John Daly opting for Champions major over PGA Championship
John Daly plans to tee it up in a major next week, just not at the PGA Championship .
The biggest quirk of the 2025 schedule is that the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Alabama — the first of five majors on the PGA Tour Champions — is the same week as the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
'I can go there and miss the cut and get $6,000,' Daly said of the PGA Championship, which last year paid $4,000 to players who missed the cut. 'But I'm playing Birmingham. I love Regions. They're a great sponsor. But why are they scheduling Regions the same week as the PGA Championship, where I can see Brooks (Koepka) and all the guys?'
May typically is crowded for golf and the Regions Traditions didn't want to take this week because it's tough getting support on Mother's Day. The week after the PGA Championship is the Senior PGA Championship at Congressional.
Going earlier was tough with NASCAR at Talladega on April 27.
Daly also is not in top form after surgery on his left hand in January. He said his biggest issue remains getting through the ball on three-quarter shots — that and his putting. He finished at 27 over par last week at the Insperity Invitational, a tournament he won in 2017 and was runner-up in 2020.
But he's not ready to pack it in from playing on the PGA Tour Champions, even with 16 surgeries and bladder cancer.
'I'm like Lazarus — I keep coming back from the dead,' he said. 'Waking up is a win for me.'
Daly isn't the only former PGA champion missing next week.
Rich Beem, who took down Tiger Woods at Hazeltine in 2002, chose not to play this year after a rough go at Valhalla last year. Beem now works for Sky Sports at the big events and felt he didn't have enough time to prepare this year for a big course. Quail Hollow is 7,262 yards and plays as a par 71.
'I got my (butt) handed to me last year,' he said. 'Even though I had success at Bethpage (2019), you lose 10 yards, you might as well lose 100.'
He said he plans on skipping Aronimink next year but will return to the PGA Championship in 2027 in his home state of Texas, where he hopes dry and firm conditions will help.
Davis Love III (recovering from heart surgery) and Y.E. Yang also are not in the PGA Championship next week.
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Fox Sports
37 minutes ago
- Fox Sports
NASCAR's Mexico City race: Daniel Suarez balances racing at home with uncertainty over contract
Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Daniel Suarez has become the unofficial tour guide for all things Mexico City as NASCAR prepares to race internationally this Sunday for the first international points-paying Cup Series event of the modern era. From where to eat, what to do, how to navigate the city and even basic conversation in Spanish, Suarez has been the go-to guy in the garage since NASCAR said it would take the Cup Series outside the United States for just the third time in 77 years. The Monterrey native has made multiple trips to NASCAR as the face of Sunday's race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where he's raced on a different course layout 13 times, with three wins in NASCAR's Mexico Series. He'd like to win at the Cup level — if he pulls it out in his home country Sunday it will be his first victory of this season — but Suarez is juggling a very difficult balancing act. He's elated to be racing in front of a home crowd, honored to show of the culture and magic of Mexico City, but at the same time tremendously concerned about his NASCAR future. Suarez is in a contract year with Trackhouse Racing, which has Ross Chastain and Shane van Ginsberg under contract while Connor Zilisch is its development driver and on loan to several teams at lower national levels of NASCAR racing. Trackhouse only has three Cup Series seats, math Suarez can't ignore as he heads into Sunday ranked 28th in the standings. 'It's not the first time that I've been in this position. Definitely the first time with the Mexico race, but it's not the first time that I've been in the position that we have to win or in the position that we have a contract negotiation in the middle of the season,' Suarez said. 'It's definitely a distraction. I won't sit here and tell you that it doesn't really matter. I'm trying to be as smart as possible and to put all this stuff on the side and just do my thing on the track.' Return to Mexico Suarez, the only Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national series race, has two Cup victories, three Xfinity Series wins and one Truck Series win. His 2016 championship in the second-tier Xfinity Series made him the only foreign-born driver to win a national series title. Suarez has faced adversity before, but never like the pressure he's feeling hoping to deliver in front of the local crowd. This weekend in Mexico is special to Suarez, who expects well over 100 of the spectators in attendance Sunday to be friends and family. They've watched from afar as he's worked his way into the NASCAR spotlight, a journey full of ups and downs that have seen Suarez drive for four different Cup teams. He joined Trackhouse Racing in 2021 and last year signed a one-year extension through 2025. At the time, he said he wanted to reassess where the program was before signing a long-term deal. But it's been a disappointing start to the season and his average finish of 21st is three spots worse than last year. 