Nine golfers make Masters via year-end rankings

Lizette Salas, who has a one-shot lead at the Women’s PGA Championship after Thursday’s 67, spoke publicly for the first time on the mental health issues she dealt with in 2020.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The PGA TOUR announced Monday that Erik van Rooyen has accepted Special Temporary Membership for the remainder of the 2019-20 PGA TOUR Season. A native of South Africa, van Rooyen is now eligible for unlimited sponsor exemptions for the remainder of the season as he attempts to earn his PGA TOUR card for the 2020-21 season. At No. 44 in the Official World Golf Ranking, van Rooyen has made 10 starts on the PGA TOUR in 2019-20, highlighted by a career-best T3 at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship in February. Van Rooyen, who has played six of the eight weeks since the PGA TOUR returned, entered last week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational needing 29 non-member FedExCup points to secure Special Temporary Membership and finished T20, good for 46 points. To earn full status on the PGA TOUR for the 2020-21 season, van Rooyen must earn as many or more points through the non-member FedExCup points list as No. 125 in the 2019-20 season FedExCup standings. Van Rooyen currently has 305 points, and for reference, that would fall between Nos. 105 and 106 in the current FedExCup standings. No. 125 (Chase Seiffert) currently has 254 points. Van Rooyen spoke at the recent 3M Open about his desire to become a PGA TOUR member. “I think it’s been a goal since I was a kid, reason being you see the best players in the world playing out here,” he said. “It’s not so much a goal being a full-time PGA TOUR player as it is a goal of wanting to compete against the best in the world. However, the best in the world play here. So that’s why I want to get my PGA TOUR card. “We also live here now. My wife’s from Minneapolis, from here, so we live in the U.S., we want to raise our family here, so I think long term it just makes sense. But again, I see myself as one of the best players in the world and I want to compete on that level and that means I’ll play here. It’s definitely a goal of mine. It’s been on my mind throughout these last few months, but it will take care of itself. I know that I’m a good enough player, so if I put the scores up, it’s going to happen.” Van Rooyen is in the field at this week’s PGA Championship following a T8 at the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage State Park Black Course, his best showing in four major appearances. The 30-year-old has three worldwide victories, most recently winning the 2019 Scandinavian Invitation on the European Tour. Van Rooyen played collegiately at the University of Minnesota before turning professional in 2013. In May, the Korn Ferry Tour announced modifications to the 2020 schedule and a fall calendar of events that would be part of a one-time, combined 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour season. The adjustments resulted in the loss of a graduating class via the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020, and pushed the next available Qualifying Tournament to 2021. In turn, non-members paths to the PGA TOUR for the 2020-21 season are through the non-member FedExCup points list or a victory on TOUR. Special Temporary Members are not eligible for the FedExCup Playoffs, but Special Temporary Members or non-members who subsequently become regular PGA TOUR members by winning an official event during the season will be counted on the FedExCup points list, along with any FedExCup points earned as a non-member (excluding those won at World Golf Championships events as a non-member) and thus be eligible for the FedExCup Playoffs.

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“This takes me back to my roots — one player at a time, one wedge at a time, crafting the sole to the player’s exact specifications,â€� said Master Craftsman Bob Vokey. For more than 20 years, Bob Vokey and his team of craftsmen have worked closely and directly with TOUR players to shape wedges that maximize performance and feel specifically for that player, and for specific course conditions. If the TOUR player wants or needs a special grind, Vokey and/or his team take the wedge to the grinding wheel to make the necessary adjustments. Now, through Vokey’s new HandGround wedge program on Vokey.com, general consumers will have the opportunity to dial their Vokey wedges in with tour-level customization. To achieve this, Vokey has setup a new workspace inside Titleist Golf Club headquarters in Carlsbad, California, where two of his personally-trained wedge grinders will perform the custom work. Also, according to Titleist, Bob Vokey himself will grind orders “from time to time.â€� In the program, consumers can order performance and profile adjustments. Performance adjustments include a pre-worn leading edge, smooth grind lines, heel relief and trailing edge relief. Profile adjustments include a semi-square leading edge, thin top line, and a “Tour Grind,â€� which, according to Vokey, “smooths all profile lines and slightly reduces profile size.â€� Additionally, with F, K and L grinds, golfers can create other specific grinds. An F-grind can turn into an S-grind, a K-grind can turn into a J-grind, which has heel and trailing edge relief, and an L-grind can be made into an A-grind, which has softer “grind angles.â€� The HandGround wedges are available on all SM7 Raw models, and each wedge comes with a BV Wings grip and up to 10 characters of stamping. The HandGround SM7 wedges start at $195 apiece, with an additional charge of $75 for HandGround services.

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