Joel Dahmen shoots 68 despite triple-bogey at 14

Fourteen years ago, an American walked onto a bus in South Korea with $72,000 stuffed in his plastic Subway sandwich bag. It was his reward for winning the country’s national championship over a future World Golf Hall of Famer. The tournament paid its victor in cash, using the currency of his home country. His plastic bag, which had held that day’s lunch, was filled to the brim with rolls of $100 bills. He stuffed the money under his seat for the 55-mile trip from the tournament’s host city, Cheonan, to Seoul. The next day, he headed to the bank to wire home his winnings. The teller quickly recognized the 6-foot-4 Texan who’d just beaten Ernie Els, then the world’s third-ranked player, at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club. Edward Loar had envisioned beating players like Els during his years starring for collegiate golf’s powerhouse program, Oklahoma State. Loar’s achievements seemed to portend quick success on the PGA TOUR, but now he was yet another example of professional golf’s unpredictable nature. He had taken his talents to Asia after failing for several years to put down roots on the PGA TOUR. Loar is now nearly two decades into a professional career that has taken him around the world, but not to the heights he hoped for in his earlier years. And yet, he lacks the cynicism that unmet expectations can so easily produce. At 40 years old, as he prepares to embark on another season on the Web.com Tour, Loar embraces the challenge with a gregariousness that helped him earn the nickname “Big Ed.â€� This year’s opportunity is especially gratifying because his career was on the precipice. When he left for the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament last month, he had a wife, 6-year-old triplets and the financial stresses that come from spending the past two years on golf’s mini-tours, waiting for him at home. He needed to have a successful tournament to justify his continued pursuit of a PGA TOUR card. Earlier in the year, he sat at his kitchen table, tearfully mourning his current lot. He felt out of place competing alongside college players, club pros and 20-somethings at the Texas State Open. “I was the guy that I never wanted to be, … almost 40 years old and still trying to eke it out on the mini-tours,â€� Loar says. He started telling friends and family that he may need to find another line of work if he didn’t earn Web.com Tour status by the end of the year. “I’d have to find something to do to make some money.â€� He tied for 30th at Q-School to earn starts in the first eight events of the upcoming season. His career resumes Saturday, in the first round of the The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay. “Whether or not I’ve achieved what I thought I could up to this point, which I haven’t, I still get to try,â€� he says. “I’ve always been excited to go play the next week because there’s always an opportunity.â€� Loar isn’t the first player whose professional success pales in comparison to his exploits as an amateur. But there aren’t many players who have persevered as long in the face of such a disparity. Loar was one of seven collegians who represented the United States in the 1999 Walker Cup. Only Loar, Jonathan Byrd and Matt Kuchar are still playing professionally. The other two have combined to win 12 titles and $60 million on the PGA TOUR. Loar has spent just two seasons on TOUR since turning pro in 2000, earning little more than $219,000 while missing 41 of 54 cuts. His T18 in his professional debut, at the 2000 B.C. Open, remains his best finish.I’ve gone from having a couple hundred thousand in the bank to having none, then back to having some and then having some credit-card debt. He doesn’t hesitate when asked how many countries he’s competed in, recalling the number immediately. Twenty-eight, on nine different tours, he says. “The credit in this story goes to his tenacity,â€� says Loar’s college roommate, two-time TOUR winner Charles Howell III. “At age 40, he’s still clawing his way back. … I’m not sure if I could have done that.â€� Loar has faced the gamut of experiences during his unique playing career. There was the time he almost won at St. Andrews, finishing second at the 2006 Dunhill Links while playing in the second-to-last group with two Hall of Famers, Els and Vijay Singh. He beat both his playing companions while finishing five shots behind Padraig Harrington, a three-time major winner. Loar also has appeared on a U.S. Open leaderboard and owns two wins apiece on the Web.com Tour and Asian Tour. He finished second in his first tournament in Asia, the Myanmar Open, while competing on a course lined by soldiers carrying automatic weapons. Experiences like the 2012 Q-School sit on the opposite end of the spectrum. He needed to finish par-bogey to earn his PGA TOUR card, but hit it into the water on the final two holes instead. A clerical technicality kept him from a European Tour card after he nearly won at the Home of Golf. Had he paid something called an “affiliate feeâ€� before the tournament, he would’ve earned a European Tour card. His bank account had been hit hard by Q-School entries, so he didn’t pay the four-figure fee. It was the only thing standing between him and European Tour status. His hardest year was 2014. After finishing fourth on the Web.com Tour money list, and contending at the 2013 U.S. Open before finishing T32, he thought he was prepared for the PGA TOUR. He missed 16 of 19 cuts instead. “I’ve gone from having a couple hundred thousand in the bank to having none, then back to having some and then to having some credit-card debt,â€� he says. Loar has spent the past two years pushing his own cart on the mini-tours, joking that he’s logged enough miles to have the tires rotated. Like most golfers, he still believes he can do better, buoyed by the memory of good shots and low scores. “I know what I can do, and what I have done, and I know there’s still more inside me,â€� Loar said. “Maybe that’s what has helped me get through pushing my pushcart in 105-degree weather at a Monday qualifier.