Latest news with #ChipandPutt
USA Today
09-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Masters Chairman Fred Ridley addresses pace of play. Could there be a shot clock for DCP?
Masters Chairman Fred Ridley addresses pace of play. Could there be a shot clock for DCP? AUGUSTA, Ga. – Expect the pace of play at the Masters to speed up – including at the Drive, Chip and Putt. Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley became the latest person to speak out against slow play at the professional level and said that next year's Drive, Chip & Putt, a competition held on the Sunday before the Masters for boys and girls age 7-15, likely will implement a time limitation to rectify slow play. 'Playing without undue delay, as the rules and the game's traditions dictate, is an essential skill of golf at all levels. Recognizing the challenges professionals face each week, I also believe pace of play is an important element of the examination of the world's best players,' Ridley said on Wednesday during his opening remarks of his annual Chairman's press conference ahead of the 89th Masters. 'Golf is a special game because it requires us to be considerate while also being competitive. Respecting other people's time, including, importantly, the fans who support the game, is a fundamental courtesy. Therefore, I want to encourage continued dialogue on this topic, especially at the professional levels which serve as the most visible representation of our sport.' This follows a growing trend among golf's professional tours to implement stiffer penalties against slow play. The LPGA Tour and PGA Tour both conceded they have a problem with pace of play and have introduced new policies designed to crack down on dawdlers with larger fines, and the PGA Tour has discussed the possibility of publishing who the slow players are at each event for the first time. Next week, the Korn Ferry Tour's Lecom Suncoast Classic will be the first tournament to experiment with removing what has essentially been a warning for a 'bad time' and will now apply a one-stroke penalty for a 'first offense.' 'I think maybe this might be a call to action that perhaps we haven't seen in the past,' Ridley later said. 'I've spoken about it a number of times. We will be dealing with that issue this week. I'm not going to tell you that I'm going to be happy with the results, but I think I am encouraged that the PGA Tour is doing some things, experimenting with some timing procedures that might be a little bit more aggressive than we've seen in the past.' AimPoint slows down Masters players One member of the media asked Ridley about his reaction to participants in the Drive, Chip and Putt who used the AimPoint system, a technique using one's feet to determine a numerical value for the slope of the green, to read the break of the putt. Several participants were taking approximately two minutes to line up putts on the 18th green of the famed course. 'I think that example really illustrates the problem, and unfortunately, these young people are looking to their heroes who play the game each week for a living as to how they're going to approach competitively playing the game,' Ridley said. 'As it relates to the Drive, Chip & Putt, I too noticed exactly what you noticed. It's interesting, but every phase of the competition has the same length chip and the same length putt, so it's really not necessary to pace that off. They know how many yards that is. But nevertheless, that's what they were doing. 'I think it's safe to assume that next year at the Drive, Chip & Putt, you will see some sort of time limitations placed on the competition.' Could that mean a shot clock? Ridley didn't specify. Only time will tell.
USA Today
05-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Named after Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller's grandson competes in the Drive, Chip & Putt
Named after Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller's grandson competes in the Drive, Chip & Putt Of all the competitors at the National Finals of the Drive, Chip and Putt at Augusta National Golf Club, only one of them will be named for 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus and share the last name of a two-time major winner – Johnny Miller – to boot. Nicklaus Miller of Provo, Utah, son of Todd, director of golf at BYU, and grandson of Hall of Famer and former NBC lead analyst Johnny, qualified for Sunday's competition in September by winning the Boys 12-13 Division in the Pacific Northwest at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington. 'I'm really excited, especially to be able to go with my entire family and have my grandpa there,' Nicklaus Miller said. 'It should be really, really fun.' He'll have a chance to do something his grandfather never could quite do: win at Augusta National. Fifty years ago, Nicklaus's fishing and hunting buddy, Grandpa Johnny, and his namesake dueled at the famed club – along with Tom Weiskopf – in one of the most memorable Masters in tournament history with Jack coming out on top for his fifth of what would be six Green Jackets. Johnny came close – three times he finished second at Augusta National (1971, '75 and 1981) – but he never got both arms in the Green Jacket. Still, he won the 1973 U.S. Open and 1976 British Open among 24 Tour titles and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1998. He and Jack developed a close friendship. 'I love Jack,' Johnny said. 'He lost his father and he looked at me as sort of a father figure in many ways, even though I wasn't that much older,' Jack Nicklaus recalled on Friday. 'But he looked at me for a lot of things.' And when it was time for Johnny's daughter-in-law and son, Todd, to pick a name for their first son, the name Nick emerged as a favorite. 'I was like, 'I don't really love the name Nick, but if we were to name him after Nicklaus, Jack Nicklaus, and spell it like Jack Nicklaus, I'd be fine with it,' Todd recalled. 'And we talked to my dad about it and he liked it and so he called Jack and said, 'Hey, just so you know, we're naming one of our grandkids Nicklaus.' ' 'It was sort of my way of honoring him,' Johnny said. And what was Big Jack's response to Johnny? 'It's very flattering,' Jack noted, while on site at the Valero Texas Open. 'I said, 'What's wrong with Johnny? He said, 'He likes you better!' ' When Nicklaus Miller was born, the Nicklauses sent towels and some other baby gear embroidered with the Golden Bear logo and the newborn's name. Three years later, Jack and Barbara flew to Utah to introduce Johnny when he was inducted into the Utah Golf Hall of Fame. A picture was snapped of Jack, Johnny and Nicklaus. What's it like to have a name with a combined 20 majors to its credit? 'I think it's really cool because I mean it's one of the best golfers of all time,' Nicklaus Miller said. 'And then you've got my grandpa's name, which is, just to have that name is so cool.' Nicklaus has prepared for the Drive, Chip and Putt as if he were playing in any other tournament. But he did get a few tips from his dad and grandpa. 'He's at that age where he wants to tell me you're an old guy, quit trying to change me, you know,' Johnny said. 'I think he knows that I sort of know what I'm doing.' Perhaps his best advice? 'Starting from a young age, he kind of told me like, 'Hey, if you put enough work in, you can do it, too,' Nicklaus Miller said. For the DCP, his grandpa advised him to hit his low cutter, what he dubbed 'his money shot,' for his first drive and make sure he finds the grid, and then he can tee it a little bit higher and bomb away. For the chip, Nicklaus said he's still determining whether to bump it short of the green and run it up the hill or fly it over the false front. 'We've been working on a couple of different chips,' Todd said. 'I'm hoping he goes later in the rotation for the kids he's with, so he gets to watch a few of them beforehand. And then the putt we've watched the videos of past years to try to get a feel for it.' Grandpa Johnny told him that he'd already made it through the toughest part — qualifying — and to go and enjoy the whole experience. This may be the final time that Johnny, 77, visits Augusta National. 'Unless Nick qualified to play in the Masters, I don't think he's going out there again,' Todd said. 'He's reached the time in his career that he's a 'No man.' He used to always be 'Yes,' all my life. Anything I ever asked him was, yes, I'll do it if it helps you or helps the (BYU) program or whatever helps the kids, I'll do it. But now he's like, 'Hey, I'm retired. I'm going to hang out with my kids and my family and I'm not going to travel much.' He wouldn't miss the chance to show Nicklaus around Augusta National and watch him try to live up to not one but two famous names. 'He's at a great time where he can do magical things with golf,' Johnny said.
