If you asked Xander Schauffele if he’d trade that Olympic Gold Medal for the the near $2 million first place money at this week’s fat-cat WGC-St. Jude/Memphis, you can bet his answer would be simple and quick — “NO!”
With the men’s Olympic competition in the rear-view mirror, it’s time for the world’s best to get back to the business of playing for exorbitant amount of cash.
This week’s WGC event will be the last tune-up for many of the big names before the FedEx Cup playoffs begin in two weeks. Next week’s Wyndham is mostly for the bubble-guys and there’s none of those in Memphis this week.
There’s one absentee in this limited field and it’s world’s No. 1 Jon Rahm. Rahm was in this event, then he withdrew, anticipating a long week competing for Gold in Tokyo then figuring a rest was in order after a long trip back to the States. Instead, a puzzling positive COVID test knocked Rahm out of the Olympics and he’s on the sidelines again this week.
No. 2 Dustin Johnson, along with Olympians Collin Morikawa, Gold Medalist Xander and Justin Thomas, this week’s defending champion, will have to pick up the slack. Yeah, Patrick Reed’s playing but you won’t find either the Silver Medalist (Rory Sabbatini) or the Bronze winner (C.T. Pan) in the field, they’re ranked way too low on the totem pole to get into these elite-field tournaments.
And speaking of this tournament, it used to be held at Firestone Country Club in Akron, an iconic venue, until the power elite at FedEx whispered in former Commish Tim Finchem’s ear and said something like: “Hey, we’re forking out all this FedEx cash, we WANT that WGC event in steamy Memphis!” Lo and behold, the event was moved. Just call it “Grand Theft Cash.” So Firestone was kicked to the curb and another TPC layout — TPC Southwind — took its place.
Brooks Koepka is back in action and now that the Olympic golf for the men is finished, perhaps there will be a return to normalcy — as in the latest chapter of the Brooks-Bryson made-for-social-media feud.
Truth be known, Brooks has been getting the best of Bryson in that department and more important — he’s been winning the on-course competition as well.
Barracuda Is For Those Bubble Boys:
While the big names reside in Memphis this week, the AYOs (All You Others) will be competing at the Barracuda Championship at the Tahoe Mountain Club on the California (Truckee) side of Lake Tahoe.
Last year’s winner was Richy Werensky who finished eagle-par-birdie to beat Troy Merritt. Both are back in this week’s field which is the one PGA Tour event that uses the Modified Stableford scoring system.
This one has a miniscule purse compared to the cash-grab in Memphis. Richy banked $630,00 for winning compared to the $1.82 million Brooks Koepka took home for winning in Memphis.
One interesting name in the field is that of Mito Pereira, who introduced himself to the world last week as he was in the thick of the race for the Bronze medal. He lost out in the seven-man playoff for the medal won by C.T. Pan. Neither Pan nor Silver medalist Rory Sabbatini are playing.
For the record, here’s how points are awarded (or deducted) using the Modified Stableford as this event: Double Eagle: 8 points; Eagle: 5 points; Birdie: 2 points; Par: ZERO (0); Bogey: minus 1; Double or worse: minus 3.
PGA Tour Announces 2021-2022 Tournament Schedule:
The PGA Tour came out with its 2021-2022 schedule on Tuesday and the season will see that the PGA Tour and the European Tour are getting a little more snuggly with their strategic alliance.
The Scottish Open, now title-sponsored by Genesis, will be a co-sanctioned event leading into The Open Championship. Scheduled for July 7-10. A venue hasn’t been named yet ford, the Scottish Open. In co-sanctioned events like the Scottish Open the field will be split between both tours and offer points toward both the FedExCup and Race to Dubai.
As a result, the PGA Tour will allow European Tour access to two of its tournaments for the first time, turning the Barbasol Championship (played opposite the Scottish Open) and the Barracuda Championship (July 14-17) into co-sanctioned events that each will offer spots to 50 European Tour members.
Both tours also announced that the 2022 Irish Open will see a significant bump in prize money, to $6 million.
There will now be only two World Golf Championship events: The HSBC Champions (Oct. 28-31) and the Dell Match Play (March 24-27). The Mexico Championship (April 28-May 1) will now be a standalone event not under the WGC umbrella.
The FedEx Cup playoffs will now go back to three events with the powers-that-are at FedEx telling The Sheriff Of Nottingham (aka Tour commish Jay Monahan) that they want a higher profile event in Memphis if they are going to keep forking over 10s of millions of dollars to make the elite of the PGA Tour even richer than they already are.
Voila! The FedEx St. Jude will now be the first Playoff event.
Here’s how the new schedule shakes out:
2021 Cross-over Season and Ryder Cup:
Sept. 16-19: Fortinet Championship, Silverado Resort and Spa (North Course), Napa, California
Sept. 24-26: Ryder Cup, Whistling Straits (Straits Course), Kohler, Wisconsin (unofficial team event)
Sept. 30-Oct. 3: Sanderson Farms Championship, The Country Club of Jackson, Jackson, Mississippi
Oct. 7-10: Shriners Children’s Open, TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nevada
Oct. 14-17: The CJ Cup, The Summit Club, Las Vegas, Nevada
Oct. 21-24: Zozo Championship, Narashino Country Club, Chiba Prefecture, Japan
Oct. 28-31: World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, Sheshan Golf Club, Shanghai, China
Oct. 28-31: Bermuda Championship, Port Royal Golf Course, Southampton, Bermuda
Nov. 4-7: World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, El Camaleón Golf Course at Mayakoba, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Nov. 11-14: Houston Open, Memorial Park Golf Course, Houston, Texas
Nov. 18-21: The RSM Classic, Sea Island Golf Club (*Seaside Course, Plantation Course), St. Simons Island, Georgia
2022 Tournaments:
Jan. 6-9: Sentry Tournament of Champions, Kapalua Resort (The Plantation Course), Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii
Jan. 13-16: Sony Open in Hawaii, Waialae Country Club, Honolulu, Hawaii
Jan. 20-23: The American Express, PGA West (*Stadium Course, Nicklaus Tournament Course), La Quinta Country Club, La Quinta, California
Jan. 27-30: Farmers Insurance Open, Torrey Pines Golf Course (*South Course, North Course), San Diego, California
Feb. 3-6: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, *Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course, Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Course), Pebble Beach, California
Feb. 10-13: Waste Management Phoenix Open, TPC Scottsdale (Stadium Course), Scottsdale, Arizona
Feb. 17-20: The Genesis Invitational, Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California
Feb. 24-27: The Honda Classic, PGA National Resort & Spa (The Champion), Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
March 3-6: Arnold Palmer Invitational, Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Florida
March 3-6: Puerto Rico Open, Grand Reserve Country Club, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
March 10-13: The Players Championship, TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course), Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
March 17-20: Valspar Championship, Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead Course), Palm Harbor, Florida
March 23-27: World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, Austin Country Club, Austin, Texas
March 24-27: Corales Puntacana Championship, Puntacana Resort & Club (Corales Golf Course), Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
March 31-April 3: Valero Texas Open, TPC San Antonio (The Oaks Course), San Antonio, Texas
April 7-10: Masters Tournament, Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia
April 14-17: RBC Heritage, Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
April 21-24: Zurich Classic of New Orleans, TPC Louisiana, Avondale, Louisiana
April 28-May 1: Mexico Championship, TBD, Mexico City, Mexico
May 5-8: Wells Fargo Championship, TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, Potomac, Maryland
May 12-15: AT&T Byron Nelson, TPC Craig Ranch, McKinney, Texas
May 19-22: PGA Championship, Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, Oklahoma
May 26-29: Charles Schwab Challenge, Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas
Jun 2-5: Memorial Tournament, Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio
Jun 9-12: RBC Canadian Open, St. George’s Golf and Country Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Jun 16-19: U.S. Open , The Country Club, Brookline, Massachusetts
June 23-26: Travelers Championship, TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut
June 30-July 3: John Deere Classic, TPC Deere Run, Silvis, Illinois
July 7-10: Genesis Scottish Open, TBD, TBD
July 7-10: Barbasol Championship, Keene Trace Golf Club (Champions Course), Nicholasville, Kentucky
July 14-17: The Open Championship , St. Andrews Links (Old Course), St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland
July 14-17: Barracuda Championship, Tahoe Mountain Club (Old Greenwood), Truckee, California
July 21-24: 3M Open, TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minnesota
July 28-31: Rocket Mortgage Classic, Detroit Golf Club, Detroit, Michigan
Aug. 4-7: Wyndham Championship, Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina
FedExCup Playoffs:
Aug. 11-14: FedEx St. Jude Championship, TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee
Aug. 18-21: BMW Championship, Wilmington Country Club (South Course), Wilmington, Delaware
Aug. 25-28: Tour Championship, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia
