By ED TRAVIS
Good News for PGA Tour Fans
It seems like the first question after someone wins a major championship now days is when will he jump to LIV Golf and how much will he sign for?
According to a copyrighted story in The Independent by Harry Latham-Coyle, Xander Schauffele the new PGA Champion will not be heading to the LIV circuit that is, if his father who is also his coach is to be believed.
Stefan Schauffele was quoted in the article, “What we told LIV in Saudi Arabia, with Xander beside me, was that if there is no path back to the PGA Tour and if there is no chance at World Ranking points, we do not have anything to talk about. Even if you throw hundreds of millions of dollars at him. That word still stands.”
It goes without saying however, it doesn’t hurt Schauffele’s bank account any taking home $3.33 million for the top spot at Valhalla.
Epson Tour Dream Chasing
As the official qualifying tour of the LPGA Tour and beginning its 44th season in 2024, the Epson Tour along with marketing agency Golf Space Collective, has announced six-episode video series: “Dream Chasing: All Access with the Epson Tour.” The series on EpsonTour.com chronicles the triumphs and challenges as players contend for the 15 LPGA Tour cards awarded at the end of the season.
The Epson Tour has grown over the past decade with players contending in a 15-tournament season offering $1.6 million prize money and now in 2024 $5 million in 20 events. Epson Tour players who are now playing or previously played on the LPGA Tour have posted 480 LPGA titles.
College Golf
Women’s college golf has a certain cache, a combination of great play and often intensive rivalry. Last week we had the chance to see top women college players compete in the NCAA Women’s National Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.
Texas A&M junior Adela Cernousek became the first Aggie to win the individual national championship when she finished 12-under par at 276 and Stanford University’s team beat UCLA in the finals of the team championship.
The Annika Award presented to the women’s college player of the year went to fifth year LSU senior Ingrid Lindblad, number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
The young women seemed to be having fun and there were a lot of smiles during the Golf Channel coverage in contrast to the often times more somber professionals on the tube.
Short Putts
The combination of soft conditions from heavy rains the week before and the lack of wind meant scoring conditions during the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club were ideal. Xander Schauffele’s winning 21-under par set the record for lowest score ever in a major.
As a reminder, next week it will be one year the chaos that is men’s professional golf was intensified with the announcement of merger talks between the PGA Tour and the Saudia Public Investment Fund’s LIV Golf. To date the negotiations have produced no agreement but there’s a growing feeling among fans of who cares?
Justin Ray pointed out the other day on Twitter (I know it’s now X but I’m slow to adopt changes), “Five different American players have won the last five men’s majors (Koepka, Clark, Harman, Scheffler, Schauffele). It’s the first time that has happened since 1983-84 (Larry Nelson, Tom Watson, Hal Sutton, Ben Crenshaw, Fuzzy Zoeller).”