â€� Forty-year-olds like Loar don’t garner much attention at Q-School. Most of the focus is on the prospects for whom the Web.com Tour is a steppingstone on the path to bigger and better things, players like Maverick McNealy and Sam Burns. Few knew the high stakes for Loar last month at Whirlwind Golf Club in Chandler, Arizona. That’s why Ellen Loar could be excused for checking her phone one last time before the Dec. 10 service at the First United Methodist Church of Rockwall, Texas. She may have been better served waiting to look at the live leaderboard, though. Just before putting her phone away, she saw that her son made double-bogey on his third hole of the final round. “Damn,â€� she muttered, according to Edward’s father, Jay. “It’s going to be what it’s going to be,â€� Jay told his wife. Their son made two birdies while they were sitting in church, and another two by the time they finished lunch. He birdied nine of his final 15 holes to shoot a final-round 66. After sitting in 68th place at the tournament’s halfway mark, he birdied 13 of the last 23 holes. His emotions were captured in an on-camera interview shortly after he signed his scorecard. “I was kind of to the point in my career where I was really going to have to evaluate whether or not I could still do it,â€� he said on the video. “But I sucked it up and played awesome golf.â€� Fifteen seconds in, Loar looks away from the camera and grabs the back of his hat. He spends the next 11 seconds trying to hold the tears at bay. “I’m obviously just really happy right now,â€� he added. “I’m really happy for my wife and my kids. They’ve supported me. What else can I say? They’ve just been awesome.â€� Loar calls his wife, Melaney, the family’s “leading money winnerâ€� over the past few years. On the first night they met, she asked her future husband, “So, what are you going to do when you grow up?â€� after learning his vocation. The job title “Professional Golferâ€� sounded a bit dubious, considering she’d never seen him on television. Now she works as a real-estate agent to help her husband fend off a day job. “I will absolutely never be the reason he has to give it up or be the one to say, ‘OK, buddy. Time’s up,’â€� Melaney says. “He’s told me that if he ever felt tired or that he couldn’t do it anymore, he would absolutely give it up. But he still believes that he can do it and he still loves it. “As long as that’s the case, we can make it work.â€� Edward Loar grew up in a golf family. His father was a pharmacist by trade, and a scratch golfer on the side. He later became the head men’s golf coach at SMU, where he coached his youngest son, Nick, and three U.S. Amateur champions (Hank Kuehne, Colt Knost, Kelly Kraft). “He had a nice, natural swing,â€� Jay says of Edward. At 10 years old, Edward shot 30 from the forward tees at their home course, The Shores Country Club. He hit his blue-headed 6-wood about 150 yards, the perfect distance for the 300-yard par-4s and 150-yard par-3s, and holed everything with his wood-shafted Otey Crisman putter. His natural talents served him well through college, where he’d watch seven college football games on a Saturday while Howell headed out to practice. “And then … the next week we would go play a tournament and he’d beat me,â€� Howell recalls. “And it just drove me bonkers.” One of those victories came in 1999 at the prestigious Sunnehanna Amateur, where Edward beat Howell by five shots (and then defended his title the next year). He also won the Southern Amateur, the Southwestern Amateur and five collegiate titles at Oklahoma State. He was a four-time All-American, played in the 1998 Palmer Cup and was a member of the Cowboys’ 2000 NCAA title team. “I would’ve tagged Ed early on to win a whole bunch of PGA TOUR events,â€� Howell says. “He always had a wonderful short game, he’s a big guy, he can hit it forever. “But in this crazy game, you just never know what’s going to happen.â€� If there was one shortcoming, it was a full swing that was too reliant on timing and resulted in a big miss, often at inopportune times. After failing to make it to Q-School’s Final Stage in his first attempt, Loar headed to the Asian Tour. He spent five seasons in Asia, each year returning home for another unsuccessful Q-School attempt. He won twice in Asia before finally earning Web.com Tour status for the 2007 season. “In hindsight, (playing in Asia), kind of masked some of my inefficiencies,â€� Edward says. “I was good enough to, once or twice a year, get into contention, so I thought I was improving. I don’t know if I was improving as much as I needed to. I was playing somewhere that I was just good enough to play.