NBC Sports
04-04-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Nicklaus Miller striving to live up to his names
Nicklaus Miller, Drive, Chip and Putt finalist and grandson of Johnny Miller, talks about learning from his two-time major-winning grandpa and being named after the legendary Golden Bear.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Registration open for 2024 Drive, Chip and Putt qualifiers
The USGA, Masters Tournament and PGA of America announced Tuesday that registration for 2025-26 Drive, Chip and Putt qualifying is now open. You can click here to access it. Local qualifying begins in May and will continue throughout the summer with 357 sites in all 50 states for boys and girls, ages 7-15. The full schedule of qualifying events includes 10 notable venues set to host regional qualifiers this fall for participants who advance: TPC Sawgrass, Whistling Straits, Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Laurel Valley Golf Club, Valhalla Golf Club, The Ridgewood Country Club, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Hazeltine National Golf Club, Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco and Four Seasons Hualalai Resort. Top performers at the local level will advance through sub-regional and regional qualifiers in July/August and September/October, respectively. From these qualifiers, 80 finalists — 40 boys and 40 girls — will earn an invitation to compete in the National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday, April 5, the eve of the 2026 Masters Tournament. Qualifiers are facilitated by all 41 sections of the PGA of America across the country. Local qualifying begins May 2 at Champion Lakes Golf Club in McAllen, Texas. The full breakdown and schedule of 2026 Drive, Chip and Putt qualifying is as follows: Local (May-August): 357 host sites throughout all 50 states; No more than 3 juniors advance in each age/gender category from every venue Sub-regional (July-August): 64 host sites; 2 juniors advance in each age/gender category from every venue Regional (September-October): 10 host sites in 10 regions; 1 junior advances in each age/gender category from every venue National Finals (April 5, 2026): 80 total participants at Augusta National Golf Club The regional qualifying events in September and October of this year are set to take place at 10 host sites on the following dates: September 6: TPC Sawgrass; Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. September 7: Whistling Straits; Sheboygan, Wisc. September 7: Pinehurst Resort & Country Club; Pinehurst, N.C. September 13: Laurel Valley Golf Club; Ligonier, Pa. September 14: Valhalla Golf Club; Louisville, Ky. September 20: The Ridgewood Country Club; Paramus, N.J. September 21: Pebble Beach Golf Links; Pebble Beach, Calif. October 5: Hazeltine National Golf Club; Chaska, Minn. October 5: Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco; Frisco, Texas October 5: Four Seasons Hualalai Resort; Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
NBC Sports
28-01-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Registration open for 2026 Drive, Chip and Putt qualifiers
Check out the best from the next generation of top golfers at Augusta National in the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals! The USGA, Masters Tournament and PGA of America announced Tuesday that registration for 2025-26 Drive, Chip and Putt qualifying is now open. You can click here to access it. Local qualifying begins in May and will continue throughout the summer with 357 sites in all 50 states for boys and girls, ages 7-15. The full schedule of qualifying events includes 10 notable venues set to host regional qualifiers this fall for participants who advance: TPC Sawgrass, Whistling Straits, Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Laurel Valley Golf Club, Valhalla Golf Club, The Ridgewood Country Club, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Hazeltine National Golf Club, Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco and Four Seasons Hualalai Resort. Top performers at the local level will advance through sub-regional and regional qualifiers in July/August and September/October, respectively. From these qualifiers, 80 finalists — 40 boys and 40 girls — will earn an invitation to compete in the National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday, April 5, the eve of the 2026 Masters Tournament. Qualifiers are facilitated by all 41 sections of the PGA of America across the country. Local qualifying begins May 2 at Champion Lakes Golf Club in McAllen, Texas. The full breakdown and schedule of 2026 Drive, Chip and Putt qualifying is as follows: Local (May-August): 357 host sites throughout all 50 states; No more than 3 juniors advance in each age/gender category from every venue Sub-regional (July-August): 64 host sites; 2 juniors advance in each age/gender category from every venue Regional (September-October): 10 host sites in 10 regions; 1 junior advances in each age/gender category from every venue National Finals (April 5, 2026): 80 total participants at Augusta National Golf Club The regional qualifying events in September and October of this year are set to take place at 10 host sites on the following dates: September 6: TPC Sawgrass; Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. September 7: Whistling Straits; Sheboygan, Wisc. September 7: Pinehurst Resort & Country Club; Pinehurst, N.C. September 13: Laurel Valley Golf Club; Ligonier, Pa. September 14: Valhalla Golf Club; Louisville, Ky. September 20: The Ridgewood Country Club; Paramus, N.J. September 21: Pebble Beach Golf Links; Pebble Beach, Calif. October 5: Hazeltine National Golf Club; Chaska, Minn. October 5: Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco; Frisco, Texas October 5: Four Seasons Hualalai Resort; Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
