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USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Like old times as Ryder Cup partners Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke lead PGA Tour Champions event
Like old times as Ryder Cup partners Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke lead PGA Tour Champions event Show Caption Hide Caption Packers quarterback Jordan Love talks at AmFam Championship in Madison The Packers quarterback is a brand ambassador for American Family Insurance. MADISON, Wisconsin – In many ways, it felt like the previous eight editions of the American Family Insurance Championship, the PGA Tour Champions' annual swing through the state. The weather was perfect, and fans were enjoying a few Leinenkugel's beverages on their strolls around the course. The biggest crowds were following Wisconsin legends Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly. But one glance at the leaderboard and a scan of the houses lining TPC Wisconsin and it's clear that this is definitely not University Ridge, the tournament's previous home. The AmFam switched to the course that Stricker co-designed and also went to a team format, with 38 duos playing best ball in the first round. That's a first for golf's senior circuit. More: AmFam leaderboard Thomas Bjorn and Darren Clarke emerged as leaders with a 12-under 59. They had success playing together in the 2002 Ryder Cup. 'Certainly for me knowing Thomas' game so well made it so much easier for me to go out there and free it up today,' Clarke said. 'I really enjoy playing with him because I know he's there if I mess up, and likewise, I try to be there for him.' Steve Stricker is happy with course ... but not with his shots Stricker thought the course played well in its professional debut. 'We thought the scoring would be pretty good,' Stricker said. 'Weather, we knew it was going to be good today and it's going to be good tomorrow. 'The course is in great condition. But you have to play well going around here. You have to hit it in the fairway, and if you don't have two guys hitting it in the fairway, you put a lot of pressure on the other guys. That's what I'm sure some teams did. If you can get two balls in the fairway, you can actually get pretty aggressive and have a lot of opportunities for birdies.' More: Packers quarterback Jordan Love surprises fans at AmFam Championship Despite the 7-under 64 that Stricker carded with brother-in-law Mario Tiziani, Stricker was less-than-enthused with his own round. There is added emotion with being a teammate. 'I was telling (wife and caddie) Nicki, that could have been a 10-under round pretty easily, really,' Stricker said. 'I left (Tiziani) hanging on these par 5s. 'On 7 I hit it in the hazard, 11 I didn't get it up over the top of the hill. Uncharacteristic of some of the things that I do, too. Kind of left him hanging on those holes where he's in perfect position. If you have another guy in there, kind of frees him up to hit a better chip or whatever the case may be. Yeah, not happy with how I left him hanging on some of those par 5s where we should have been making birdies.' Stricker also not feeling his best Stricker has battled numerous health problems over the past few years. Most serious was a mysterious illness in 2022 that sidelined the 58-year-old Edgerton native for several months in 2022, not long after captaining the U.S. team to a Ryder Cup victory at Whistling Straits. Lately, pain in his back, neck and shoulder has been nagging him, keeping him from a chunk of the Champions Tour schedule. 'Yeah, I'm frustrated,' Stricker said. 'I'm frustrated how I feel, to be quite honest because I don't feel like I'm capable of doing what I want to do. 'I actually hit a really couple, two good shots in a row at 13 and then again at 14, and then it was gone again. It's not … I don't know, I don't know what it is. Struggling to get through the ball in general, so that's frustrating.' Jerry Kelly talks about scramble format for second round Kelly was paired with Justin Leonard and ended up at 6-under. 'It was all right through the first 10,' said Kelly, a Madison native who won back-to-back AmFam titles in 2019 and 2021. 'We got through 5 and 9 ham-and-egging it. 'And then Justin made another one on 10 and, here we go, we've got a par 5 coming up. He hits one left, I top a 3-wood and basically … we didn't really have our best games from there on.' The unique format changes in the second round with a switch to a scramble. 'Tomorrow will be fun,' Leonard said. 'Just our games are very similar. 'Jerry's so consistent. I wasn't very consistent today. I found a little something late in the day and … look, we love playing golf, we love competing, we love playing together. 'To be able to do it in Jerry's hometown with the crowds tomorrow will be a lot of fun. And we'll make a few more birdies tomorrow and hopefully hear the crowds a little bit more than we did today.'