â€� He finally made it to Q-School’s Final Stage in 2006, playing his first Web.com Tour season in 2007. He didn’t keep his card, and spent the next three seasons playing “anywhere they’d take my money.â€� He bounced between the Web.com Tour and PGA TOUR from 2011 to 2015 before returning to the mini-tours for the past two years. Edward still has optimism for his latest opportunity, thanks in part to his work with Las Vegas-based swing instructor Joe Mayo, a teacher whose Twitter handle (@trackmanmaestro) contrasts Edward’s reliance on natural talent. He admits that he may have waited too long to learn more about his swing, which featured too much clubface rotation through impact. Mayo has helped Edward keep the clubface squarer. He calls the upcoming season “the best chance I’ve had in four years.â€� Edward wasn’t bitter watching new pros like Lee McCoy, McNealy or Burns find quick success at Q-School while his career was hanging by a thread. Even though he once sat in their shoes, only for his career to take unexpected turns away from the PGA TOUR, he isn’t overwhelmed by cynicism. “I remember the enthusiasm for turning pro. Honestly, I still feel that or else I wouldn’t still be doing it,â€� Loar says. “Obviously, I look at the guys who I grew up playing with and how successful they’ve been. I think that still kind of drives me. I know I can do better. “I just want to have another good shot at it.â€� Being honest about his failures doesn’t dampen his excitement for the future. A healthy sense of humor helps him keep things in perspective. His self-directed sarcasm seems to be cathartic, allowing him to avoid a pratfall too common in professional golf: taking oneself too seriously. “Ed’s always had this larger-than-life personality, and he has a larger-than-life physique to go along with it,â€� Howell says. He has even inspired a Twitter feed devoted to tracking his progress. @EdLoarTracker is run by a Florida resident who has met Edward just once, but appreciates his subject’s everyman qualities. The handle began as joke, spoofing Edward’s tweets about food and his light-hearted approach to professional golf. Edward often engages with the handle and plays along with its jokes. The 1,050 followers, known as “Loar Loonies,â€� are following a story that has the successes and failures, promotions and demotions, that are common to the human experience. “There are way more guys who can relate to the journey I’ve been on than the guys who get on TOUR in six events,â€� Edward says. “At the end of the day, it really is just a silly game.â€� One that Edward Loar has devoted his life to, through the good times and the bad.

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The hope of finding somewhere to turn when there is seemingly no place to go is, at best, a paralyzing one. Especially when that someone is not even five years old. Amira Smiley was born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 2002, just under three years before her sister, Gia. Born to parents Joe and Missy, the sisters were brought into a world steeped in unfathomable hardship. Before the game of golf helped to become a reliable staple in her life, Amira was forced to grow up way too soon in the face of way too much despair. “At a very young age, I was fending for myself and trying to raise my little sister, too,” said Amira, now 20. “We grew up too quickly and saw a lot of stuff people just should not ever be subjected to. When I was about four or five, me and my sister started living with my (paternal) grandmother, but it was very off and on. I would live with her for a few months until my parents had supposedly gotten their acts together. It was just a lot of back and forth.” With both battling drug addiction, parents Joe and Missy Smiley allowed a life to create itself around their two girls that no one should have to endure. “Amira was with me off and on from the day she was born,” said Parley Smiley, the girls’ grandmother. “She saw a lot in her childhood years that a person should never have to see or go through. I raised them just like I raised my own kids, which included teaching them about responsibility.” “I have to say, what I really think kept me from becoming a statistic are the people in my life, especially my grandmother,” Amira said. “She has been my mother, father, grandmother and grandfather. Her support has inspired me a lot. She has always encouraged us with things like school and pursuing all opportunities to further ourselves.” When Amira got a little older, Parley was awarded legal custody of the Amira and Gia. In the height of her middle school years in 2013, the girls’ mother, Missy, passed by a drug overdose. She was 37. Amira was 11. “The day that happened, I was living with my grandmother and playing outside,” Amira recalled. “My grandmother came outside and told us what had happened. She ended up being on life support for about five days.” Although her mother had already been declared brain dead, Amira had the opportunity for one final visit. “I did get final closure by being able to go and see her one last time,” Amira said. “Prior to that, because of another incident, I hadn’t seen her in over a year. I just felt a lot of ill feelings towards her for putting me through what she had. Honestly, I didn’t want to see her the last