'The Mexico race is something that I've been hoping and waiting on for many, many years, and I'm not going to let anything else from outside take that week and that moment from myself,' Suarez said. 'We have to just continue to put one foot in front of the other and continue to move forward. I think that in Trackhouse, we have found some decent speed in the last few weeks, so that's promising, and hopefully we can continue to move in that direction.' Suarez will have Mexican communication company Telcel on his car this weekend. 'For many years, I never had a sponsor deal with a company from Mexico because I wasn't racing there,' Suarez said. 'So right now that we're going to be having an event down there, it opens a whole new world of opportunities and that's great, obviously for me, but for the entire sport.' Contract Distractions It's another layer of pressure for Suarez, who wants nothing more than to balance the demands of being the star of Sunday's show with delivering a strong showing. "Once we get into the race, we don't want to deal with any of this stuff, and I just want to focus and have fun driving race cars,' he said. 'There is going to be more on my plate just by nature, just being the local guy, the very first race ever in Mexico City in the Cup Series. I have to accept that. With that being said, I have to protect my space for the competition stuff because if we don't do the competition stuff right, everything else doesn't really matter. So we have to put a balance on everything.' As Suarez noted, a win on Sunday would dramatically improve his hopes of remaining with Trackhouse on a contract extension. It could happen: Suarez's first Cup victory came on the road course at Sonoma, and the next five Cup races include road-course races at Mexico City, Sonoma and the Chicago street course. He admitted 'honestly, I don't know' about what he'd like out of a contract extension, but said he speaks regularly with team owner Justin Marks. 'The trajectory of Trackhouse has been tremendous,' Suárez said. 'We have learned so many things. I really want to help Justin bring Trackhouse to the next level. I believe that 2022 has been our best year as a company, still. So why is that? Are we missing something? Do we have to change something? What do we need to do better? As a new team, to have your best years that early, it's kind of uncommon. One of the reasons, I believe, was because of the new car. So I believe that we have to continue to grow. 'Ross just won a race a couple weeks ago, and that's brought a lot of energy to the team and some more momentum. Before that, it was a little bit of a struggle. So we have to continue to find that speed in a consistent basis, just like the big teams," he continued. "So we're having all these conversations. I wish I didn't have to have these conversations, and I didn't have these distractions, but it's part of life, right? Sometimes you have to do several things at the same time. But I'm trying not to think about it too much and trying to work in my job and push as hard as possible for competition and trying to help the team slowly get better and better.' ___ AP auto racing: recommended
Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch among drivers with winning memories in Mexico City
Only three Cup drivers have experience racing stock cars on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski competed in Xfinity races there when the series went from 2005 through 2008. Hamlin won the race in 2006 and Busch in the last NASCAR race at the track in 2008. But there are two other drivers who have celebrated wins at the facility. Daniel Suarez won three races there but on a 1-mile oval configuration used in the NASCAR Mexico Series in 2012-14. And Michael McDowell won a sports-car race there in 2005. Do those wins matter? "I recognize a few of the corners as I'm running it [in the simulator]," Hamlin said. "I'm like, 'Yeah I remember this, remember that.' "Certainly there are some different parts of the track that we didn't get to run. But overall, it feels pretty straightforward to me. Not much to it. I think there's a bunch of passing zones. I'm actually looking forward to this one." The 2006 win was Hamlin's first in a NASCAR national series race, so maybe Hamlin looks forward to it thanks to those great memories. When Hamlin and Busch raced, they