Phil goes low, opens with 60

In a memo sent to its membership Wednesday, the PGA TOUR announced four additional events that will have elevated purses and guaranteed appearances by the TOUR’s top players in 2023. These four events join the 13 announced by Commissioner Jay Monahan at this year’s TOUR Championship. RELATED: How players qualify for 2023’s events with elevated purses The four events announced Wednesday, which will each have a $20 million purse, are the WM Phoenix Open, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship and Travelers Championship. The previously announced events that will offer increased purses and have commitments from the TOUR’s top players are: • The four majors and THE PLAYERS • Three FedExCup Playoffs events (FedEx St. Jude Championship, BMW Championship, TOUR Championship) • Three player-hosted invitationals (Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Memorial Tournament presented by Workday) • Sentry Tournament of Champions • WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Players who finished in the top 20 in the 2022 Player Impact Program are required to participate in all elevated events for which they are eligible, as well as at least three additional events. The commitment to compete in a pre-determined schedule, and play at least 20 times per year, is the result of unprecedented collaboration among the TOUR’s top players. “Our top players are firmly behind the TOUR,” Commissioner Monahan said at the TOUR Championship, where Rory McIlroy won his third FedExCup title. “Helping us deliver an unmatched product to our fans, who will be all but guaranteed to see the best players competing against each other in 20 events or more throughout the season. This is an extraordinary and unprecedented commitment, a testament to who these guys are and what they believe in.” Bringing the top players in the game together more often is a huge win for fans and partners, as well. “When I tune into a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, I expect to see Tom Brady throw a football,” McIlroy said at the TOUR Championship. “When I tune into a Formula 1 race, I expect to see Lewis Hamilton in a car.” The four events announced Wednesday represent some of the TOUR’s longest-standing events and are played at some of its most recognizable venues. The WM Phoenix Open dates back to 1932, while the RBC Heritage (1969) and Travelers Championship (1952) each debuted more than a half-century ago. TPC Scottsdale hosts the TOUR’s highest-attended event and is home to the famed par-3 16th. Harbour Town Golf Links, which has hosted the RBC Heritage every year since its inception, was a collaboration between World Golf Hall of Famers Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus and the first course designed by each man to be used on TOUR. The Travelers’ host venue, TPC River Highlands, has hosted the TOUR for nearly 40 years and is home to one of the most exciting finishing stretches on TOUR. The Wells Fargo Championship debuted 20 years ago; its host venue, Quail Hollow Club, first hosted a TOUR event in the 1960s and has also served as the site for the PGA Championship and this year’s Presidents Cup. The four events announced Wednesday will continue to award 500 FedExCup points to the winner, as opposed to 550 to the winner of the Sentry Tournament of Champions, The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, and Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, as previously announced. The robust slate of events with elevated purses and commitments from top players is the result of an ongoing process of collaboration between the TOUR and its top players that included a players-only meeting at this year’s BMW Championship in Wilmington, Delaware. While the commitment from the game’s stars to compete in these events is groundbreaking, players throughout the TOUR’s membership stand to benefit from these elevated purses. The events with elevated purses will retain their traditional eligibility criteria in 2023, allowing for 120-plus players to compete for these increased purses most weeks. Players will continue to have the chance to make history each week they compete on the PGA TOUR, as well, just as Tom Kim did in winning the Wyndham Championship, where he became the second-youngest winner on TOUR since World War II. Only Jordan Spieth, who won the 2013 John Deere Classic at age 19, was younger. The changes for 2023 are in concert with other enhancements announced by Commissioner Monahan at the TOUR Championship, including an expansion of the Player Impact Program and a league minimum of $500,000 in earnings for anyone with a TOUR card, as well as other sweeping changes. The four newly-announced elevated events are for 2023 only; four entirely different tournaments could reach that designation in 2024. As always, the PGA TOUR will continue to evaluate and evolve to ensure the heritage and success of every tournament on its schedule.