time I saw her. But, having the chance to do so one final time with her maybe somehow able to hear what I had to say gave me that final closure.” Ever since then, the girls’ father, Joe, has been in drug-related trouble with the law. After being released from jail in 2021, it wasn’t long before he was in trouble again. Currently homeless, Joe continues his battle with addiction. Amira sees him on occasion walking around, though she has decided it to be best for her to have no interaction with him at this point. “I always knew I wanted a different life for myself,” Amira said. “I had to grow up so quick and raise my sister and know what I had to protect her from. I didn’t want all that. I knew that I wanted to grow up and get married. If I had kids, I didn’t want them to have to experience what I had to.” Enter the game of golf. Interestingly, it was Amira’s father, a golf fanatic, who introduced his oldest daughter to the game. When Amira was just three years old, Joe would take her to the course to hit balls. “One of the guys who worked at the golf course told my dad he should keep me in the game of golf,” Amira said. “That guy saw potential even at that young age. But then, my dad got into trouble, and I couldn’t play golf anymore. So, I started playing basketball instead.” Amira played basketball through her freshman year at Henry Clay High School in Lexington, but it just didn’t capture her drive like the game of golf had at such a young age. “I’m the type of person who always needs to be active and doing something, and I didn’t get a lot of playing time in basketball” she said. “I thought back to golf and decided to try it out again.” “I don’t know a lot about golf, but I do see how much it’s meaning to her,” Parley said. “When she stopped playing basketball, she told me she thought she wanted to return to golf. She went and showed the golf coach what she could do, and he said, ‘yeah, there’s a spot on this team for you.’ From then on, that was it.” Amira began playing seriously her sophomore year at Henry Cook. “The first time I met Amira was on the driving range many years ago,” said Kevin Mims, Executive Director, First Tee – Greater Lexington and Amira’s former golf coach at Henry Cook. “Her dad had called me and said he wanted to see if she could play on my team. “I told him anybody can play on the team, and no one gets cut. If they can’t play golf, they can learn it.” Mims, though, was impressed by what he saw out of her on the range that first day. To help get a bit more information on her, Mims reached out to Amira’s basketball coach. “He said to me, and I quote, ‘you won’t find a harder worker or anyone that puts their head down and goes to it as hard as she does,’” said Mims. “Kevin and others encouraged me to keep playing and practicing, which made me fall in love with it even more,” Amira said. “The better I got at golf, the more fun I had.” “I truly believe golf is the most important part of Amira’s life,” said Alena Woodson, Amira’s friend. “Since finding golf, she has been able to go out there and focus on the good things about herself, as an individual, as opposed to all the bad things that have happened to her in her life. When she is out there, she is focusing on exactly what she loves most – golf.” When the golf coach at Transylvania University in Lexington reached out to Amira late in her high school career, he offered her a spot on the team. As a rising junior at Transylvania now, Amira looks back with confidence on her decision to not just pursue golf, but to stick with it. “I love the game now,” she said. “I not only like the game, but I like being able to use the game as a way to help impact other people at First Tee.” In addition to volunteering her time to teach kids at First Tee – Greater Lexington, but in keeping with the values and life skills ingrained in the program, Amira has actually broadened the spectrum of people who benefit from the game. “Later this month, I’ve arranged for First Tee kids to come with me to where I work at the Woodhill Community Center, which is a home for at-risk youth,” she said. “The kids I work with there are underprivileged kids who don’t really have the opportunity to play golf, so we’ve arranged to be able to bring golf to them and see if they might become interested in it as well.” “Last year, the team went to Elizabethtown, Kentucky,” said Mims. “One of the places we visited was an organization that helps combat sex trafficking and/or the sexual abuse of girls. Upon arrival, Amira was the first one through the doors after assuring Mims she had no qualms about sharing her story if it could help even one girl. “She marched straight in saying, ‘I’ll do anything, share my story…anything.’ She looked at me and said, ‘you just don’t know how close I was to being one of these girls.’” Amira also credits the Woodhill Community Center and its Urban Impact program, which provides a safe haven and activities for kids with problematic home lives. She began going to the center – which is a beneficiary of this week’s Barbasol Championship on the PGA TOUR, as is First Tee – Greater Lexington – in the third grade. “Amira may be hard-nosed, but she also has a heart as big as I’ve ever seen,” said Mims. “When Amira came along, we started taking the girls to the Woodhill Community Center on Wednesday nights, which Amira was instrumental in getting done. “I can’t speak highly enough about her. She is all about giving back.” Prior to Amira joining the golf team, Mims said the team practiced every day and competed in tournaments on Saturdays. On Wednesday nights, though, he added in team visits to assisted-living or nursing homes, to give these girls a broader view of what life was about. “Amira can – and will – do anything she puts her mind to,” said Eve Fox, Amira’s friend and college roommate. “She wants to be a fighter pilot and a great golfer. She’s definitely determined to do it all, and I know she will accomplish it all.” “I just want to have a good family when I get a little older,” Amira said. “I would like a husband and kids that would love and support me and let me love and support them. That’s something I’ve wanted ever since I was a kid, to give that love and respect. When I think about my life, I just want to have a positive impact on my kids and grandkids. I want my grandkids to feel about me the way I feel about my grandmother.” “She won’t settle for anything but the best,” said Parley. “She’s a very true person. If she says she’s going to do something, she does it. She’s a selfless person and very unique in my eyes.” To Amira, First Tee – Greater Lexington is a wonderful outlet for her to share her story and the lessons she has learned along the way. “She’s a leader that does so by doing,” said Mims. “She is all about integrity and doing what you say you’re going to do. She is used to responsibility and, I think, was forced to take too much on as a youngster.” And her game? “I think the best parts of my game are ball-striking and putting,” said Amira, whose best tournament score is 80. “I know that if I can just get it onto the green, I’m good to go.” “She has worked really hard at golf and has gotten really good at it,” said Fox. “She has taken me out on the course, and I’ve watched her do trick shots. It’s just really fun to watch her play. She’s also very serious about it and continually strives to get better.” For now, Amira’s plan after college is to join the military. She has become quite the skilled young pilot and is currently working to earn her private pilot’s license. Her sister Gia, now 17, graduated from high school back in May and is headed to a technical college to pursue a career in welding. “Amira is one of the most amazing people I have ever met,” said Woodson. “When you learn of her life story, you quickly see how easy it would’ve been for her to follow the path that everyone before her is on. But she has worked the hardest I have ever seen someone work, not at golf, but also in school. She just refuses to become a product of her environment.” “This stuff has always been a part of my life, but it’s stuff I’m getting through,” said Amira. “I’d like to believe it has made me a better and stronger person.” Never a doubt. And it has resulted in a remarkable young lady with everywhere to go, too.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It will be cooler. It may not necessarily be wetter. It should be windier. And it will remain firm and fast. Such is the likely weather impact on THE PLAYERS Championship moving from its current month of May to March starting in 2019. The news became official on Tuesday with the co-announcement by the PGA TOUR and PGA of America that the PGA Championship also will move from August to May. That means the PGA will become the second major of the season while THE PLAYERS will kick off the string of big events that define the bulk of the TOUR season. It also moves THE PLAYERS back to its previous position on the calendar as part of the Florida Swing. The TOUR’s signature event at TPC Sawgrass had been held in March until 2007 when it moved to May. “For us to have THE PLAYERS in March, trying really to create a large platform for our FedExCup and our overall season, it just creates an energy at an important time of the year,â€� PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan said after Tuesday’s announcement with PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua. Added Jared Rice, tournament director for THE PLAYERS Championship: “The March date puts us in the best possible position to deliver the tournament at a high level for our players, our partners and our fans. Being in that March timeframe, we get the benefit of a great lead-in from the beginning of the year through March. We couldn’t be happier.â€� Besides the schedule change, will the players feel a difference? Those who played TPC Sawgrass in March know what to expect: More wind. It should make an already challenging course even tougher. “The course, although not quite as firm, plays more difficult in my opinion with more wind and faster bent greens,â€� said Luke Donald, who has made 15 starts at THE PLAYERS, the first four of those in March. “TPC Sawgrass has always been a great test, but the move back to March is only going to test one of the best fields in golf even more and showcase what a great event it is.â€� Davis Love III is one of four players with multiple PLAYERS Championship wins at TPC Sawgrass during the month of March (Fred Couples, Steve Elkington and Hal Sutton are the others). “I prefer THE PLAYERS Championship in March,â€� Love said. “I like the golf course better then, even though it tends to be a bit windier. “The great thing about it is that we kind of lead off the season for the majors and other big tournaments. We, the players, feel very strongly about our signature event and we feel it should stand on its own. It fulfills that purpose much better in March than in the middle of the majors season.