competed on a configuration that was a 2.67-mile, eight-turn course. Now they will race a 15-turn, 2.42-mile course, a slightly shorter version than what is used when Formula 1 competes at the track. It was the return of F1 that resulted in a reconfiguration in 2015. "It was really cool and unique to just kind of see the fan nature and how different it can be or what it is and the energy that they bring to the track," Busch said. "It's a lot of fun to check that out. … For me to win the final race that we had there back in 2009, it was special." Suarez didn't even win at the facility making right-hand turns, so he takes those wins for what they're worth. With the additional turns, Suarez said he doesn't feel it is the same track that the few drivers who did compete in Xfinity would be used to at all. "It only makes you feel good," Suarez said. "I won there a couple times in an oval configuration. So is that is going to help me? Denny, Kyle, McDowell, they won on a race track that was completely different." Suarez believes the drivers will have to work to run well. "It's going to be a challenge," Suarez said. "Honestly, I don't think that there is a driver out there that has an advantage knowing the race track because it's going to be something completely new for everyone. "It's going to be one of those weekends that there are new things to adapt to and whoever does the best job adapting and improving the quickest is going to be on top." One of the new things they will adapt to is the part of the course that runs through the former baseball stadium that functioned as such 20 years ago but that is still used for events like concerts. "I've seen the F1 races there, so I have a good understanding [of the track]," Busch said. "I've raced there before, so not every corner is different, but the stadium section I know is a lot different. "It'll be interesting to see how all that plays out with our cars." The driver who might be able to correlate their experience the most will be McDowell, as the current Next Gen car is modeled after a sports car when it comes to suspension. "It does help I'm familiar with the track, familiar with the city, familiar with getting acclimated to the [higher] altitude and what that looks like," McDowell said. "So I think there are some advantages to having experience here. "I don't know how much it actually helps 20 years later, but I feel really good about going to a road course in general."' McDowell believes he can adapt to the new facility quicker than others. "Any time you go to a new road course where nobody has any experience or seat time, I feel like that's an advantage for us," McDowell said. "We've been working on it for a few weeks and feel like we're prepared as you can be." The key as far as adapting to the track will come with the extended weekend schedule. Instead of 20 minutes of practice with limited time to change parts and pieces before qualifying, Cup teams will get 75 minutes of practice Friday (a 50-minute session, an hour break and then a 25-minute session). They will then get a couple of hours to work on their cars before having to go through tech for qualifying Saturday, with the cars then impounded for Sunday's race. "It's nice that we have a practice where you can adjust and change on [things] unlike a typical weekend," McDowell said. "So we'll have a few packages we can run through and try to make some overall gains on our road-course package. I'm looking forward to it." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. recommended Get more from NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
NASCAR's Mexico City race: Daniel Suarez balances racing at home with uncertainty over contract
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Daniel Suarez has become the unofficial tour guide for all things Mexico City as NASCAR prepares to race internationally this Sunday for the first international points-paying Cup Series event of the modern era. From where to eat, what to do, how to navigate the city and even basic conversation in Spanish, Suarez has been the go-to guy in the garage since NASCAR said it would take the Cup Series outside the United States for just the third time in 77 years. The Monterrey native has made multiple trips to NASCAR as the face of Sunday's race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where he's raced on a different course layout 13 times, with three wins in NASCAR's Mexico Series. He'd like to win at the Cup level — if he pulls it out in his home country Sunday it will be his first victory of this season — but Suarez is juggling a very difficult balancing act. He's elated to be racing in front of a home crowd, honored to show of the culture and magic of Mexico City, but at the same time tremendously concerned about his NASCAR future. Suarez is in a contract year with Trackhouse Racing, which has Ross Chastain and Shane van Ginsberg under contract while Connor Zilisch is its development driver and on loan to several teams at lower national levels of NASCAR racing. Trackhouse only has three Cup Series seats, math Suarez can't ignore as he heads into Sunday ranked 28th in the standings. 