle, from Wednesday July 22 to Saturday July 25, and will launch the European Tour’s Golf for Good initiative, which underpins all events for the remainder of the 2020 season. As part of the initiative, a mini order of merit will run for all six events in the UK Swing, with the top ten sharing an additional £250,000 to donate to charities of their choice.

Coronavirus upsets qualification system

The USGA has confirmed that the top 10 aggregate points earners in the mini order of merit that are otherwise not exempt at the conclusion of the fifth event – the Wales Open at Celtic Manor – will be exempt for the rescheduled U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club on September 17-20.

The traditional U.S. Open sectional qualifying events, including the European qualifier at Walton Heath in June, were cancelled this season following the upheaval in the global golf calendar due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, with the field now comprised entirely of exempt players.

After the European Tour resumes with two events in Austria – the Austrian Open on July 9-12 and the Euram Bank Open on July 15-18 – the action switches to the UK and the Betfred British Masters.

That is followed by the English Open at the Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club and the English Championship at Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel & Country Club, before The Celtic Manor Resort in Newport hosts back-to-back European Tour tournaments – the Celtic Classic and the Wales Open. The UK Swing then concludes with the UK Championship at The Belfry.

Opportunity for European Tour players

Keith Waters, European Tour Chief Operating Officer, said: “Throughout our discussions with the USGA, it was clear that they shared our desire to offer European Tour players an opportunity to earn places in this year’s U.S. Open. We thank them for working with us to create this new exemption category encompassing the first five events in the UK Swing.

“The UK Swing mini order of merit already offers an additional incentive through the Golf for Good initiative, and we are pleased that players now have more to play for, with places available in the second Major Championship of the season.”

“We are grateful to the European Tour”

John Bodenhamer, USGA senior managing director, Championships, said: “The U.S. Open qualifier in England has historically featured a very strong field, and we felt it was important to provide an opportunity for players throughout Europe to earn a place in this year’s championship.

“We are grateful to the European Tour for the wonderful collaboration that allowed us to create this exemption category for the 2020 U.S. Open.”

Press release by European Tour