PGA TOUR announces Jordan Spieth as Player Advisory Council Chairman for 2018

Twelve-time PGA TOUR winner Jason Day has signed with Bridgestone Golf to use its golf ball. Day, whose victories include the 2016 PLAYERS and 2015 PGA Championship, first became interested in Bridgestone’s TOUR B XS after seeing Tiger Woods use the ball to hit some high-spinning short game shots. Though he had no relationship with Bridgestone Golf at the time, Day began experimenting with Woods’ ball and was impressed enough to start playing it on TOUR. “We were doing some short-game work with Tiger’s ball, the XS, and it caught my attention right away,” said Day. “I initially played the XS and liked it but after working with Bridgestone’s R&D team and really learning about the ball fitting process, it was obvious that the TOUR B X was the best fit for my game.” Day will be playing the 2022 TOUR B X for the foreseeable future. Day, who has been an equipment free agent over the past couple years, is 86th in this season’s FedExCup after finishing third at the Farmers Insurance Open. He is 90th in the Official World Golf Ranking after reaching the No. 1 position earlier in his career. “Every day I look at what I can do to get better and the choice to play Bridgestone feeds right into that,” said Day. “Personally, I feel kind of like I am cheating playing this ball. Of course, I’m not but it’s that good. The performance of the TOUR B affords me opportunities to be aggressive; off the tee, the ball speed is there but it’s still super spinny around the green, which is a nice combination. “I found a lot more consistency in not only the drives but consistency around the greens, as well. Consistency is huge for me.” Day joins Tiger Woods, Fred Couples, Matt Kuchar, Bryson DeChambeau and Lexi Thompson in representing Bridgestone.

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SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – APGA Tour star Kamaiu Johnson fired a sizzling five-under par 67 in the final round, including a clutch birdie on the final hole, to register a narrow, come-from-behind victory and capture the 2022 Mastercard APGA Tour Championship at TPC San Antonio Tuesday afternoon. One of the APGA Tour’s most recognizable players, Johnson won the $50,000 first prize – the largest in APGA Tour history – and APGA Tour Player of the Year honors as the winner of the season-long Lexus Cup Point Standings. The birdie on 18 put Johnson at 7-under-par for the tournament. Both Marcus Byrd of Kennesaw, Georgia, and Daniel Augustus of Bermuda had birdie putts on 18 to force a playoff. Neither player was able to convert, giving Johnson the one-stroke victory. The triumph also earned Johnson an exemption into early-stage events of the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica series with an opportunity to retain status based on performance. The Lexus Cup title also includes a full scholarship into Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School in September. Johnson’s rise to prominence came about in January of last year, when his PGA TOUR debut via exemption into the Farmers Insurance Open was ended early in tournament week by a positive COVID-19 test. The golf world rallied in support of the 29 year-old Tallahassee, Florida, native and he was invited to three PGA TOUR events in the ensuing months, fulfilling his dream of competing at the highest level. The victory is Johnson’s fourth APGA Tour win in the last three years having also won the Tour Championship in 2020. The winner of the APGA Tour’s Las Vegas stop each of the past two years, Johnson shot a 70-67-137, delivering the best round of the day at TPC San Antonio, the 7,106-yard, par-72 home of the PGA TOUR’s Valero Texas Open. On the par-5 18th, Johnson found a bunker 97 yards from the pin with his second shot. His sand wedge flew just beyond the hole and spun back to one foot, giving him a tap-in birdie. Two strokes back at the start of the day, Johnson started his round with a bogey but then notched birdies on five of the next eight holes to seize the lead. “It was definitely the shot of the day,” he stated about his third on 18. “Things have been trending in the right direction and I’m happy that it came together today at the Tour Championship. My goal was to win twice on the tour this year and take the Lexus Cup. I’ve been working hard with my team and I got it done.” Byrd and Augustus each won $15,000 from the $150,000 purse, also the largest in history for the APGA Tour, which has grown dramatically in recent years, now comprising 18 events offering over $800,000 in prize money. Willie Mack III of Grand Blanc, Michigan, the 2021 Mastercard APGA Tour Champion and Lexus Cup Player of the Year, finished fourth at 71-69-140. Tim O’Neal of Savannah, Georgia, and Joseph Hooks of Farmington Hills, Michigan, tied for fifth at 142. The Mastercard APGA Tour Championship was the 12th tournament of the landmark 2022 season. TPC San Antonio is the eighth TPC property to host the APGA Tour this year as part of its partnership with the PGA TOUR. The next tournament stop is the APGA Tour Cisco Invitational at famed Baltusrol Country Club in Springfield, New Jersey. This is a new event in 2022 and will have an invitational field of 18 players competing for the prize money of $125,000. The tour then heads into its four-event Farmers Insurance Fall Series in the St. Louis, Houston, Philadelphia and Los Angeles markets.

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Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are ready for a made-for-TV rematch at a time when fans are craving live action. And this time, they’ll have company. Turner Sports says quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning will join them for a two-on-two match sometime in May. Missing from the announcement were such details as when and where the match would be played, except that tournament organizers would work with government and health officials to meet safety and health standards. Turner said all donations and fundraising from “The Match: Champions for Charity” would benefit relief efforts for the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will be televised on TNT, with social and digital content leading up and during the event available through Bleacher Report and House of Highlights. “It’s on now,” Mickelson tweeted Wednesday afternoon responding to Bleacher Report. He added that he would be paired with Brady, saying: “After feeling the sting of defeat the first time around, Looks like (at)TigerWoods is bringing a ringer to The Match ((hash)PeytonManning). I’m bringing a GOAT. (at)TomBrady — Ready to hit bombs?” The first match over Thanksgiving weekend in November 2018 was supposed to be pay-per-view, except that technical difficulties allowed everyone to watch. It lacked some of wild bets both players had teased, and the trash talking was forced at times. Mickelson ended up winning the $9 million winner-take-all purse in a wedge contest under the lights when the matched ended in a tie. Live golf was last seen on television March 12, the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship as developments with the new coronavirus accelerated at such a rate that sports began shutting down. The PGA TOUR first decided not to have fans at the TPC Sawgrass, then canceled its premier event, and then began canceling or postponing all tournaments across each of its tours. Woods was not at THE PLAYERS. The defending Masters champion has not played since he finished last in his Genesis Invitational at Riviera on Feb. 16. Saying his back did not feel ready, Woods chose not to play the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and THE PLAYERS Championship. Woods and Manning have played together in pro-ams on the PGA TOUR. The Palm Beach Post has reported that Brady, who recently signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has joined fabled Seminole Golf Club in south Florida.

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