Kapalua Event Saved; Joint PGA Tour-LPGA Tournament Of Champions Has "Not Materialized"

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In reporting on the PGA Tour landing new sponsor Sentry for the Tournament of Champions, Doug Ferguson noted this about the efforts to turn this into a joint PGA Tour-LPGA Tour winners-only kick off event.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan had said last year that the tour was contemplating a scenario where the LPGA Tour and the PGA Tour play a winners-only format at the same venue. “That has not materialized here,” Monahan said.

Meanwhile, the Sony Open in Honolulu is the week after the Tournament of Championship. Its title sponsorship ends in 2018. For years there was concern that if one of the tournaments had left, it would be more difficult to stage the other as a single event in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

“We have been playing golf in Hawaii for over 50 years,” Monahan said. “And the two tournaments present a strong start to the calendar year that we looking forward to continuing.”

It would have been a fun idea and may still happen, though the release notes the event's playing in January 2018 but it sounds like it may have to be nimble beyond that year.

For Immediate Release:

Sentry Becomes New Title Sponsor of Tournament of Champions
Leading insurance company signs 5-year deal to sponsor winners-only event at Kapalua

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida, and STEVENS POINT, Wisconsin (August 16, 2017) – The PGA TOUR and Sentry, one of the largest business-focused mutual insurance companies in the United States, today announced a five-year agreement making Sentry the new title sponsor of the exclusive winners-only Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Resort in Hawaii.

The newly named Sentry Tournament of Champions will maintain its traditional spot as the first tournament in January 2018 when the 2017-18 PGA TOUR schedule resumes following the holiday break. The agreement extends through the 2021-22 season.

“Sentry Insurance is proud to partner with the PGA TOUR to sponsor the Tournament of Champions, held on beautiful Maui,” said Pete McPartland, Sentry chairman of the board, president, and CEO. “This tournament and its champions format is the ideal way to more broadly introduce Sentry to the business insurance audience.”

While this represents Sentry’s first major sports sponsorship, it has been involved with golf since 1984 when the company built SentryWorld, Wisconsin’s first destination golf course. Sponsoring the Sentry Tournament of Champions is considered a natural next step for Sentry, providing an opportunity to reach a wide business audience.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sentry to the PGA TOUR and become its first major venture into sports sponsorship,” said Brian Oliver, PGA TOUR Senior Vice President of Sponsorship & Partnership. “Sentry is highly respected as a company that is dedicated to its employees, its customers and embraces the spirit of giving back. So, we view this as a relationship between two organizations that hold common values.”

Sentry assumes sponsorship of a tournament that dates to 1953, when it was introduced at Las Vegas’ Desert Inn Country Club as an event for winners from the previous season. The Tournament of Champions remained at Desert Inn CC until 1967, when it moved to Stardust Country Club. The tournament moved from Las Vegas in 1969 to La Costa Country Club in Carlsbad, California, where it remained for 30 years before relocating to its current home at Kapalua Resort on the island of Maui.

As might be expected with a winners-only format, the Sentry Tournament of Champions has a rich history of champions, from World Golf Hall of Fame members to modern-day stars, as represented by just the past five winners: defending champion Justin Thomas, a four-time winner this season, including at Sunday’s PGA Championship; Jordan Spieth (2016); Patrick Reed (2015); Zach Johnson (2014); and Dustin Johnson (2013).

U.S. Amateur At Riviera Final Is Set: Ghim v. Redman

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Better work today Angelenos on the attendance front! You were treated to a pair of U.S. Amateur semi-finals that reached the 17th and 18th holes. Remember, you park for free at Paul Revere Junior High and can get a free shuttle ride to the club next door, so no excuses for skipping out on a chance to walk the perfect kikuyu fairways at Riviera.

Plus, you'll be treated to the joys of match play, which includes strategizing, emotions and other micro-dramas that you won't enjoy just watching on television.It just so happens that you'll also be treated to some world-class golf is Saturday's semi's are any indication. Doug Ghim defeated Theo Humphrey 2&1 and Doc Redman beat Mark Lawrence 1 up, setting up Sunday's 36-hole finale at Hogan's Alley.

Brentley Romine at Golfweek.com writes of Ghim's emotional swings in defeating the feisty Humphrey.

The dramatic win, which also gets him in the U.S. Open should Ghim remain an amateur, comes just a few years after a near-miss at the U.S. Amateur Public Links that cost the Texas golf team member a Masters invitation.

Ryan Lavner with that side of the final story for GolfChannel.com.

The quality of the golf has been solid to ridiculously good given the stakes and difficulty of Riviera. USGA Highlights from the Ghim and Redman wins.

Kids take note: both finalists wore pants in their semi-final wins. Meet them here in this USGA video.