â€� NBC Sports has broadcast THE PLAYERS Championship for the past 30 years. Longtime producer Tommy Roy said he welcomes the return of the event to March. “From a broadcast standpoint, THE PLAYERS being contested in March provides some intriguing aspects, including that when the Stadium Course is over-seeded with emerald green Winter Rye, the imagery of this iconic venue will be beyond spectacular,â€� Roy said. “The course was designed to be the sternest and most compelling test in golf — and that will only be amplified now by the stronger March winds of North Florida.” In the last five years of THE PLAYERS during its March date, temperatures were generally in the 60s-70s, with wind gusts usually exceeding 25 mph. In the ensuing five years after the switch to May, record-high temperatures of 92 degrees were recorded on multiple occasions. Strong winds existed for the first two years after the switch but have been relatively benign for most competition days. Relief from the hotter weather will be welcomed by both players and fans. But will they also be more susceptible to rain? The perception is that the previous March date left THE PLAYERS vulnerable to increased precipitation. Monahan, though, noted there was less an inch of rain in the Ponte Vedra Beach area for the entire month of March this year. Besides, he said, the problem of the past wasn’t the amount of rain but the ability of TPC Sawgrass to handle it. Thanks to improvements with the fairways and greens, as well as the installation of a SubAir system and updates to the drainage system, the course is better equipped to handle a heavy amount of rain. “We are in a position to deliver the same firm and fast conditions in March that we have been delivering in May,â€� Monahan said, “and that’s something we are going to hold ourselves accountable to because we want the standard of play to be at the same high level it is right now.â€� Added Rice: “Looking back 11 years, the biggest difference between then and now is the investment the TOUR has put into the infrastructure of the golf course. Weather certainly was a factor previously (but) it was less about weather than how the golf course was really able to drain because of the weather. With all the new infrastructure we’ve put into the golf course, we’re in much better position to get it running firm and fast as quickly as possible.â€� The schedule itself may feel firm and fast, too, since the last half of the season will offer a monthly showcase event – THE PLAYERS in March, the Masters in April, the PGA Championship in May, the U.S. Open in June, the Open Championship in July, ending with the FedExCup Playoffs (and, of course, The Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup on alternating years). Early opinions indicate approval from the players. “It’s great for the golf schedule,â€� Rory McIlroy said Tuesday. “… It just has a better flow to it.â€� Dustin Johnson said the new schedule will “kind of space everything out a little bit more instead of it all being kind of crammed together. So it gives you a little bit more time to prepare.â€� Bethpage Black will host the 2019 PGA Championship, and the host PGA courses are set through 2023. Beyond that, the switch to May could allow some venues that weren’t capable of hosting the tournament in August to now be in the mix – particularly in states such as Texas, which hasn’t hosted a major since 1969, or Florida, whose last major was the PGA Championship in 1987. “It opens up other parts of the country,â€� Bevacqua said. “It’s more comfortable in the southeast. It’s more comfortable in Florida. It’s more comfortable in Texas.â€� The PGA Championship has been played in nine different months in its first 99 years, including four times in May. The last time came in 1949 when Sam Snead won. Since 1959 – except for one year – it has been the final major of the season. Starting in 2019, the final major will be The Open Championship. “I think from our perspective I don’t really mind whether we’re the third major or the fourth major,â€� said Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the R&A, when asked about the possibility a few weeks ago. “We try to do our very best with The Open Championship to make it as good as we possibly can do. “I can absolutely understand some of the logic, and if it ends up as resulting in more people watching our game, then that’s a great outcome.â€� CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus — whose network televises 20 PGA TOUR events, including the PGA Championship and the first two FedExCup Playoffs events — is a big proponent of the moves. He said golf in the second quarter of the year is more lucrative on TV than in the third quarter when the sports calendar is often dominated by the start of the NFL season. “We love having the PGA Championship in August,â€� McManus said. “We’d love it even more having it in May, quite frankly.” Said Bevacqua: “We certainly think it’s good for the PGA of America and the PGA Championship, but we are 100 percent comfortable it’s good for the game, as well.â€�

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