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
John Daly Shares Troubling Health Update After Skipping PGA Championship
There hasn't been a professional golfer quite like John Daly on the PGA Tour. Now 59, Daly has made it clear he's determined to continue his career on the senior PGA Tour Champions circuit this year—despite revealing some troubling personal news ahead of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, the second major of the season. Although there were rumors he might compete, Daly announced he would be skipping the event, citing scheduling conflicts as the main reason. Instead, he'll play in a senior event. Advertisement 'I can go there and miss the cut and get $6,000, which last year paid $4,000 to players who missed the cut," Daly said. '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?' Daly will be playing in the PGA Tour Champions' first major of the senior season, the Regions Tradition, taking place next week at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama. Alongside the scheduling frustration, Daly also opened up about ongoing health concerns. Earlier this year, he underwent his 16th surgery—this time, an emergency procedure on his hand, which he's been recovering from since. 'I'm like Lazarus… I keep coming back from the dead," Daly said. "Waking up is a win for me.' John Daly watches his shot from the 13th tee during the pro-am of the Galleri Classic at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif.© Andy Abeyta/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images In addition to his recent hand surgery and the 16 procedures he's undergone over the years for various health issues, John Daly was diagnosed with bladder cancer in September 2020. Although he underwent a procedure to remove it, he later revealed that there is a high risk of recurrence. Daly is also famously known for his unconventional lifestyle, particularly his reported consumption of cigarettes and Diet Coke. He once admitted to smoking up to 40 cigarettes and drinking 10 to 12 cans of Diet Coke a day—claiming he once reached as many as 26 to 28 in a single day. Advertisement Now, Daly says he's been cutting back significantly and is actively trying to quit smoking. Despite the health challenges, his passion for golf remains strong. Related: Fans Saddened by Death of PGA Tour Legend and HBCU Trailblazer at 85
New York Post
08-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
John Daly's worrying health update as he skips PGA Championship: ‘Waking up is a win for me'
Playing fast and loose has taken its toll on John Daly's health. A 16th surgery earlier this year, this one an 'emergency' on his hand, and bladder cancer has not deterred the 59-year-old, however, as alarming as his health situation may be. 'I'm like Lazarus — I keep coming back from the dead,' Daly said. 'Waking up is a win for me.' Advertisement Daly is still determined to play on the senior PGA Tour Champions circuit, even skipping next week's PGA Championship at Quail Hollow to play on PGA Tour Champions' first major of the year, The Tradition in Birmingham, Ala. 3 John Daly after undergoing surgery in January 2025. Instagram/John Daly The 1991 PGA Championship winner does not understand why the two majors were scheduled for the same week, however. '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?' Advertisement 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. Advertisement 3 John Daly watches his tee shot on 12 during the second round of the PGA Champions Insperity Invitational at The Woodlands Country Club on May 3, 2025. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images 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 lengthy course. Quail Hollow is 7,262 yards and plays as a par 71. Among those who did not withdraw, Beem finished last at plus-20. Advertisement '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. 3 John Daly Getty Images Davis Love III (recovering from heart surgery) and Y.E. Yang also are not in the PGA Championship next week. — With AP
USA Today
19-04-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Behind the scenes of the sponsorship of a PGA Tour Champions event
Behind the scenes of the sponsorship of a PGA Tour Champions event Show Caption Hide Caption Strong winds hit the first day of the Galleri Classic golf tournament Strong winds hit Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage on the first day of the Galleri Classic golf tournament The Galleri Classic PGA Tour Champions event in Rancho Mirage has lost its title sponsor, Grail. Tournament organizers are seeking a new multi-million dollar sponsor, highlighting the importance of corporate funding for golf tournaments. Potential sponsors are looking for advertising and marketing opportunities, often aligning with local charities and high-profile events. The ideal sponsor would utilize the tournament for corporate events and entertainment, similar to past sponsors like Nabisco. Way back in the 1960s, a powerful California politician named Jess Unruh uttered a phrase that has echoed through time: Money is the mother's milk of politics. With one slight alteration, the phrase could just as easily apply to the Coachella Valley today: Money is the mother's milk of golf tournaments. The recent news that Grail was leaving as title sponsor of the PGA Tour Champions' Galleri Classic in Rancho Mirage couldn't be that surprising to anyone paying close attention. Grail has been the title sponsor for all three years of the senior tour event, and its message about its Galleri blood test for multiple kinds of cancer detection certainly rang true with many senior players and the older demographic of fans. But as the company went public last summer and as other changes within the company took place, Grail holding on to the Galleri Classic seemed less and less likely. And so the PGA Tour Champions and tournament organizers find themselves in a position that many tournaments face. How do you replace a big corporation with another big corporation to keep a golf tournament alive? The Coachella Valley seems like a natural fit for any golf sponsor, but history has shown us that isn't always true. Ask Humana, CareerBuilder, ANA and Chevron. More: Desert's PGA Tour Champions event seeks new sponsor as Grail opts out of Galleri Classic What kind of money are we talking about? Make no mistake, title sponsorships run into the millions of dollars, no matter what the tournament. Each event is different, with different purse demands, production demands and