'It's not the first time that I've been in this position. Definitely the first time with the Mexico race, but it's not the first time that I've been in the position that we have to win or in the position that we have a contract negotiation in the middle of the season,' Suarez said. 'It's definitely a distraction. I won't sit here and tell you that it doesn't really matter. I'm trying to be as smart as possible and to put all this stuff on the side and just do my thing on the track.' Return to Mexico Suarez, the only Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national series race, has two Cup victories, three Xfinity Series wins and one Truck Series win. His 2016 championship in the second-tier Xfinity Series made him the only foreign-born driver to win a national series title. Suarez has faced adversity before, but never like the pressure he's feeling hoping to deliver in front of the local crowd. This weekend in Mexico is special to Suarez, who expects well over 100 of the spectators in attendance Sunday to be friends and family. They've watched from afar as he's worked his way into the NASCAR spotlight, a journey full of ups and downs that have seen Suarez drive for four different Cup teams. He joined Trackhouse Racing in 2021 and last year signed a one-year extension through 2025. At the time, he said he wanted to reassess where the program was before signing a long-term deal. But it's been a disappointing start to the season and his average finish of 21st is three spots worse than last year. 'The Mexico race is something that I've been hoping and waiting on for many, many years, and I'm not going to let anything else from outside take that week and that moment from myself,' Suarez said. 'We have to just continue to put one foot in front of the other and continue to move forward. I think that in Trackhouse, we have found some decent speed in the last few weeks, so that's promising, and hopefully we can continue to move in that direction.' Suarez will have Mexican communication company Telcel on his car this weekend. 'For many years, I never had a sponsor deal with a company from Mexico because I wasn't racing there,' Suarez said. 'So right now that we're going to be having an event down there, it opens a whole new world of opportunities and that's great, obviously for me, but for the entire sport.' Contract Distractions It's another layer of pressure for Suarez, who wants nothing more than to balance the demands of being the star of Sunday's show with delivering a strong showing. 'Once we get into the race, we don't want to deal with any of this stuff, and I just want to focus and have fun driving race cars,' he said. 'There is going to be more on my plate just by nature, just being the local guy, the very first race ever in Mexico City in the Cup Series. I have to accept that. With that being said, I have to protect my space for the competition stuff because if we don't do the competition stuff right, everything else doesn't really matter. So we have to put a balance on everything.' As Suarez noted, a win on Sunday would dramatically improve his hopes of remaining with Trackhouse on a contract extension. It could happen: Suarez's first Cup victory came on the road course at Sonoma, and the next five Cup races include road-course races at Mexico City, Sonoma and the Chicago street course. He admitted 'honestly, I don't know' about what he'd like out of a contract extension, but said he speaks regularly with team owner Justin Marks. 'The trajectory of Trackhouse has been tremendous,' Suárez said. 'We have learned so many things. I really want to help Justin bring Trackhouse to the next level. I believe that 2022 has been our best year as a company, still. So why is that? Are we missing something? Do we have to change something? What do we need to do better? As a new team, to have your best years that early, it's kind of uncommon. One of the reasons, I believe, was because of the new car. So I believe that we have to continue to grow. 'Ross just won a race a couple weeks ago, and that's brought a lot of energy to the team and some more momentum. Before that, it was a little bit of a struggle. So we have to continue to find that speed in a consistent basis, just like the big teams,' he continued. 'So we're having all these conversations. I wish I didn't have to have these conversations, and I didn't have these distractions, but it's part of life, right? Sometimes you have to do several things at the same time. But I'm trying not to think about it too much and trying to work in my job and push as hard as possible for competition and trying to help the team slowly get better and better.' ___ AP auto racing:
