Tom Hoge, Charles Schwab Challenge award $10,000 to HOPE Farm through PGA TOUR Charity Challenge

Tiger Woods had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee last week, but said he expects to be back practicing in a few weeks.

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Because THE PLAYERS Championship is operated by the PGA TOUR, its qualifying criteria for the 2023 edition has been set since the beginning of the 2022-23 PGA TOUR season, but none of the majors have released theirs. The ongoing assumption is that all traditional criteria will be honored, but this page will not reflect qualifiers until they are official. The R&A announced that it will release the criteria for The Open Championship in February. That could change, of course – which is another reason why the disclaimer atop REMAINING QUALIFYING CRITERIA at the bottom of this page always has included the phrase, “subject to change” – but The Open Qualifying Series got underway in South Africa last week, so three official qualifiers have been added to the alphabetical list below. The top three finishers at the Joburg Open gained entry. They were led by champion Dan Bradbury of England, who went wire-to-wire in just his third career DP World Tour start. (He gained entry via a sponsor exemption.) Bradbury concluded 72 holes in 21-under 263 at Houghton Golf Club, three clear of Sami Välimäki of Finland. Each will be making his debut in The Open. Bradbury did it all as a collegian at Lincoln Memorial University before transferring and teeing it up as a super senior at Florida State. The Brit never has competed in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event. Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Daniel van Tonder tied for third another stroke back, but the battle among of the fellow South Africans for the final exemption went to Bezuidenhout because he has a better Official World Golf Ranking (74th) than van Tonder (230th). It will be Bezuidenhout’s fourth career appearance in The Open. He finished T68 at St. Andrews this year. Should any of the three qualifiers gain entry into The Open another way, van Tonder will serve as the replacement via a special list of alternates. This process will be repeated for every stop in the OQS. The next is this week’s ISPS HANDA Australian Open. NOTE: Golfers are omitted if they recently haven’t competed in majors for which they are eligible (e.g., The Open Championship=Justin Leonard). TPC = THE PLAYERS Championship MAS = Masters PGA = PGA Championship US = U.S. Open OPEN = The Open Championship Recent Additions TPC — none MAS — none PGA — none US — none OPEN — Christiaan Bezuidenhout; Dan Bradbury; Sami Välimäki REMAINING QUALIFYING CRITERIA Criteria are listed in chronological order where possible. Best estimates are given but all are subject to change. THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP (TPC) @ TPC Sawgrass (Stadium) – March 9-12 • Winners of PGA TOUR events thru the final week before THE PLAYERS. • Top 10 in the FedExCup at the conclusion of The Honda Classic (Feb. 26). • Top 50 of Official World Golf Ranking (Feb. 27). • If necessary to complete the field of 144, golfers outside the Top 10 in the FedExCup at the conclusion of the Honda Classic on Feb. 26 will gain entry in order of position. MASTERS (MAS) @ Augusta National Golf Club – April 6-9 • TBD PGA CHAMPIONSHIP (PGA) @ Oak Hill Country Club – May 18-21 • TBD U.S. OPEN (US) @ The Los Angeles Country Club (North) – June 15-18 • TBD THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP (OPEN) @ Royal Liverpool – July 20-23 • TBD

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NAPA, Calif. – World No. 1 Jon Rahm will head into the Ryder Cup after missing only his second PGA TOUR cut of 2021 at the Fortinet Championship at Silverado. After settling for a par at the par-5 18th hole, where his drive sailed into the right fairway bunker, he gave his ball and glove to a cluster of boys on the way to sign his card after an atypically flat performance. Although his pre-tournament odds to win were the likes of which no one had seen since Tiger Woods in 2013, Rahm came down with a stomach ailment early in the week, missed the pro-am Wednesday, and never got it going at Silverado on either Thursday (72) or Friday (71). “It’s very simple: not my best ball-striking-wise,” he said. “Still wasn’t bad. Could have been better on the greens, you know. Feel like I might have made a couple of mistakes mentally on some approach shots, maybe I could have focused a little more, visualized better, but I think I left a lot of shots on the greens.” Rahm hit just 11 of 26 fairways over two rounds at tree-lined Silverado. He also struggled on the greens with 30 putts on Thursday and 27 on Friday, throwing his head back in anguish several times. It was Rahm’s first missed cut since the Wells Fargo Championship in May, his only failure to make the weekend in a season that saw him capture his first major title at the U.S. Open. The Fortinet marks the opening week of the 2021-22 wraparound season. “It’s unfortunate to start the year with basically one of my worst TOUR rounds in a while,” he said. “It’s what it is. Course was tough out there today and just need to be better.” Rahm’s rare off week came two weeks after he finished second to Patrick Cantlay at the TOUR Championship at East Lake, and one week before the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. After coming to Napa with his wife and son, Rahm said he didn’t sleep well Monday night and wasn’t feeling great during his nine-hole practice round Tuesday. Then his stomach ailment knocked him for a loop, and he missed the Wednesday pro-am as he rested in bed. “Just a little run down from the season,” he said. “That’s my best guess. Maybe having a little bit too much good rich food Monday and Tuesday just did it for my stomach.” It was the latest development in a topsy turvy 2021. Rahm led by six shot at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday but was forced to withdraw after the third round after testing positive for COVID. He also missed the Olympics in Tokyo after testing positive. He was asymptomatic both times, and wonders if he might have edged Cantlay for Player of the Year without those setbacks. At the Fortinet, he said, he felt much worse. Then his usual dominant game went missing. “Well, I’ve got two more days off,” he said. “I think it’s primarily rest. I just, you know, I feel like with having those stomach issues early, I wasn’t nearly as rested as I could have been, my body got a little bit tight, but I’m feeling good today. It was a tough course out there. “If anything,” he continued, “I get to rest a couple extra days and be able to figure out what’s going on with my swing, which technically is not really anything bad. It’s just I think a lot of those swings were made to look worse because of how tough it is out there. It’s firm, it’s fast, the fairways are hard to hit.”

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