Click here to read the full article…

HAIKOU, CHINA—Sweden’s Oskar Arvidsson carded a third-round, 2-over 74 to stay on course for a wire-to-wire win at the PGA TOUR Series-China International Qualifying Tournament No. 1, the first of two successive 72-hole qualifiers at Mission Hills Haikou. With difficult pin positions adding to the challenge on another cold day, Arvidsson finished 8-under, one ahead of playing partners Lucas Herbert (73) of Australia and American Jeffrey Kang (72), who will all play together again in Sunday’s final round. American Kurt Kitayama, a Web.com Tour player in 2016 and 2017, shot 69 to move to 5-under and tie for fourth with Australia’s Kevin Yuan (68) and Canada’s Richard Jung (71). Luke Toomey, formerly New Zealand’s top amateur, made a strong move as a 68 moved him into a tie for 15th, at even-par. The top-15 finishers will earn full cards and the next 25 will be conditionally exempt for this year’s PGA TOUR Series-China, which will reward the top-five money winners with places on the Web.com Tour, the path to the PGA TOUR. Arvidsson, 26, will start in pole position despite a difficult Saturday in which he dropped his first shots of the tournament after opening with two bogey-free 67s. The Bangkok-based Swede bogeyed No. 2 but bounced back with three straight birdies before dropping shots at Nos. 8, 9, 11 and 18. “It was quite tough out there today. The pins were a little difficult, it was windy, so I think we all played pretty good, but it was hard to get it going. I’m still aiming to win, and I’m looking forward to playing some great courses on this Tour,â€� said Arvidsson, who had even considered withdrawing after suffering stomach pains on Friday morning. Herbert, 22, cut a slightly frustrated figure after mixing four birdies with five bogeys, including on the par-5 18th but still heads a strong Australian contingent that also includes Yuan, DJ Loypur (4-under) and Andrew Schonewille (3-under) in the top-10. As high as third in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before turning pro in 2015, Herbert is on an impressive run of form that has steered him to eighth on the 2017 PGA TOUR of Australasia Order of Merit and a place at The 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie through a tie for eighth at last month’s SMBC Singapore Open, won by Sergio Garcia. “I try to win, anyway. I think it’s one of those events that if you keep the mentality, if you want to win, then you don’t settle for laying up. Your vision tends to broaden a bit more if you just aim for the top 15, so I’m going to try and win and just prove to myself that my game’s still got it,â€� said Herbert, who at World No. 228 is the highest-ranked of the final group. “Eventually, it would be great to play on the Web.com Tour. I have a card on (PGA Tour of) Australasia so I’m looking for Tours to play for the rest of the year, so I’ll also look to play (PGA TOUR) Canada Q-School. If I can get a card here, that would give me some security and I won’t be too stressed out going to Canada Q-School.â€� Kang, 26, also admitted that victory, not a top-15 finish, would be his focus Sunday. The Los Angeles resident, who graduated from the University of Southern California in 2014, recorded his fourth birdie of the day on the 18th to tie Herbert and offset two bogeys and the double bogey he posted on No. 13. “Any tournament you play, you want to win it. I think that’s the mentality you start the tournament with, and why change it going into the last day?â€� asked Kang, who played on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada in 2016 and around Asia last year. “I’ll try to do what I did today, although the back nine was really hard today. I’ll just try to minimize the mistakes and see how it goes.â€� This week’s 120-player entry list features players from 16 countries and territories across Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America, with the largest contingents from the U.S. (34) and South Korea (29). After a one-year hiatus, PGA TOUR Series-China resumes in March with a 14-tournament schedule, with each tournament offering RMB 1.5 million, a 25-percent increase over purse levels from 2016. The Mainland China Qualifying Tournament for China passport holders will be held at Wolong Lake Golf Club in Liuzhou City in Guangxi from February 27-March 2 (Tuesday-Friday). The PGA TOUR established PGA TOUR Series-China in 2014 as its third international developmental tour, following in the footsteps of PGA TOUR Latinoamerica and the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada. Since its inception, PGA TOUR Series-China players have received Official World Golf Ranking points for top finishes at official tournaments. Previous International Qualifying Tournament Winners

Click here to read the full article…

Click here to read the full article…