infrastructure demands, but it's millions of dollars whether it's the PGA Tour, the LPGA, PGA Tour Champions or DP World Tour. That might seem like a lot of money to spend on golf, but it isn't as much money as you think when you chalk the dollars up to advertising and marketing. Looked at that way, the money starts to make more sense. Consider that American Express, the title sponsor of the PGA Tour event in La Quinta each January, reported a net income for fiscal year 2024 of $10.1 billion, or $14.01 per share of stock. The money American Express spends on The American Express golf tournament begins to look more and more like pocket change. But American Express wants more than just the television exposure for its money. It wants to connect with local charities, and it wants its brand to be associated with top-level events, like the PGA Tour and concerts that week. The sponsorship of a golf tournament can provide a company with many opportunities, and what a title sponsor wants drives the decision to spend the money. One goal of golf sponsorship is brand recognition. All-Nippon Airways, or ANA, had almost no presence in the United States before it took over as sponsor of the LPGA tournament in Rancho Mirage, renamed the ANA Inspiration. Before that, if you typed ANA into a search engine, you would get the American Nurses Association. Now, ANA has signage on the outfield walls of Dodger Stadium. If you've been in the desert long enough, you might remember the amazing amount of money RJR Nabisco spent on the LPGA event, known then as the Nabisco Dinah Shore. The company would fly in top sales people, top customers and its corporate executives for a week of sunshine, pro-am play, a celebrity tennis tournament and party after party, including an entertainment show featuring Shore herself. The money spent that week went a long way to making customers, vendors and employees happy. In some ways the LPGA tournament that started Thursday was secondary to the corporate focus. There is also the sponsor who is part of the community. Think about FedEx, which sponsors the tournament in Memphis, where its corporate headquarters are. The desert's LPGA event is now the Chevron Championship and moved to Houston, close to Chevron's oil business. The Royal Bank of Canada, or RBC, sponsors the PGA Tour's Canadian Open. What kind of sponsor would be best for the desert's PGA Tour Champions event? The tournament and the tour are looking for a five-year commitment from a company that perhaps will use the two one-day pro-ams in the event much as Nabisco did with the LPGA event in the 1980s and 1990s. Certainly not to the same extent that Nabisco did, but it would be nice to have a company that could utilize the week for some recreation and entertainment for the company as well as perhaps some business being conducted. Sponsorship of the desert's PGA Tour Champions event will cost far less than sponsorship of a PGA Tour event. But the money is only part of the issue as the event seeks the right sponsor. It's a lot like a jigsaw puzzle, finding the right pieces – money, sponsorship needs, golf course, calendar dates and television times – to fit together for the perfect picture. Desert golf fans can hope the pieces fall together in the coming weeks. At this point, any sponsor is better than no sponsor at all. Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for The Desert Sun. You can contact him at (760) 778-4633 or at Follow him on Facebook or on X at @larry_bohannan.
New York Times
10-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Fred Couples, 65, shoots under par at the Masters to tie record
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Fred Couples scored one for the old guys on Thursday. Couples, 65, became the second-oldest man ever to shoot under par at the Masters, finishing with a 1-under 71 that left him walking off 18th green to the adoration of the thousand or so assembled patrons — and in the top 10 at that moment on the leaderboard. Advertisement It was especially sweet for Couples, who had at least some worry he was nearing the end of his Masters career after shooting 80-76 a year ago. 'I can play golf. I can play around here. If the weather is like this and not hard, I can — as long as I don't do crazy things I can shoot 73 or 4 or 5. That's not embarrassing myself at all,' Couples said. 'I … come back with 70 or 71 tomorrow, the goal for me is to make the cut. Same with (Bernhard) Langer. Any other ancient guys? (Ángel) Cabrera. That's really our goal. When I was 50, 51 I actually thought I could do really well, and did a lot of times. 'Today is a hell of a round. I am exhausted, I'll tell you what.' Tom Watson also shot under par at the Masters (in 2015), but was about a month older than Couples is now. Watson shot the score with a flourish, too, shooting a hole-out eagle on the par-4 14th from 191 yards out. His ball landed in the center of the green, rolled into the cup and Couples raised a fist before kissing his 6 'rescue' hybrid. He also had a standout birdie on No. 1 — stuck in the back left corner, he rolled in a 48-footer from off the green, over a ridge and into the hole. 'I hit two really, really good shots on 1. I don't know if anyone saw it,' Couples said. Couples, the 1992 Masters champion and making his 40th appearance at Augusta National, said he cannot recall ever making an eagle on a par 4 here before today. Couples has made the cut once in his last six appearances, but said last year's disappointing tournament was largely due to injuries and playing heavily during the PGA Tour Champions' West Coast swing. This time around, Couples said he just practiced putting and chipping a couple of times in the week running up to arrival — 'I didn't even want to feel stiff.' Couples, long known as one of the more quotable and generally joyful people around tour, is very aware he's playing a different game than everyone else. Asked what advice he gave to playing partner and Masters rookie Taylor Pendrith during the round, Couples quipped, 'I can't really help him on the course because I'm not even near him. We stand on the tee and he hits it 330 and I hit it 275. I'm here and he's down there.' Advertisement Couples shot six shots better on Thursday than Pendrith, 32 years his junior. A video from December's PNC Championship of Tiger Woods astonished at Couples' 14-club setup went viral, and it hasn't changed since then. He is playing with a putter, driver, 3-wood, 5-wood and four different 'rescue' hybrids. 'I got a lot of head covers,' Couples said.