Official image galleries from the matches, which capture some of the proceedings played under perfect conditions.

Sadly Fox Sports 1 has Bundesliga Soccer to air Sunday morning (priorities!), so the first 18 of Gihm v. Redman is only viewable on USGA.org.

The afternoon round coverage begins at 4:30 pm ET on big Fox.

Judge Halts Green Jacket Auction Of Green Jackets

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The Augusta Chronicle's Sandy Hodson reports on Augusta National's court victory over Green Jacket Auctions related to the current sale of the world famous sports coat.

Hodson's notes this about the filing and the club's claim of theft:

Augusta National filed suit Aug. 11 in federal court in Augusta seeking an immediate halt of an auction begun Aug. 2 by the Green Jacket Auction Inc. of Tampa, Fla. The auction, set to close Saturday, lists three green jackets, silverware and a belt buckle all advertised as authenticated Augusta National and Masters Tournament memorabilia.

On behalf of the Augusta National, Christopher Cosper argued in favor of a temporary restraining order to keep the auction company from selling what the club contends is stolen property or fakes which are prohibited by the club’s trademark. The club also contends that a document the auction company has that it says is a 2005 inventory of the club’s property also had to have been stolen from the club.

Yowsers...

The jackets are still listed as of now.

Some Big Names With Tour Cards On The Line This Week

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With the FedExCup playoffs Playoffs(C) looming we can easily forget that this is the cutoff date for retaining a tour card without having to go through the Web.com Tour Playoffs.

Joel Beall has a roundup for Golf World of the well-known names who need a big week at the Wyndham Championship, including Sam Saunders, Graeme McDowell and Smylie Kaufman

2017 U.S. Amateur: Record Low Medalist, Down To (Almost) 64

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Medalist Hayden Wood, of Edmond, Okla., broke the U.S. Amateur Championship 36-hole stroke-play qualifying record with a total of 131 at Riviera and Bel-Air. The score is impressive on many levels given the firmness and speed of greens and launguid pace of play brought on my ball searches (no spotters and few marshals).

Wood followed his 64 at Riviera with a 67 at Bel-Air to break the 132 record set by Hank Kim in 1994, Gregor Main in 2011 and Bobby Wyatt in 2012.

“It feels good, with 312 guys it is awesome,” Wood said. “To play that way these last two days has been good. I like where my game is. I feel comfortable on this course (Riviera) and it fits my game. I am looking forward to it because the tournament starts tomorrow (Wednesday).”

As I write for Golfweek, Wood will face the last player out of Wednesday morning's hole-by-hole playoff where 8 spots are available for 13 players. They start on Riviera's 10th. Streaming details here.

Tom Hoffarth with the lowdown on SoCal players for the LA Daily News.

Here are the pairings:


AmateurGolf.com's roundup of notes from round 2.

Full field scores.

PGA Ends Up As Season's Least-Watched Major Final Round

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Paulsen breaks down the final ratings of the 2017 PGA Championship and he says the PGA Championship's ended up as the least watched final round.

Sunday’s telecast was also the least-watched final round of any major this season — narrowly trailing the British Open on NBC (4.910M) and the U.S. Open on FOX (5.1M). It fared better in ratings, tying the British Open and ahead of the U.S. Open (3.1).

Third round action on Saturday pulled a 2.2 and 3.2 million, down 21% and 24% respectively from 2015 (2.8, 4.2M). Last year’s third round was rained out, earning a 1.3 and 1.8 million. Excluding rainouts, it was the lowest rated and least-watched third round since 2012 (2.0, 2.8M).

He also reports double-digit declines for TNT's coverage.

Acushnet Files Answer to Costco Complaint With Gusto!

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Not coincidentally around the announcement of a slight second quarter sales dip of golf ball sales, Acushnet has countered with a lively filing!

David Dawsey at Golf Patents picks apart the claim and notes some of the stronger rebuttal points against Costco's hot-selling Kirkland ball. His conclusion:

Acushnet’s complaint contains a lot of subtle, and some not so subtle, jabs at the Kirkland Signature golf balls. It is hard to comprehend that “over half of the Kirkland Signature Golf Balls tested by Acushnet Company cracked or became structurally unsound before the testing could even be concluded.” Maybe there is some truth to the old adage that sometimes you get what you pay for! Fortunately, most amateurs would probably lose the ball before it becomes “structurally unsound;” in other words, it may not be too smart to play the K-Sig’s that you find in the woods or fish out of the pond.

This was fun from the filing:

34. Distance Performance. The results of the distance tests for the Kirkland Signature Golf Ball and the Titleist® Pro V1® and Pro V1x® golf balls during Acushnet Company’s robot testing demonstrated that the Kirkland Signature Golf Ball travelled a shorter distance than both the Titleist® Pro V1® and Pro V1x® golf balls for 130 mph drives; that the Kirkland Signature Golf Ball travelled a shorter distance than both the Titleist® Pro V1® and Pro V1x® golf balls for 140 mph drives; that the Kirkland Signature Golf Ball travelled a shorter distance than both the Titleist® Pro V1® and Pro V1x® golf balls for 150 mph drives; and that the Kirkland Signature Golf Ball travelled a shorter distance than both the Titleist® Pro V1® and Pro V1x® golf balls for 167 mph drives.

This And That From Day One, 2017 U.S. Amateur

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The world's best amateurs gathered in Los Angeles for day one of the U.S. Amateur under glorious mid-70s conditions interspersed with an abundance of agents and club manufacturers hawking their wares.

Of course, Riviera is the annual host to the Los Angeles Open, currently the Genesis Open until further notice, where the PGA Tour pros are "wusses" compared to the players who go the distance this week. From Tom Hoffarth's story for the Daily News and OC Register.

Michael Yamaki, the corporate officer or Riviera and general chairman of the U.S. Amateur Championship, said what sets this event apart from any other golf championship should be obvious, starting with the shorter window of opportunity for an amateur to play in this should he be good enough to turn professional. And, if Yamaki can be blunt, he said “the professionals are wusses … they’re only playing four days. We have to play seven straight days, plus 36 (holes) on the last day. … when you look at the Amateur, it’s really old school.”

So old school that there were almost no volunteer marshals or spotters available for the tees and fairways, leading to numerous lost balls and slow play. Woohoo old school!

At Riviera, Western Amateur champion Norman Xiong fired a brilliant 64 on day one of medal play, matched by two others as Pete Kowalski writes here for USAmateur.com. He will try to wrap up low-medalist at Bel-Air Country Club on Tuesday.

Amateurgolf.com's Kevin Cassidy has a variety of notes and points out the strong play from one of the marquee groups.

Cameras and the occasional IPhone streaming to Facebook could also be found at the 8:34 tee time with Doug Ghim, Cameron Champ, and Norman Xiong. This featured group was chirping for the cameras all day with 15 birdies between them. Champ finished up at even par (70), Ghim three-under (67) and Xiong is tied for the lead at six-under (64).

Players have been saying Riviera is playing at least three shots harder and they will be looking at more birdie opportunities at Bel-Air Country Club.

Former Angel and Mariner Shigetoshi Hasegawa qualified at age 49, and while he struggled to an 81, the retired pitcher appeared to enjoy his first USGA event. I filed this for Golfweek.

Things weren't dull over at Bel Air according to a well-known member and now part-time scribbling great...

The player in question whose probably got his entire set of clubs drying out tonight: Wilson Furr.

Todd Mitchell opened with a 67 but did not sign his card and was disqualified.  

USGA photos from day one. 

All day one scores here.

Happy Ending: Worst Player Ever To Win Major Confronts Writer

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SI's Alan Shipnuck named Shaun Micheel the worst player ever to win a major and, well, it did not go well to start.

But as Shipnuck writes, after a nice angry manspat, there is a happy ending to this run-in. Get your hanky out...

I can't make 1.4 million copies of GOLF disappear but I'll certainly be rooting for Micheel going forward. After telling him I think his journey would make a compelling feature story, he gave me his cell number so we can keep in touch. I've looked at our DM string a couple of times and Micheel's parting thought still makes me laugh out loud: "Certainly an unusual start to a relationship."

3.6: 2017 PGA Ratings Lowest Since '08: What's Up?

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We have an off-season in golf to now explore the reasons for ratings slides in majors. With SBD's Austin Karp sharing the 2017 PGA overnight, we have a matching 3.6 final round average for the U.S. Open, The Open and PGA to ponder.

I have last year's final round number at 3.4, but I'll defer to Karp with his claim of lowest since '08:


Some eyeballs went to cable news coverage of the events in Charlottesville.

That the U.S. Open and PGA drew the same final round number as The Open's morning telecast is fairly remarkable, unless you factor in changing viewing habits, the broader appeal of Jordan Spieth and the marketing approaches of the three networks.

As for this PGA my theory on why the numbers were poor for what, in the last 90 minutes, was very compelling viewing with many players making a run at the title:

1. Lack of incentive: Brutal Saturday viewing and lack of mega-star power on leaderboard did not make Sunday appointment viewing.

2. Long telecast lowers the average audience size.

3. Commercial breaks. There was little incentive to sit in front of the television and watch due to relentless interruptions.

3. Eyeballs elsewhere: streaming coverage, cable news viewing

There is one other element raised here before but it again begs the question: is there a kumbaya effect? Do people find things less compelling when the protagonists like each other? My Golfweek colleague raised this point: