pga tour events next week

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Louisville, KY • USA

May 16 - 19

Charles Schwab Challenge

Fort Worth, TX • USA

May 23 - 26

RBC Canadian Open

Hamilton, ON • CAN

May 30 - Jun 2

Field List Announced for 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla

The PGA of America has announced the current field list for the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club, May 16-19.

Valhalla is hosting the PGA Championship for the fourth time. Tiger Woods (2000) and Rory McIlroy (2014) have won the last two PGA Championships held at Valhalla.

Three-time & defending PGA Champion Brooks Koepka will lead a field that includes 16 PGA Champions and 33 Major Champions.

STARTING TIMES: See when your favorite players will tee it up

The best field in golf is coming to Valhalla! 👀 #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/rrdDO2l8Ma — PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 1, 2024

Please see below for the current field list.

2024 PGA Championship Field List (As of May 15)

Åberg, Ludvig - SWEDEN An, Byeong Hun - REPUBLIC OF KOREA Beem, Rich - Austin, TX Bevell, Josh - Nashville, TN (CFT) Bezuidenhout, Christiaan - SOUTH AFRICA Bhatia, Akshay - Wake Forest, NC

Akshay Bhatia made magic at the 2018 @JuniorPGAChamp . He’ll return to Valhalla for his PGA championship debut in 2024. #PGAChamp | #TopShotTuesday pic.twitter.com/FOasRVl7bv — PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) September 12, 2023

Björk, Alexander - SWEDEN Blair, Zac - Orem, UT Block, Michael - Mission Viejo, CA (CFT) Bowser, Evan - Naples, FL (CFT) Bradley, Keegan - Woodstock, VT Burmester, Dean - SOUTH AFRICA Burns, Sam - Shreveport, LA Cantlay, Patrick - Jupiter, FL Clark, Wyndham - Denver, CO Cole, Eric - Tequesta, FL Cole, Preston - Charlotte, NC (CFT) Collet, Tyler - Vero Beach, FL (CFT) Conners, Corey - CANADA Daly, John - Clearwater Beach, FL Davis, Cameron - AUSTRALIA Day, Jason - AUSTRALIA

Jason Day's short-game in slow motion. Chef's kiss. 🧑🏽‍🍳 #PGAChamp | #SlowMoSunday pic.twitter.com/YJMYVKdLHv — PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) February 25, 2024

DeChambeau, Bryson - Dallas, TX Detry, Thomas - BELGIUM Dobyns, Matt - Glen Head, NY (CFT) Donald, Luke - ENGLAND Dufner, Jason - Auburn, AL Dunlap, Nick - Tuscaloosa, AL Eckroat, Austin - Edmond, OK English, Harris - Sea Island, GA Finau, Tony - Lehi, UT Fitzpatrick, Matthew - ENGLAND Fleetwood, Tommy - ENGLAND Fowler, Rickie - Murrieta, CA Fox, Ryan - NEW ZEALAND Garnett, Brice - Gallatin, MO Ghim, Doug - Des Plaines, IL Glover, Lucas - Jupiter, FL Gooch, Talor - Oklahoma City, OK Gotterup, Chris - Easton, MD Griffin, Ben - Chapel Hill, NC Grillo, Emiliano - ARGENTINA Gross, Larkin - Center Cross, VA (CFT) Hadwin, Adam - CANADA Harman, Brian - Saint Simons Island, GA Harrington, Pádraig - IRELAND Hatton, Tyrrell - ENGLAND Henley, Russell - Columbus, GA Herbert, Lucas - Orlando, FL Hisatsune, Ryo - Japan Hodges, Lee - Athens, AL Hoffman, Charley - San Diego, CA Hoge, Tom - Fort Worth, TX Højgaard, Nicolai - DENMARK Højgaard, Rasmus - DENMARK Homa, Max - Scottsdale, AZ Horschel, Billy - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL Hossler, Beau - Mission Viejo, CA Hovland, Viktor - NORWAY Hubbard, Mark - The Woodlands, TX Hughes, Mackenzie - CANADA Im, Sungjae - REPUBLIC OF KOREA Jaeger, Stephan - GERMANY Johnson, Dustin - Jupiter, FL Jones, Jared - Houston, TX (CFT) Kanaya, Takumi - JAPAN Kaymer, Martin - GERMANY Kellen, Jeff - Rockford, IL (CFT) Kim, S.H. - REPUBLIC OF KOREA Kim, Si Woo - REPUBLIC OF KOREA Kim, Tom - REPUBLIC OF KOREA Kirk, Chris - Watkinsville, GA Kitayama, Kurt - Las Vegas, NV Knapp, Jake - Costa Mesa, CA Kobori, Kazuma - NEW ZEALAND Koepka, Brooks - West Palm Beach, FL

Brooks Koepka wins his 3rd PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club. @ROLEX | #ROLEX pic.twitter.com/6b0GvKjUpJ — PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 22, 2023

Kohles, Ben - Dallas, TX Lawrence, Thriston - SOUTH AFRICA Lee, Kyoung-Hoon - REPUBLIC OF KOREA Lee, Min Woo - AUSTRALIA List, Luke - Augusta, GA Lowry, Shane - IRELAND MacIntyre, Robert - SCOTLAND Malnati, Peter - Knoxville, TN Marek, Brad - Berkeley, CA (CFT) Matsuyama, Hideki - JAPAN McCarthy, Denny - Jupiter, FL McIlroy, Rory - NORTHERN IRELAND McNealy, Maverick - Stanford, CA Mendoza, Kyle - Oceanside, CA (CFT) Meronk, Adrian - POLAND Micheel, Shaun - Colliersville, TN Mickelson, Phil - Rancho Santa Fe, CA Mitchell, Keith - Saint Simons Island, GA Molinari, Francesco - ITALY Moore, Taylor - Southlake, TX Morikawa, Collin - La Canada, CA

We've seen what Collin Morikawa can do on a Sunday before . . . 🏆 #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/0mxCUjosSf — PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) April 14, 2024

Mueller, Jesse - Phoenix, AZ (CFT) Murray, Grayson - Raleigh, NC Nakajima, Keita - JAPAN Niemann, Joaquin - CHILE Noren, Alex - SWEDEN Norrman, Vincent - SWEDEN Oakley, Zac - King of Prussia, PA (CFT) Ogletree, Andy - Alpharetta, GA Olesen, Thorbjorn - DENMARK Otaegui, Adrian - SPAIN Pan, C.T. - CHINESE TAIPEI Pavon, Matthieu - FRANCE Pendrith, Taylor - CANADA Perez, Victor - FRANCE Phillips, Tracy - Tulsa, OK (CFT) Polland, Ben - Teton Village, WY (CFT) Poston, J.T. - Sea Island, GA Puig, David - SPAIN Putnam, Andrew - University Place, WA Rahm, Jon - SPAIN Rai, Aaron - ENGLAND Reed, Patrick - The Woodlands, TX Rodgers, Patrick - Avon, IN Rose, Justin - ENGLAND Schauffele, Xander - San Diego, CA Scheffler, Scottie - Dallas, TX Schenk, Adam - Vincennes, IN Scott, Adam - AUSTRALIA Shattuck, Braden - Aston, PA (CFT) Smalley, Alex - Greensboro, NC Smith, Cameron - AUSTRALIA Smith, Jordan - ENGLAND Soderberg, Sebastian - SWEDEN Somers, John - Clearwater, FL (CFT) Speight, Josh - Dallas, TX (CFT) Spieth, Jordan - Dallas, TX Straka, Sepp - AUSTRIA Svensson, Adam - CANADA Svensson, Jesper - SWEDEN Svoboda, Andy - Oak Brook, IL (CFT) Taylor, Nick - CANADA Theegala, Sahith - Spring, TX Thomas, Justin - Louisville, KY

18 wasn't enough, so @JustinThomas34 ran it back at Valhalla for another day of prep. 🏆 #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/EH6zI0qPBJ — PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 6, 2024

Todd, Brendon - Watkinsville, GA Tosti, Alejandro - ARGENTINA Valimaki, Sami - FINLAND van Rooyen, Erik - SOUTH AFRICA van Velzen, Ryan - SOUTH AFRICA Villegas, Camilo - COLOMBIA Walker, Jimmy - Terrell Hills, TX Wallace, Matt - ENGLAND Wells, Jeremy - Estero, FL (CFT) Widing, Tim - SWEDEN Woodland, Gary - Topeka, KS Woods, Tiger - Jupiter, FL Worthington II, Wyatt - Las Vegas, NV (CFT) Yang, Y.E. - REPUBLIC OF KOREA Young, Cameron - Jupiter, FL Zalatoris, Will - Dallas, TX

(CFT) Corebridge Financial Team

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The week ahead in pro golf: PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions head to Texas; LPGA, Korn Ferry off

The PGA Tour heads to Texas for the first of three tournaments in two weeks preceding the season’s next major championship.

While the Tour is near Dallas, the PGA Tour Champions will be in Houston at the former site of the Houston Open.

The LIV Golf League stays on the other side of the globe, going to Singapore after playing in Australia last week. But LIV will have its own presence in Texas next month, playing at the Golf Club of Houston June 7-9.

The other major tours are dark this week. The LPGA is off before a four-week stretch that will include three tournaments in New Jersey and the Korn Ferry Tour takes a two-week break before going to Kansas City, Mo. — apparently, the only way to cool off Tim Widing, who has won the last two events.

Event: The CJ Cup Byron Nelson, Thursday-Sunday, TPC Craig Ranch, McKinney, Texas.

At stake:  $9.5 million purse ($1,710,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner.

Defending champion: Jason Day.

TV:  Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m.); CBS (Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m.).

Area players entered: Tyson Alexander, Bud Cauley, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Ben Griffin, Lanto Griffin, Zach Johnson, Patton Kizzire, Ben Kohles, Ryan McCormick, Keith Mitchell, Andrew Novak, Raul Pereda, Sam Ryder, Greyson Sigg, Jimmy Stanger, Davis Thompson, Carl Yuan.

Notable: Day fired a 62 in the final round and defeated Si Woo Kim and Austin Eckroat by one shot. ... Also in the field are Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim and Will Zalatoris. ... The Tour will play a Signature Event next week at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, N.C. (with an opposite-field event in Myrtle Beach, S.C.), followed by the PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville, Ky., May 16-19.

LIV GOLF LEAGUE

Event:  LIV Golf Senatosa, Friday-Sunday, Senatosa Country Club, Singapore.

At stake:  $25 million purse ($4 million to the winner).

Defending champion:  Talor Gooch.

TV:   CW (Saturday-Sunday 1-6 p.m.

Area players entered:  Cameron Smith.

Notable:  Gooch defeated Sergio Garcia with a birdie on the first playoff hole to win his second tournament in a row.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

Event: Insperity Invitational, Friday-Sunday, The Woodlands Country Club, Houston.

At stake:  $2.7 million purse ($486,000 to the winner).

Defending champion:  Steven Alker.

TV:  Golf Channel (Friday, 12:30-3:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m.).

Area players entered:  David Duval, Fred Funk, Vijay Singh.

Notable: Alker defeated Steve Stricker by four shots. ... Ernie Els, David Toms, Padraig Harrington, Stephen Ames and Retief Goosen lead the field. ... Duval, Funk and Singh all won the PGA Tour’s Houston Open when it was contested at The Woodlands between 1986-2002.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Texas on the tee: PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions play in Lone Star State

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Every significant tournament held at valhalla golf club, host of the pga championship 2024, share this article.

The second men’s major championship of the year get underway next week at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. The PGA Championship last visited this historic track in 2014 when Rory McIlroy claimed his fourth major championship title — and his most recent. We’ll have to see whether the Northern Irishman can return to glory at the site of his last major triumph.

Valhalla has hosted several significant tournaments in its history, including the 2000 PGA Championship won by Tiger Woods in a playoff. Woods’ iconic walk-in putt while pointing to the hole is one of the most memorable moments of his career — which is saying a lot.

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP :  How to watch  |  Tournament hub

Let’s take a walk through history and recap all the significant events held at Valhalla over the years.

1996 PGA Championship

Mark Brooks and Kenny Perry shake hands after Brooks won the 1996 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville.

• Winner: Mark Brooks (in a playoff)
• Score: 11 under
• Runner-up: Kenny Perry

Ten years after Valhalla opened — thanks to the vision of the Gahms, the course’s founding family — it finally had its first signature tournament. And what remains the signature win of Mark Brooks’ golfing career.

But it nearly was a storybook ending for the course, and the Bluegrass State: Kenny Perry, a Kentuckian, shot a 4-under-par 68 to end at 11 under for 72 holes. That earned him a spot in a sudden-death playoff with Brooks. On the first playoff hole, however, Perry’s tee shot went into the rough.

Brooks, who had birdied the 18th hole to force the playoff with Perry, birdied the 18th again to ruin Perry’s dreams — and likely those of many in attendance that August day — of winning a major in his home state.

It was the only major victory for Brooks, who won seven times on the PGA Tour and is a member of the Texas Golf Hall of Fame.

Perry, who played at Western Kentucky, had 14 wins on the PGA Tour — but a major wasn’t among them. He had two other top fives in addition to the 1996 PGA playoff loss; Perry had a share of the 54-hole lead at the 2009 Masters but fell in a playoff to Angel Cabrera.

Since joining the Champions tour, Perry has won four major championships on the senior circuit.

2000 PGA Championship

Tiger Woods holds the trophy after winning the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. (Photo: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports)

• Winner: Tiger Woods (in a playoff)
• Score: 18 under
• Runner-up: Bob May

Woods entered the 2000 PGA as the undisputed No. 1 player in golf. May had never won a PGA Tour event.

Their vastly different résumés meant nothing during the final round of what then still was known as “Glory’s Last Shot” because of the PGA’s position as the final major of the year in those days. Woods, who already had the U.S. Open and Open Championship titles to his name that year (winning those two by a combined 23 strokes), had to birdie his final two holes in regulation to force a playoff with May.

The three-hole aggregate playoff — the first year of the format, switching from sudden death — delivered drama in spades.

It started with the aforementioned birdie putt from Woods on the 16th.

The pair each made par on the next hole, the 17th. On the final hole, No. 18, May’s birdie putt barely slid by the cup. Woods was able to save par after hitting into a greenside bunker, becoming the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 with three major victories in a calendar year.

Woods went on to capture the 2001 Masters to complete the “Tiger Slam” and become the first player in the professional era of golf (beginning with the formation of the Masters in 1934) to hold all four major championships at once.

2004 Senior PGA Championship

Hale Irwin poses with the trophy after his fourth time winning the Senior PGA Championship on May 31, 2004 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

• Winner: Hale Irwin
• Score: 8 under
• Runner-up: Jay Haas

In a rain-delayed Senior PGA Championship that ended on a Monday, Hale Irwin birdied the 18th hole to beat Jay Haas by one stroke. It was Irwin’s fourth Senior PGA Championship; only the legendary Sam Snead (six) won more. It also was Irwin’s 40th win on the senior tour, becoming the first player to reach that figure. (His 45 victories on the senior tour remained the standard until last year, when Bernhard Langer bagged No. 46).

Irwin, who led after each round of the 2004 Senior PGA, was 58 at the time of his win, making him the oldest victor of the event since 61-year-old Pete Cooper in 1976.

2008 Ryder Cup

USA captain Paul Azinger is sprayed with champagne after defeating the Europeans at the 37th Ryder Cup at the Valhalla Golf Club in 2008. (Photo: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports)

Score: United States 16½ – Europe 11½

Things couldn’t have been much bleaker for the U.S. team entering the 2008 Ryder Cup. For the first time in the history of the biennial event, Team Europe had brought home the cup three consecutive meetings. And the Americans were without the world’s top player, Woods, who sat out while recovering from knee surgery.

But thanks to U.S. captain Paul Azinger, the Americans didn’t taste defeat a fourth straight time.

Unlike previous men in his position, Azinger had four captain’s picks at his disposal instead of two. And he created a pod system for his team, with the 12 players divided into groups of three based on style of play and personality.

Azinger’s unconventional approach paid off: The U.S. ended the morning session of the opening day ahead 3-1 and up 5 ½ to 2 ½ when the afternoon matches wrapped up. By the close of Day 2, the U.S. led 9-7.

The red, white and blue ended Europe’s run of success in the event on the third and final day, taking a 16 ½ to 11 ½ victory on their home soil. Perry and fellow Kentuckian J.B. Holmes were members of the triumphant squad.

Jim Furyk’s 2-and-1 win over Miguel Angel Jimenez provided the clinching point for the U.S. team.

2011 Senior PGA Championship

Tom Watson holds the Alfred S. Bourne trophy after winning the 2011 Senior PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville.

• Winner: Tom Watson (in a playoff)
• Score: 10 under
• Runner-up: David Eger

In yet another tournament at Valhalla decided after 72 holes were in the books, all-time great Tom Watson birdied the first playoff hole to edge David Eger. Both players had opportunities to win in regulation, but neither could sink their respective birdie putts on the 18th.

The lead swapped hands throughout the final day, with four players — Eger, Irwin, Watson and Kiyoshi Murota, who had a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds and placed solo third, just one shot out of the playoff — taking turns at the top.

With the victory, Watson set a (since-broken) record as the oldest player (61) to win a major since the senior tour was founded in 1980.

2014 PGA Championship

Rory McIlroy celebrates with the Wanamaker trophy after his one-stroke victory in the 96th PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. (Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

• Winner: Rory McIlroy
• Score: 16 under
• Runner-up: Phil Mickelson

At the time Rory McIlroy tapped in his putt on the 72nd hole of the 2014 PGA Championship, it appeared the golf world had its most dominant player since Woods in his prime. It was McIlroy’s third win in as many starts, which also included the Open Championship and a World Golf Championship.

His Valhalla conquest was his second PGA Championship in three years, giving McIlroy four major titles at just 25 years old; the only others who had accomplished that feat were three of the game’s biggest names in Woods, Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus.

But since that victory, despite oh-so-many close calls, McIlroy has yet to win another major championship.

And on that day nearly a decade ago, as he raced to beat the darkness, McIlroy had to earn it.

McIlroy held off charges from Phil Mickelson (who shot a final-round 66, two strokes better than McIlroy) and Rickie Fowler (who tied for fifth or better in all four majors that year without a win). Those three, as well as Henrik Stenson, had at least a share of the lead on the back nine during the final round.

A 10-foot birdie putt on 17 extended McIlroy’s lead to two shots with one hole to play, but then controversy ensued: He hit his tee shot on the 18th while the pairing ahead, Fowler and Mickelson, still were in the fairway. Neither Fowler nor Mickelson could match McIlroy at 16 under.

As dusk set in, the Northern Irishman cemented his status as the world’s top-ranked golfer.

“I think I showed a lot of guts out there to get the job done,” McIlroy said after the win. “Today wasn’t easy. The guys came at me pretty quickly. I was waiting for something to click.”

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Full golf schedule: PGA championships, PGA Tour, LPGA Tour & More

The 2021 PGA Championship will be held at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort. Getty Images

• Jan. 7-10 — PGA Tour: Sentry Tournament of Champions (Kapalua Resort (The Plantation Course), Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii)
• Jan. 14-17 — PGA Tour: Sony Open in Hawaii (Waialae CC, Honolulu, Hawaii)
• Jan. 21-24 — PGA Tour: The American Express (PGA West, La Quinta CC, La Quinta, CA)
• Jan. 21-24 — LPGA Tour: Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions presented by IOA (Four Seasons Golf & Sports Club Orlando, Lake Buena Vista, FL)
• Jan. 21-23 — PGA Tour Champions: Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai (Hualalai GC, Ka'upulehu-Kona, HI)
• Jan. 28-31 — PGA Tour: Farmers Insurance Open (Torrey Pines GC, San Diego, CA)
• Feb. 4-7 — PGA Tour: Waste Management Phoenix Open (TPC Scottsdale (Stadium Course), Scottsdale, AZ)
• Feb. 11-14 — PGA Tour: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill GC, Monterey Peninsula CC (Shore Couse), Pebble Beach, CA)
• Feb. 18-21 — PGA Tour: The Genesis Invitational (The Riviera CC, Pacific Palisades, CA)
• Feb. 18-21 — Korn Ferry Tour: LECOM Suncoast Classic (Lakewood National GC Commander, Lakewood Ranch, FL)
• Feb. 25-28 — WGC-Mexico Championship (Club de Golf Chapultepec, Mexico City, Mexico)
• Feb. 25-28 — PGA Tour: Puerto Rico Open (Grand Reserve CC, Rio Grande, PR)
• Feb. 25-28 — LPGA Tour: Gainbridge Championship (Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, Orlando, FL)
• Feb. 26-28 — PGA Tour Champions: Cologuard Classic (Omni Tucson National, Tucson, AZ)
• Mar. 4-7 — PGA Tour: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard (Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, FL)
• Mar. 4-7 — LPGA Tour: LPGA Drive On Championship at Golden Ocala presented by JTBC (Golden Ocala Golf Club, Ocala, FL)
• Mar. 11-14 — PGA Tour: THE PLAYERS Championship (TPC Sawgrass (THE PLAYERS Stadium Course), Ponte Vedra Beach, FL)
• Mar. 18-21 — PGA Tour: The Honda Classic (PGA National Resort & Spa (The Champion Course), Palm Beach Gardens, FL)
• Mar. 18-31 — Korn Ferry Tour: Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by MISTRAS (Le Triomphe G&CC, Broussard, LA)
• Mar. 25-28 — PGA Tour: WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (Austin CC, Austin, TX)
• Mar. 25-28 — PGA Tour: Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship (Puntacana Resort & Club (Corales GC), Punta Cana, Dominican Republic)
• Mar. 25-28 — LPGA Tour: Kia Classic (Aviara Golf Club, Carlsbad, CA)
• Mar. 25-28 — Korn Ferry Tour: Club Car Championship at The Landings Club (Landings Club - Deer Creek GC, Savannah, GA)
• Apr. 1-4 — PGA Tour: Valero Texas Open (TPC San Antonio (AT&T Oaks Course), San Antonio, TX)
• Apr. 1-4 — LPGA Tour: ANA Inspiration (Mission Hills Country Club, Dinah Shore Tournament Course, Rancho Mirage, CA)
• Apr. 1-4 — Korn Ferry Tour: Emerald Coast Classic at Sandestin (Sandestin Resort -Raven GC, Destin, FL)
• Apr. 8-11 — PGA Tour: Masters Tournament (Augusta National GC, Augusta, GA)
• Apr. 14-17 — LPGA Tour: LOTTE Championship (Ko Olina Golf Club, Kapolei, Oahu, HI)
• Apr. 15-18 — PGA Tour: RBC Heritage (Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, SC)
• Apr. 15-18 — Korn Ferry Tour: Paiute Las Vegas Championship (Paiute Golf Resort - Sun Mt GC, Las Vegas, NV)
• Apr. 16 -18 — PGA Tour Champions: Chubb Classic (Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, FL)
• Apr. 22-25 — PGA Tour: Zurich Classic of New Orleans (TPC Louisiana, New Orleans, LA)
• Apr. 22-25 — LPGA Tour: HUGEL-AIR PREMIA LA Open (Wilshire Country Club, Los Angeles, CA)
• Apr. 22-25 — Korn Ferry Tour: Veritex Bank Championship (Texas Rangers GC, Arlington, TX)
• Apr. 29 - May 2 — LPGA Tour: HSBC Women's World Championship (Sentosa Golf Club, Tanjong Course, Singapore)
• Apr. 29 - May 2 — Korn Ferry Tour: Huntsville Championship (The Ledges, Huntsville, AL)
• Apr. 30 - May 2 — PGA Tour: Valspar Championship (Innisbrook, a Salamander Resort (Cooperhead Course), Palm Harbor, FL)
• Apr. 30 - May 2 — PGA Tour Champions: Insperity Invitational (The Woodlands CC, The Woodlands, TX)
• May 6-9 — PGA Tour: Wells Fargo Championship (Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, NC)
• May 6-9 — LPGA Tour: Honda LPGA Thailand (Siam Country Club, Pattaya Old Course, Chonburi, Thailand)
• May 6-9 — PGA Tour Champions: Regions Tradition (Greystone G&CC, Birmingham, AL)
• May 6-9 — Korn Ferry Tour: Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation (The Grove, College Grove, TN)
• May 13-16 — PGA Tour: AT&T Byron Nelson (TPC Craig Ranch, McKinney, TX)
• May 13-16 — LPGA Tour: Blue Bay LPGA (Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Club, People's Republic of China)
• May 14-16 — PGA Tour Champions: Mitsubishi Electric Classic (TPC Sugarloaf, Duluth, GA)
• May 14-16 — Korn Ferry Tour: Visit Knoxville Open (Holston Hills CC, Knoxville, TN)
• May 20-23 — PGA of America PGA Championship (The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, Kiawah Island, SC)
• May 20-23 — LPGA Tour: Pure Silk Championship presented by Visit Williamsburg (River Course at Kingsmill Resort, Williamsburg, VA)
• May 20-23 — Korn Ferry Tour: AdventHealth Championship (Blue Hills Country Club, Kansas City, MO)
• May 27-30 — PGA Tour: Charles Schwab Challenge (Colonial CC, Fort Worth, TX)
• May 27-30 — PGA Tour Champions: KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship (Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, OK)
• May 27-30 — Korn Ferry Tour: Evans Scholars Invitational (The Glen Club, Glenview, IL)
• June 3-6 — PGA Tour: the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide (Muirfield Village GC, Dublin, Ohio)
• June 3-6 — LPGA Tour: U.S. Women's Open Conducted by the USGA (The Olympic Club, Lake Course, San Francisco, CA)
• June 3-6 — Korn Ferry Tour: REX Hospital Open (The CC at Wakefield Plantation, Raleigh, NC)
• June 4-6 — PGA Tour Champions: Principal Charity Classic (Wakonda Club, Des Moines, IA)
• June 10-13 — PGA Tour: RBC Canadian Open (St. George's Golf and Country Club, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada)
• June 10-13 — LPGA Tour: LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship (Lake Merced Golf Club, Daly City, CA)
• June 10-13 — Korn Ferry Tour: BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation (Thornblade Club, Greer, SC)
• June 11-13 — PGA Tour Champions: American Family Insurance Championship (University Ridge GC, Madison, WI)
• June 17-20 — PGA Tour: U.S. Open Championship (Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Course), San Diego, CA)
• June 17-20 — LPGA Tour: Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give (Blythefield Country Club, Grand Rapids, MI)
• June 17-20 — Korn Ferry Tour: Wichita Open Supporting Wichita's Youth (Crestview CC, Wichita, KS)
• June 24-27 — PGA Tour: Travelers Championship (TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, CT)
• June 24-27 — PGA Tour Champions: Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship (Firestone CC, Akron, OH)
• June 24-27 — Korn Ferry Tour: Live and Work in Maine Open (Falmouth Country Club, Falmouth, ME)
• June 24-27 — PGA of America: KPMG Women's PGA Championship (Atlanta Athletic Club, Johns Creek, GA)
• July 1-4 — PGA Tour: Rocket Mortgage Classic (Detroit GC, Detroit, MI)
• July 1-4 — LPGA Tour: Volunteers of America Classic (Old American GC, The Colony, TX)
• July 2-4 — PGA Tour Champions: DICK'S Sporting Goods Open (En-Joie GC, Endicott, NY)
• July 8-11 — PGA Tour: John Deere Classic (TPC Deere Run, Silvis, IL)
• July 8-11 — LPGA Tour: Marathon LPGA Classic presented by Dana (Highland Meadows GC, Sylvania, OH)
• July 8-11 — PGA Tour Champions: U.S. Senior Open Championship (Omaha Country Club, Omaha, NE)
• July 8-11 — Korn Ferry Tour: TPC Colorado Championship at Heron Lakes (TPC Colorado, Berthoud, CO)
• July 14-17 — LPGA Tour: Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational (Midland C.C., Midland, MI)
• July 15-18 — The OPEN Championship (Royal St. George's GC, Sandwich, Kent, England)
• July 15-18 — PGA Tour: Barbasol Championship (Keene Trace GC (Champions Trace), Nicholasville, KY)
• July 15-18 — Korn Ferry Tour: Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS (Panther Creek Country Club, Springfield, IL)
• July 22-25 — PGA Tour: 3M Open (TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, MN)
• July 22-25 — LPGA Tour: The Evian Championship (Evian Resort GC, Evian-les-Bains, France)
• July 22-25 — PGA Tour Champions: The Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex (Sunningdale GC (Old Course), Berkshire, ENG)
• July 22-25 — Korn Ferry Tour: Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper (Highland Springs CC, Springfield, MO)
• Aug. 5-8 — PGA Tour: WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational (TPC Southwind, Memphis, TN)
• Aug. 5-8 — PGA Tour: Barracuda Championship (Old Greenwood GC, Truckee, CA)
• Aug. 5-8 — Korn Ferry Tour: Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank (Oakridge Country Club, Farmington, UT)
• Aug. 12-15 — PGA Tour: Wyndham Championship (Sedgefield CC, Greensboro, NC)
• Aug. 12-15 — Ladies Scottish Open (TBA, Scotland)
• Aug. 12-15 — Korn Ferry Tour: Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna (The Club at Indian Creek, Omaha, NE)
• Aug. 13-15 — PGA Tour Champions: Shaw Charity Classic (Canyon Meadows G&CC, Calgary, AB, CAN)
• Aug. 19-22 — PGA Tour: THE NORTHERN TRUST (Liberty National GC, Jersey City, NJ)
• Aug. 19-22 — AIG Women's Open (Carnoustie Golf Links, Carnoustie, Scotland)
• Aug. 20-22 — PGA Tour Champions: Boeing Classic (The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge, Snoqualmie, WA)
• Aug. 19-22 — Korn Ferry Tour: Albertsons Boise Open (Hillcrest CC, Boise, ID)
• Aug. 26-29 — PGA Tour: BMW Championship (Caves Valley GC, Owings Mills, MD)
• Aug. 26-29 — CP Women's Open (Shaughnessy Golf & C.C., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
• Aug. 26-29 — Korn Ferry Tour: Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship (OSU GC - Scarlet Course, Columbus, OH)
• Aug. 27-29 — PGA Tour Champions: The Ally Challenge (Warwick Hills G&CC, Grand Blanc, MI)
• Sept. 2-5 — PGA Tour: TOUR Championship (East Lake GC, Atlanta, GA)
• Sept. 2-5 — Korn Ferry Tour: Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance (Victoria National GC, Newburgh, IN)
• Sept. 4-6 — The Solheim Cup (Inverness Club, Toledo, Ohio)
• Sept. 10-11 — PGA Tour Champions: Ascension Charity Classic (Norwood Hills Country Club, St. Louis, MO)
• Sept. 16-19 — LPGA Tour: Cambia Portland Classic (Columbia Edgewater C.C., Portland, OR)
• Sept. 17-19 — PGA Tour Champions: Sanford International (Minnehaha Country Club, Sioux Falls, SD)
• Sept. 24-26 — LPGA Tour: Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G (Pinnacle C.C., Rogers, AR)
• Sept. 24-26 — PGA Tour Champions: PURE Insurance Championship (Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula, CA)
• Oct. 1-3 — LPGA Tour: ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer (Seaview, Bay Course, Galloway, NJ)
• Oct. 7-10 — LPGA Tour: Founders Cup (Mountain Ridge C.C., East Caldwell, NJ)
• Oct. 8-10 — PGA Tour Champions: Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS (Timuquana Country Club, Jacksonville, FL)
• Oct. 14-17 — LPGA Tour: Buick LPGA Shanghai (Qizhong Garden GC, Shanghai, People's Republic of China)
• Oct. 15-17 — PGA Tour Champions: SAS Championship (Prestonwood CC, Cary, NC)
• Oct. 21-24 — LPGA Tour: BMW Ladies Championship (LPGA International Busan, Busan, Republic Korea)
• Oct. 22-24 — PGA Tour Champions: Dominion Energy Charity Classic (The Country Club of Virginia, Richmond, VA)
• Oct. 28-31 — LPGA Tour: Taiwan Swinging Skirts LPGA (Miramar Golf C.C., New Taipei City, Chinese Taipei)
• Nov. 4-7 — LPGA Tour: TOTO Japan Classic (Seta Golf Course, Shiga, Japan)
• Nov. 5-7 — PGA Tour Champions: TimberTech Championship (The Old Course at Broken Sound, Boca Raton, FL)
• Nov. 11-14 — LPGA Tour: Pelican Women's Championship (Pelican GC, Belleair, FL)
• Nov. 11-14 — PGA Tour Champions: Charles Schwab Cup Championship (Phoenix Country Club, Phoenix, AZ)
• Nov. 18-21 — LPGA Tour: CME Group TOUR Championship (Tiburon GC, Naples, FL)
• Dec. 17-19 — PGA Tour Champions: PNC Championship (Ritz-Carlton GC, Orlando, FL)

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Xander Schauffele Leads Wells Fargo As PGA Tour Signature Event Achieves Its Purpose

Bob harig | may 11, 2024.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Playing the week prior to a major championship has long been a matter of personal preference. For some, they like to compete heading into one of the biggest tournaments. Others prefer to work on their game at home.

But with the advent of the PGA Tour’s Signature Events , the choice, for the most part, has been made for them, especially heading into next week’s PGA Championship and next month’s U.S. Open.

Two tournaments—the Wells Fargo Championship and the Memorial Tournament—have been played, for several years, two weeks before the respective majors. In fact, the Memorial has been a long-time fixture at the end of May and early June, perfectly placed two weeks prior to the U.S. Open.

This year, it will be the week prior, and that has changed some scheduling plans.

Would Xander Schauffele have been here had this not been a big tournament? He is now leading the Wells Fargo through two rounds by four shots over Rory McIlroy and Jason Day and a good tournament here gives him some momentum heading into the PGA next week at Valhalla in Louisville.

But given a choice, many would prefer to take the week off, visit the major venue, perhaps work on their games at home.

“It's weird,’’ said Justin Thomas, who won the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow and at Southern Hills in 2022. “For the most part I've said I like to take weeks off before majors and the two majors I've won I played the week before, so maybe I'm just going about it completely wrong.

“But I think especially I already kind of felt that way, but after playing at Valhalla Sunday and Monday, this is great prep in my opinion. It's a lot of drivers, it's a lot of long, mid irons, so I think in that aspect it will be good."

It’s hard to imagine skipping a Signature Event. These tournaments with their $20 million purses were designed to reward the top-50 players from last year’s FedEx Cup standings as well as other qualifiers.

And with added FedEx Cup points and five of them—including Wells Fargo—that don’t have a 36-hole cut, it is guaranteed money and points.

The trade-off is you are giving up a week in which you might otherwise be preparing differently for a major.

“I would say my favorite two weeks of the year previously was Akron and the PGA,’’ McIlroy said of the schedule through 2018 that saw the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, precede the PGA Championship. That is typically the only time Tiger Woods would compete the week prior to a major.

“You had a World Golf Championship leading right into a major championship. I loved those two weeks. They were two big events. You could go to Akron, see where your game is but still get some competitive reps, and if you get yourself in the mix, that's an awesome way to prepare for next week to see where your game stacks up under pressure and against the guys you're possibly going to be playing against the next week as well.

"I've always liked these sort of two big events back to back, a World Golf Championship or a Signature Event going into a major. For me anyway, it's a nice cadence."

In 2014, the last time McIlroy won a major, he captured the WGC in Akron the week before winning the PGA at Valhalla for his fourth major title and second in a row. He had won the British Open at Royal Liverpool a month earlier.

Now the schedule has been changed this year to see this happen before two of the four majors.

Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament has switched places with the RBC Canadian Open, and although there was some resistance to it, one of the year’s most prestigious events will be played the week before the U.S. Open at Pinehurst.

Last year, several players would have taken off during the week of the Canadian Open.

"I think it's very dependent on the golf course,’’ Thomas said “I don't want to play a place that is totally and completely different or maybe a crazy travel from one coast to coast, time change, whatever it might be, but something like this where we're not far away, it's going to be good to kind of get in the competition and hopefully get as ready as possible for next week."

The good news is the tournament is delivering the desired results so far. Schauffele is slated to play in the final group with McIlroy on Saturday and major champions such as Day and Collin Morikawa are in the mix.

"If you look at the leaderboard, it definitely feels like it’s a Signature Event," Schauffele said.

Bob Harig is a golf writer for SI.com and the author of the book "DRIVE: The Lasting Legacy of Tiger Woods," which publishes in March and can be ordered here. 

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Wells Fargo Championship: Odds, predictions, value picks for next PGA Tour event

The PGA Tour heads to Charlotte, North Carolina for its next Signature Event. Here are the odds and some predictions.

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For the first time in his PGA Tour career, Wyndham Clark will arrive at a golf course as the defending champion.

He broke through at the Wells Fargo Championship a year ago, besting Xander Schauffele by four shots at the Quail Hollow Club. The following month, Clark went on to win the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club.

His most recent triumph came at Pebble Beach in February.

If not for Scottie Scheffler’s remarkable performances at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship, The Masters, and the RBC Heritage, one could make the case that Clark has had the most impressive stretch of golf over the past 12 months.

But luckily for Clark—and the rest of this limited field—Scheffler will not compete this week. He and his wife Meredith are eagerly awaiting the birth of their first child.

With the World No. 1 not in the field, the Wells Fargo odds were adjusted accordingly.

Wells Fargo Championship Odds:

Here are the current odds for players to win, provided by DraftKings:

• Rory McIlroy +800
• Xander Schauffele +1100
• Ludvig Åberg +1200
• Wyndham Clark +1800
• Viktor Hovland +2200
• Tommy Fleetwood +2200
• Patrick Cantlay +2200
• Max Homa +2200
• Collin Morikawa +2200
• Sahith Theegala +2800
• Matt Fitzpatrick +2800
• Hideki Matsuyama +2800
• Justin Thomas +3000
• Jordan Spieth +3000

Wells Fargo Championship Predictions

With no Scheffler, is this a wide-open tournament?

Maybe. Either way, this event is a perfect tune-up for next week’s PGA Championship . Quail Hollow Club, the host of this week’s Wells Fargo Championship, is one of the more challenging courses the tour visits each year, requiring precision from tee to green.

Funny enough, the club will host the PGA Championship again in 2025, eight years after Justin Thomas won his first PGA title at Quail Hollow in 2017.

Nevertheless, big hitters, who can also find plenty of greens, tend to do well here. Accuracy is also a must.

Rory McIlroy’s Personal Playground

The only winner of this tournament three times, Rory McIlroy loves competing at Quail Hollow.

His most recent victory here came in 2021, when he bested Abraham Ancer by a shot thanks to a final round 3-under 68. McIlroy relied on his putter that week, ranking third in strokes gained putting.

The Northern Irishman also won here in 2010 and 2015, with the former being his first career PGA Tour win . McIlroy shot a final round 9-under 62 to win the tournament, a course record that stood until 2015, when he bested that with a 10-under 61 during the third round. McIlroy won by seven that week.

This year, McIlroy arrives as the favorite, and understandably so. Fresh off his 25th career PGA Tour win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans , McIlroy is rounding into form as we approach the meat of major championship season.

The odds reflect that, too. McIlroy’s steep price of a top-10 finish does not return any value at -110, so we like him to finish in the top 5 at +190.

Canadian Contingent Continues to Succeed

Canadian Taylor Pendrith closed out his first career PGA Tour victory in dramatic fashion this past week, thanks to Ben Kohles’ heartbreaking bogey on the 72nd hole.

As such, Pendrith gained entry into this week’s field and next week’s PGA Championship, a major step for his budding career.

But Pendrith is not the only Canadian that has played well as of late. Nick Taylor won the WM Phoenix Open in February, Corey Conners has not missed a cut this season, and Mackenzie Hughes is trending in the right direction.

Yet, of that group, we like Conners to play well at Quail Hollow once again.

Last year, Conners tied for eighth at the Wells Fargo Championship, carding under-par rounds on all four days. He hit the green in regulation 76.4% of the time, which ranked fourth in the field—not a surprise given his exquisite ball-striking abilities.

Conners ranks fourth in strokes gained approaching the green and third in greens in regulation on tour this season. He also finds plenty of fairways, doing so at 68.73% of the time, which is well above the tour average.

Considering this, we like Conners to improve his performance from a season ago and finish within the top 5 at Quail Hollow at +1100.

Alex Noren will fly under the radar into another top-10 finish

Perhaps the most underrated player on the PGA Tour this season, 41-year-old Swede Alex Noren has played in 10 events, finishing in the top 25 on seven occasions.

His best finish came at last week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson, where he shot a final round 6-under 65 to finish in solo third.

The stats reflect his strong play this season, too. Noren ranks 6th in total strokes gained and second in greens in regulation percentage, trailing only Scheffler. He is also first in scrambling percentage, saving par nearly 75% of the time when he misses greens.

The only knock on Noren is that he ranks 145th on the PGA Tour in total driving distance, which could prove difficult at Quail Hollow, a course that measures nearly 7,600 yards.

Still, Noren has too many things going on not to consider him. We like him to record his third top 10 of the season at a price of +800.

Wells Fargo Championship Longshot Pick

Before the 2024 Masters Tournament, Sepp Straka, the first Austrian-born player to represent Europe in the 2023 Ryder Cup , could not find any consistency in his game.

Four missed cuts and two top-20 finishes at The Sentry and The Players had him teetering all over the place.

But something clicked at Augusta National . He tied for 16th that week then recorded his best finish of the season at the RBC Heritage, tying for fifth.

Straka then finished in a tie for 11th at the Zurich Classic, playing alongside Brice Garnett.

After an off week, the former Georgia Bulldog arrives at Quail Hollow fresh and ready to contend again at a major championship venue. He ranks second on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy percentage, finding fairways at nearly 80% of the time.

He also has found 68.82% of the greens this season, which ranks 36th on tour.

Even though he missed the cut here a year ago, we believe Straka’s accuracy and above-average ball-striking can lead him to his first PGA Tour victory of the season. At +6000, the Austrian is worth the longshot.

Wells Fargo Championship Winner

Of those players without a PGA Tour victory in 2024, nobody has played better than Xander Schauffele, who ranks third in total strokes gained this season.

We believe his oh-so-close narrative changes this week, with Schauffele emerging victorious at Quail Hollow. He ranks 10th in strokes gained off the tee and is 27th in strokes gained approaching the green—both solid attributes for success on this tough golf course.

He has played well on this course, too. Schauffele finished solo second at Quail Hollow a year ago, which included a 7-under 64 during his third round. He also tied for 14th in 2021.

The question becomes if he can make some putts, as he routinely puts himself in the best of positions. He tied for second at The Players and finished solo eighth at The Masters, but if he could have had a few more putts drop, those solid performances may have turned into memorable wins.

Alas, we believe that Schauffele does just that this week. He arrives with the second-lowest odds at +1000 behind McIlroy, and will gallop into Kentucky full of confidence for the PGA Championship.

For all other sports betting content, check out SB Nation’s DraftKings site .

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

Next Up In Golf

• How did each of these 16 LIV golfers get into 2024 PGA Championship field
• Brooks Koepka’s mindset proves valuable, explains PGA Championship success
• Ludvig Åberg feeling “good” at PGA Championship after knee injury scare
• Rory McIlroy ‘lost confidence’ over PGA Tour, LIV Golf deal after Jimmy Dunne resignation
• Nelly Korda set for Liberty National debut after “frustrating” performance
• PGA Championship: 4 best dark horse picks with shot at Valhalla glory

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With first PGA Tour Signature event upcoming, here's a primer on how players can get access

Players can get into the field at pebble beach based on their finish at the farmers insurance open in la jolla, calif..

The PGA Tour’s first “Signature Event” will be next week at Pebble Beach. 

The Farmers Insurance Open this week in La Jolla, Calif., is the first test of players using tournaments before Signature Events to gain access through their performance on the FedEx Cup points list. 

The top 50 from last year’s points list is automatically in all seven Signature Events, which are limited-field tournaments with purses of at least $20 million. All are no-cut, except the three player-hosted tournaments, the Genesis Invitational (Tiger Woods), the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Memorial (Jack Nicklaus). 

The AON Next 10 is the top available players from the FedEx Cup points list who are not otherwise in pending Signature Events. The AON Swing 5 are the top five players in FedEx Cup points between Signature Events. 

Beau Hossler, Ludvig Aberg, Ben Griffin, Taylor Montgomery, Matt Kuchar, Nick Hardy, J.J. Spaun, Sam Ryder of Atlantic Beach, Luke List and Alex Smalley are the AON Next 10 for both Pebble Beach and the next Signature Event, the Genesis, based on the FedEx Cup Fall.

 That list will be re-set to the current FedEx Cup standings after Genesis. 

The AON Swing 5 is currently Grayson Murray, Christiaan Bezhuidenhout, Justin Thomas, Kevin Yu and Carl Yuan of Jacksonville.  

Pebble Beach will have a field of 80 players. Last week’s winner, Nick Dunlap, will have to turn pro and accept his PGA Tour membership that is waiting for him to be able to play in the Signature Events. 

The other Signature Events this season are the RBC Heritage, the Wells Fargo Championship and The Travelers. 

Ko gets closer to LPGA Hall 

Lydia Ko's 20th LPGA title on Sunday in the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournaments of Champions at Lake Nona in Orlando leaves her with one more victory left to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame. 

If Ko wins before July, she would be the youngest to ever qualify for the LPGA Hall through its points system for victories, player of the year awards and scoring titles. She has 26 points and needs 27. 

Inbee Park was the youngest player to qualify for the LPGA Hall in November of 2015. 

Ko is the seventh player in LPGA history to win 20 times before the age of 27, and all are in the World Golf Hall of Fame: Nancy Lopez, Karrie Webb, Seri Pak, Mickey Wright, Lorena Ochoa and Kathy Whitworth. Her $225,000 first-place check also made her the fifth woman to past $17 million in career earnings. 

Champions Cup to return 

The World Champions Cup, a match-play event among PGA Tour Champions teams from the U.S., Europe and internationally, will return to The Concession in Bradenton in 2024, 2025 and 2028. The two years being left open are giving interests in Europe and other countries to obtain a spot to which to rotate the tournament. 

The U.S., captained by Jim Furyk of Jacksonville won the first event with 221 points under a format of awarding points per hole won for a series of six nine-hole matches. Team International scored 219 points and Team Europe 208 points. 

Jerry Kelly led the U.S. team with 61 points, followed by Billy Andrade with 57.5 and Steve Stricker with 56.5. 

Betting right on Dunlap 

Nick Dunlap had 500-to-1 odds on winning The American Express last week. 

One bettor had faith in him. 

FanDuel posted on its X feed that a bettor in Iowa laid $300 on Dunlap to win. When Dunlap made a 6-foot par putt on the final hole to beat Bezuidenhout by one shot, the bettor made $300,000. 

Dunlap is the first amateur since Phil Mickelson in 1991 to win on the PGA Tour. 

Jackie Burke words of wisdom 

Jackie Burke Jr., packed several lifetimes and a book’s worth of wise and witty sayings in his 100 years before the two-time major champion passed away last week in Houston. 

One of them can be appreciated by all golfers. 

“Why did golf give us 34 rules when God only gave us 10 Commandments,” he said. 

Event: Farmers Insurance Open, Wednesday-Saturday, Torrey Pines Golf Club, South Course La Jolla, Calif. 

At stake: $9 million ($1.62 million and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner. 

Defending champion: Max Homa. 

TV:   Golf Channel 

Area players entered: Tyson Alexander, Harris English, Lanto Griffin, Billy Horschel, Keith Mitchell, Raul Pereda, Sam Ryder, Greyson Sigg, Davis Thompson. 

Notable: Homa shot 66 in the final round and defeated Keegan Bradley by two shots. ... Leading the field are Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Zander Schauffele, Jason Day and Ludvig Aberg. ... This is the final tournament for players not otherwise eligible to make the field through the FedEx Cup points list for the season’s first Signature Event next week at Pebble Beach. 

Event: Drive On Championship, Thursday-Sunday, Bradenton Country Club. 

At stake: $1.75 million purse ($262,500 to the winner). 

Defending champion: Celine Boutier. 

TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 12-3 p.m.; Saturday, 4-5 p.m.; Sunday, 2-5 p.m.). 

Area players entered: Auston Kim, Mel Reid. 

Notable: Boutier birdied the first playoff hole to beat Georgia Hall after both finished at 20-under-par 268. 

ROAD TO THE PLAYERS  

Dates: March 14-17.  

Site: Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach.  

Purse: $25 million ($4.5 million and 750 FedEx Cup points to the winner.  

Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler. 

Days until the first round: 50.  

Tour events until The Players: Eight.  

Notable: This will be the 50 th Players Championship. 

Information: theplayers.com.  

Players trivia:  The par-5 ninth hole remains the only one on the course to have never yielded a 2 (an Albatross). Every par-4 hole has been eagled and there has been a hole-in-one on every par-3 hole.

The PGA Tour needs Rory McIlroy at his best, especially now

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Of course, the story of the week is about him. How fitting. He's a book that can’t be put down.

Just so happens that Rory McIlroy is playing some of his best golf in years. He won his past two events , and he’s back at Valhalla, where he last won a major tournament 10 years ago. It’s a leggy golf course built to reward those who can mash drives a country mile. McIlroy tends to hit them about two miles.

“It's all about confidence and momentum,” McIlroy said Wednesday, “and I have a lot of confidence and quite a bit of momentum.”

Yes, the year's second major is at hand, and McIlroy, at long last, is perfectly tuned and has his swagger and …

Plot twist!

Why McIlroy chose this Monday of PGA Championship week to file for divorce from Erica Stoll , his wife of seven years, we may never know. McIlroy doesn’t want to talk about it . He was settling in for Wednesday’s pre-tournament press conference when a PGA rep announced to media members that McIlroy did not wish to comment on “his private life." It was easy to know what that meant.

With most pro golfers, and most athletes in general, their “private life" of love and relationships wouldn’t be all that newsworthy.

With McIlroy, TMZ first reported his divorce filing .

Excessive public attention over a painful personal dissolution would be a curse for anyone, and certainly for McIlroy’s chances this week. At the same time, it has further confirmed his stature as a bona fide, global sports celebrity. And that continues to make his presence a blessing for golf.

This sport needs a superstar like McIlroy at his best, especially now.

As you’re probably aware, pro golf isn’t in a good place . TV ratings are down . Popularity is waning. Casual fans are playing golf , but they are tuning out on watching it, having grown sick of the greed and selfishness and how none of what's happening is a reflection of what the public wants. These days, golf is mostly about division. It’s a weakened PGA Tour versus the villainous LIV Tour, which paid good players to make them basically disappear for all but four tournaments each year.

More: Jon Rahm ditched the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. So why is he talking like a PGA fanboy?

Meanwhile, a supposed reconciliation between tours, thus bringing the best golfers back together again, doesn’t appear close to happening. The latest alarming development was businessman Jimmy Dunne, a noted dealmaker in the sport, recently resigning from the PGA Tour’s Policy Board . “Really, really disappointing,” said McIlroy when asked about it. “I think the Tour is in a worse place because of it.”

With the PGA Tour clearly reeling, a lack of star power and personality isn’t helping.

Questions during McIlroy’s Wednesday press conference were cut off at only nine minutes, as if he’d only agreed to put himself through the ordeal if promised a quick exit.

Take note, though, that he still showed up.

That’s more than could be said for Xander Schauffele (world No. 3), who blew off his scheduled PGA press conference Tuesday afternoon. Three others high in the world rankings – Wyndham Clark (No. 4), Viktor Hovland (No. 7) and Patrick Cantlay (No. 8) – didn’t have an appearance scheduled at all.

McIlroy didn't have to be there to field questions. It says something that he did, given the events of this week, and it was on brand. McIlroy has been stepping up as a leading, thoughtful voice during the recent turmoil, and that has increased popularity that goes back to when he was a youngster first taking golf by storm. When McIlroy won the 2014 PGA Championship in dwindling daylight at Valhalla, it was his fourth major victory in three years.

“I thought at that point in time that we might see Rory win 10 major championships,” said Andy North, former golfer and ESPN analyst.

But now, McIlroy is 35 years old, and his most recent major victory is that PGA in 2014. Greatness has been elusive, but McIlroy remains a huge name who has a big game. His sport needs more of those.

The only golfer at the PGA this week with a bigger following is Tiger Woods , and he’s 48. The rare times that Tiger tees it up anymore, you’re holding your breath about him being physically able to finish.

More: At PGA Championship, Tiger Woods is looking to turn back time

Who's got next behind Woods and McIlroy as the face of the PGA Tour? It's tough to say.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler seems like a great dude with whom you’d enjoy hanging out. But bless his heart, he has no desire to be that celebrity we can't stop talking about. Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm were bought out by LIV, and as for once-promising talents like Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth or Rickie Fowler, their games have too often been letting them down of late.

The public’s appetite still exists for golf, as proven by the success of Netflix’s wonderful “Full Swing” series that was allowed to go behind the curtain into golfers’ lives, highlighting who they really are. It was refreshing because that so rarely happens in this sport.

Take a guess who featured prominently in each of the show’s two seasons.

Yup. McIlroy.

He’s that guy. Even more so, he doesn’t mind being that guy we all want to watch. If that guy can endure his personal drama and play himself into contention Sunday at Valhalla, a lot of eyes out there will be watching.

And golf, now more than ever, needs that.

Reach sports columnist Gentry Estes at [email protected] and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.

Matthieu Pavon won on a week that highlighted the PGA Tour’s lingering problem

SAN DIEGO — From the time he took up golf as a child in France, Matthieu Pavon dreamed of playing and winning in America. Saturday, at age 31, with the setting sun casting a beautiful glow over Torrey Pines, he not only achieved his goal by coming from four strokes down to shoot a 3-under 69 and claim the Farmers Insurance Open at 13-under for four days but also put his name in the history books as the first Frenchman to win a PGA Tour event since World War II.

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The outcome was not without anxious moments. Leading by two, Pavon bogeyed 17 to bring three players to within a stroke of the lead, including group mate Nicolai Højgaard. Pavon then hit a driver to start the par-5 18th into the left bunker and landed his second shot in the deep rough. With disaster hanging in the cool air, it was clear he was facing a crucial moment, the type that often defines agony or ecstasy.

Pavon’s caddie suggested he lay up; Pavon thought otherwise. “I was so pumped at that time,” he said, “I knew I had the energy to lift that ball up on the green.”

He did just that, nearly stumbling off balance after muscling an approach over water and within 8 feet of the cup, setting up the birdie that allowed him to avoid a playoff with Højgaard, who birdied the hole to finish at 12-under for the week.

Clutch from the thick stuff. @MatthieuPavon knocks it to 8 feet for a birdie look @FarmersInsOpen . pic.twitter.com/LobyRFTnRZ — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 28, 2024

The exciting finish contrasted with what had been a ho-hum tournament through three rounds. With many of the top tour players sitting out to avoid a difficult course so early in the season, or to prepare for next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the second signature event of the year, it is hard not to wonder whether we are seeing what non-elevated tournaments will look like when (if?) the PGA Tour and LIV Golf complete the merger that was tentatively agreed to last summer; in other words, relatively anonymous players, at least to casual fans, competing in non-signature events for smaller purses while household names stay away to focus on marquee events.

That has mostly been the case through the first month of the season. Grayson Murray, who had one PGA Tour victory in 129 starts, won the Sony Open two weeks ago in another diluted field. And last week Nick Dunlap saved The American Express by becoming the first amateur in 33 years to win a PGA Tour event. The nine players at the top of the leaderboard entering the final round here at Torrey Pines were all seeking their first tour win.

Nick Dunlap is the PGA Tour's new star. Now he just needs your patience

The details of the proposed merger between the two golf leagues have yet to be determined, but it will be interesting to see what type of financial commitment will follow to non-signature events. And the entity most interested in that answer could be the television partners responsible for broadcasting the 44 scheduled events. The math might not add up in their favor.

Consider: The elite tour pros typically can be expected to play 20-23 tournaments a year. If you accept that 16 of those are likely to be the events with elevated purses — eight signature events, four majors, the Players, and three FedEx Cup playoff events — that leaves 28 events with, potentially, a lot of absent star power.

Some tournament sponsors have already withdrawn or announced plans to withdraw their financial commitments either because the cost has become prohibitive or because they feel they are not getting the same return on investment if the event fails to receive elevated status. Honda announced in late 2022 that it was ending its 40-year sponsorship of the event in Palm Beach, Fla., and in December Wells Fargo disclosed that it will not be renewing its agreement for the event in Charlotte, N.C., after next year.

Farmers Insurance reportedly plans to pull out of the Torrey Pines event after 2026, though the organizer of the tournament said he has not been told that is the case. How it will all play out remains to be seen, but the signs point to the non-signature events becoming, in essence, a gray area between the Korn Ferry Tour and the elite level of the PGA Tour.

That is not to demean or disrespect individuals who fail to move the needle with casual fans. But it is to say it could be a concern with broadcast networks whose financial health is tied to viewership. The only thing better than a stroke-for-stroke, back-and-forth on the back nine of the final round is a stroke-for-stroke, back-and-forth among elite talents on the back nine.

Typically, there has to be an element of familiarity to achieve appointment viewing. Or, there has to be the hint of something spectacular or historic, which occurred last week with Dunlap. His final-round performance at The AmEx drew 534,000 viewers on Golf Channel, a 37 percent increase over the previous year when Jon Rahm won.

The ratings for Pavon’s victory are unknown as of this writing. Maybe folks tuned in after he made his run to capture the lead on No. 12 and hold off a field where stars such as Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele were felled by their putters and unable to make a sustained charge. But the fact that they were here should be considered a positive because it’s troubling to think about how many others were not.

(Top photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

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Jim Trotter is a national columnist for The Athletic based in San Diego. He previously worked for NFL Media, ESPN, Sports Illustrated and The San Diego Union-Tribune. A proud graduate of Howard University, he is a Pro Football Hall of Fame voter and a former president of Pro Football Writers of America. He has authored two books, including “Junior Seau: The Life and Death of a Football Icon,” and is a regular fill-in guest host on “Brother From Another” on Peacock TV. Follow Jim on Twitter @ JimTrotter_NFL

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2024 PGA Championship predictions, picks: Ranking the field, favorites from 1-24 at Valhalla

Is the pga truly a three-horse race between scottie scheffler, brooks koepka and rory mcilroy.

The 2024 PGA Championship has arrived, and there remains a clear pecking order at the top of major championship golf. That order is Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy, no matter who you wish to place first, second and third. This triumvirate has taken the game by storm partly because of how they're playing now but certainly because of what they've accomplished in the past.

Scheffler is so good at the moment that one could feasibly put his "B" game into the No. 2 spot and feel fine about it. All three enter this tournament having won the last two events they started. McIlroy won this tournament the last time it was played at Valhalla, while Koepka -- the reigning PGA champion -- enters playing more consistent golf overall.

After the top three, the 2024 PGA Championship appears to be a bit of a free for all. There are a lot of different golfers one could slot into the Nos. 4-10 spots, but none of them particularly stand out above the rest. That led to leaning on current form and historic win equity (who wins at a high rate) to break a bunch of ties.

Let's take a look at the top of the field, and don't miss our CBS Sports staff digging into the second major of the year with PGA Championship picks and expert predictions .

2024 PGA Championship field, ranked

Parenthesis indicates the golfer's best finish at a PGA Championship

1. Scottie Scheffler (T2 in 2023): One of the most impressive aspects of Scheffler's game is how well it travels to different golf courses. Think about the places he has won in 2024 alone: Bay Hill, TPC Sawgrass, Augusta National and Harbour Town. Different conditions, a variety of setups and styles -- yet none of it seems to matters. That's underrated but also meaningful when it comes to the major championships, which are all structured and set up somewhat differently. If needing to single out one major that should be Scottie's worst stylistically, it would probably be the modern PGA that calls for some bombing and gouging at times. And yet ... he's finished in the top five at two venues (Harding Park and Oak Hill) that I wouldn't say are great Scheffler venues. Again, this ability to morph himself into whatever the course and venue demands is extraordinary, and it's one of the many reasons he is such a heavy favorite.

2. Brooks Koepka (Won in 2018, 2019, 2023):  Here's something I need to confess -- Koepka was at the bottom of the top 10 on this list until his win at LIV Golf Singapore. That felt like a ridiculous spot for a five-time major champion who is also the reigning winner of this tournament, so I'm glad he won and justified me moving him to this position. Here's an insane stat from Joseph LaMagna of The Fried Egg that gets at how good Koepka has been at the majors in recent years.

Since the start of 2017, Brooks has finished in the top 2 of major championships nine times, five of which were wins. No other golfer has finished in the top 2 more than four times over that period. When Koepka is in form, he is a proven killer on the biggest stages in golf. 

3. Rory McIlroy (Won in 2012, 2014): Don't necessarily feel great about having McIlroy here, but who else is playing well enough to place in this slot? Rory's 2024 struggles have been greatly exaggerated, and while the iron play is perhaps still a touch suspect (though better at Quail Hollow last week!), he's also not that far off. I'm leaning on past history at this golf course (won in 2014) as well as his recent history at major championships where he's been the second-best major golfer over the last two years. Here's a fun stat for McIlroy fans: Since the start of 2022, he has the second-best score to par of anyone who has made at least eight major championship cuts (throwing out the missed cut score). 

• Scottie Scheffler: -53 (2 wins)
• Rory McIlroy: -42 (0)
• Cameron Smith: -29 (1)

4. Ludvig Åberg (n/a): It feels outrageous to put somebody who has never played a PGA this high, but that's where we're at with Åberg. I'm slightly less confident in his abilities at a sprawling ballpark like Valhalla compared to a precision contest like Augusta National, but major championships tend to identify the best hitters of the golf ball, and there might not be three in the world better than him right now. 

5. Wyndham Clark (T75 in 2021):  One could certainly make the case that Clark is the most underrated player in the world. In his last eight starts, he has four top-three finishes, one of them a victory and all of them at signature events. In those four tournaemnts, he has lost to Scheffler three times and Sahith Theegala once. Valhalla should fit his distance and his game well.

6. Bryson DeChambeau (T4 in 2023): It's time to buy on Bryson, especially at a place like this that would seemingly reward his style more than Augusta National, where he finished T6 a month ago. He is a difficult figure to evaluate and analyze, if only because he iterates his own trajectory so often. Sometimes, he seems more focused on being a YouTube golfer than an actual one. Other times, he seems more intrigued by ball speed than scores. On and on it goes. What is unmistakable, though, is that he is gifted, and when those gifts are focused -- it seems like they are right now! -- he's a menace at important tournaments on big-boy golf courses like this one.

7. Hideki Matsuyama (T4 in 2016): Matsuyama is one of just four golfers to make the cut at each of the last nine major championships; the other three (Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Tyrrell Hatton) all play on LIV Golf. Yet Matsuyama has actually made 15 consecutive cuts. You have to go back to the 2019 Open Championship to find the last time he missed one, which is extraordinary. The flip side of this is that Matsuyama has only been OK at PGA Championships over the last several years. The bomb-and-gouge style PGA setups have sometimes required does not necessarily fit him best. Still, it's tough to find somebody who's been more consistently solid at majors than him. 

8. Jon Rahm (T4 in 2018): There's something goofy going on with Rahm right now. I have attributed it to emotional and mental reconciliation with the fact that he is now playing on a tour that I'm not sure he actually wants to be on. Rahm may have unintentionally sabotaged one of the better post-Tiger Woods careers going. That's not to say he won't win future majors (he will), but he does not seem to be in the best place mentally to thrive. He was better than his T45 finish at the Masters where he putted horribly, and a top 25 here would not be surprising. A win right now, though? Well, it would be a shocker.

9. Xander Schauffele (T10 in 2020):  Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me at over two dozen consecutive majors, and it's time to change the rankings. Schauffele is a great player to have on your major fantasy team. I don't believe he's a great player if you're trying to figure out who is going to win the actual event.

10. Patrick Cantlay (T3 in 2019):  Cantlay has put together a bit of an odd year, but he's started to pop of late with a top 25 at the Masters and a T3 the week after at the RBC Heritage. He has not been as good at majors as it seems like he should be. Since the start of 2021, Cantlay ranks 21st in total strokes gained at the four majors (minimum 10 rounds played). He's behind Patrick Reed, Ben An and Rickie Fowler in that span.

11. Cameron Young (T3 in 2022): He's been so tremendous at the major championships but so up and down so far this year. After nearly winning the Valspar Championship, he had a quiet uncompetitive top 10 at the Masters, followed by a T62 (!) at the RBC Heritage in which he lost strokes in every category. His major record is fairly unassailable. Here are the strokes gained leaders at the majors since the start of 2022:

• Scottie Scheffler: 3.30
• Rory McIlroy: 3.04
• Will Zalatoris: 2.97
• Cameron Smith: 2.56
• Tommy Fleetwood: 2.35
• Matt Fitzpatrick: 2.21
• Xander Schauffele: 2.20
• Collin Morikawa: 2.18
• Cameron Young: 2.09
• Viktor Hovland: 2.05  

12. Will Zalatoris (2nd in 2022): A tough one to figure out. He has a pair of top 10s in his only two PGA Championship starts and is coming in off a T9 at the Masters. But the play outside of that has only been all right, and he had to withdraw from the CJ Cup Byron Nelson with an injury. I'm going to lean on the insane major record thus far -- since the start of 2022, only Scheffler has a better strokes gained number -- but I'm more wary going into this week than I was at Augusta National.

Who will win the 2024 PGA Championship, and which longshots will stun the golfing world?  Visit SportsLine to see the projected PGA Championship leaderboard, all from the model that has nailed 11 golf majors , including the last three Masters.

13. Collin Morikawa (Won in 2020): It's a little smoke and mirrors for me right now, though it got a bit better at the Wells Fargo Championship. Get this: Morikawa had lost strokes on approach in three of the four events leading into Wells Fargo, which is absolutely wild for him. I'm not totally convinced that he's fully locked in, but more than that, I don't believe this is the best golf course for him to step up his game. In terms of the career grand slam, the two he has left -- U.S. Open and Masters -- are actually the two at which he's best suited to play well and win.

14. Max Homa (T13 in 2022):  Homa seems to have taken the lid off the cup, so to speak, with his contention at this year's Masters. It was his first real contention at a major, and it seemed to awaken him to the idea that he can truly compete with the world's best in the biggest events. It would fit with the rest of his career for him to start contending in majors now. Compared to some of his peers -- wunderkinds like Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth -- his learning curve and success curve has been a bit longer. It's more similar to the curve of a normal successful tour pro, but when you're judged against superstars, it can look less successful (even if it's not). All that to say, he seems more prepared to contend in majors than he was this time three years ago.

15. Cameron Smith (T9 in 2023):  I keep disbelieving, and he keeps proving me wrong. On paper, PGAs are not a good setup for Smith, who seems to thrive at U.S. Opens and Open Championships. Smith doesn't play golf on paper, though, which is bad news for the rest of the field. The odd thing, of course, is that he leaned so heavily on his short game at Oak Hill last year. That's tough to maintain, even for somebody with his game. He was one of just two golfers in the top 10 last year who were negative strokes gained off the tee. If he can figure out how to make that positive, it could be a great week for him.

16. Tommy Fleetwood (T5 in 2022): Like a few others on here, Fleetwood is built more for the U.S. Open and Open Championship than he is for the PGA. However, he has two top 20s in a row at this event and is coming off a T3 at the Masters. He certainly deserves a look, though I would rather play him at one of the last two majors of the year. 

17. Justin Thomas (Won in 2017 and 2022): I'm just throwing my hands up in the air here because I have no idea what to expect. He won the PGA two years ago but then finished T65 last year. He's missed the cut in each of his last three majors, but he's also Justin Thomas and played tremendous golf at RBC Heritage the week after Augusta National. This spot feels both too high and too low at the same time.

18. Matt Fitzpatrick (T5 in 2022):  Fitzpatrick is currently having his "worst" season since 2019. That's not to say it's been bad, but it's been a slight step back from how he's played the last three years. Still, there's a ton of good in there -- like a top five at the Players and a top 25 at the Masters. One thing to watch? The 2022 U.S. Open champion hasn't been as good around the greens as he used to be. That could be more of a problem at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, but he's still in the tier where he'll need  every  part of his game to be sharp to win any major championship.

19. Viktor Hovland (T2 in 2023): After his performance last year, if you would have told me Hovland was this low on my list, I would have said you were crazy. This week, though -- just this week! -- I have had multiple people in golf tell me how broken down he appears and how lost he is with his swing. I have little doubt he'll get it back at some point, but I just don't believe that time is going to be at this year's PGA. 

Man, Hovland's short game is a roller coaster. And it's somehow the worst it's ever been. He's dead last around the greens in 2024. pic.twitter.com/OccycGsKg2 — No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) May 10, 2024

20. Jordan Spieth (2nd in 2015):  Spieth must be included because he's going for the grand slam, but I don't have to feel good about it. Spieth has missed four of his last six cuts, his iron play is terrible, and he was simply bad at the Masters. The slam has never felt further away.

21. Joaquin Niemann (T23 in 2022):  Niemann is ranked No. 7 in Data Golf's rankings, which is crazy high and his best spot ever. The resume this year is solid, perhaps not excellent, but really good. In addition to his recent LIV Golf wins, he has five other top 10s on LIV and a nice T22 at the Masters. Is he ready to win his first major? I would settle for his first top 10 to start.

22. Tyrrell Hatton (T10 in 2018):  Lowry has put together a nice season punctuated by an under-the-radar T9 at the Masters in April. Is he a threat to win his first major championship? Doubtful. Is he a thread to contend for one? Absolutely.

23. Tony Finau (T4 in 2020):  Finau has been consistently solid at this tournament. He has made seven consecutive cuts and finished in the top 30 in three of his last four. He should (!) be one of the seven or eight guys who has the best chance at winning this event given his prolific talent off the tee and ability to get around big ballparks. 

24. Sahith Theegala (T40 in 2023):  Theegala is quietly turning into an excellent player who can pop up at any event, as evidenced by top-six finishes at The Sentry, the Phoenix Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the RBC Heritage (three of those being signature events). He hits it plenty far enough off the tee, too. It will be a matter of whether the iron play is precise enough to give himself a chance.

Others to watch

Brian Harman (T13 in 2017): The great overlooked major player right now. Harman is not built for PGA Championship setups, per se, but I'm through doubting him. He's been awesome in general for most of the past year and a half with not just his Open Championship victory but also a T2 at the Players and seven top 10s worldwide in his last 25 starts.

Si Woo Kim (T13 in 2020):  I'm buying what Si Woo is selling. He has been positive strokes gained tee to green in every start this year going into the Wells Fargo Championship and has had a sneaky quiet great few months with a T6 at the Players, a T30 at the Masters and top 20s at the RBC Heritage, CJ Cup Byron Nelson and Houston Open.

Shane Lowry (T4 in 2021):  Lowry has quietly had a great run at the PGA Championship, and though he's not been playing well in general of late, he's been flushing the golf ball. It's his putter that's been trouble. I have confidence he can turn that around in a hurry, and he's already proven himself to be a major champion. He's quite interesting at 50-1 or 60-1.

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This week in golf: PGA Tour's loaded field, LPGA returns, LIV Golf prepares for its finale

Phil Mickelson discusses why LIV Golf is evolving and trending upward. (1:36)

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The week that was in professional golf saw many notable players return to the winner's circle.

Keegan Bradley ended a four-year PGA Tour drought by winning the Zozo Championship in Japan.

Brooks Koepka claimed his first victory in 20 months by winning LIV Golf's first event in Saudi Arabia, which, if you haven't heard, was a $4.5 million payday.

And Fred Couples bested his age by 3 shots by carding a 12-under 60 in the final round of the SAS Championship on Sunday, with 12 birdies in his final 14 holes, to win on the Champions Tour for the first time in more than five years.

The biggest winner of the week? LIV Golf, if you believe the words that were coming out of six-time major champion Phil Mickelson 's mouth in Saudi Arabia this past week.

"I think going forward you have to pick a side. You have to pick what side do you think is going to be successful," Mickelson told reporters. "I firmly believe that I'm on the winning side of how things are going to evolve and shape in the coming years for professional golf."

Of course, PGA Tour players don't believe they're on the wrong side in the ongoing dispute with LIV Golf.

If a players wins a golf tournament in a forest and no one sees it, does it count? — Joel Dahmen (@Joel_Dahmen) October 17, 2022

Who's going to win this week? A loaded PGA Tour field is set for the CJ Cup in South Carolina, which begins Thursday at Congaree Golf Club. With another win, Rory McIlroy can supplant Scottie Scheffler as the No. 1 player in the world.

While LIV Golf takes a break before its season-finale team event in Miami later this month, the LPGA will kick off its two-event Asian swing at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea.

Here's what to watch in professional golf this week:

What's next on the PGA Tour

The CJ Cup in South Carolina When: Thursday-Sunday Where: Congaree Golf Club, Ridgeland, South Carolina Defending champion: Rory McIlroy Purse: $10.5 million

Three storylines to watch:

The boys are back: For the first time since the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake, most of the PGA Tour's top players will be competing this week at Congaree Golf Club. In fact, 15 of the top 20 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are in the field, including six of the top 10. The five missing from the top 20 are Cameron Smith (LIV Golf), Patrick Cantlay , Xander Schauffele , Will Zalatoris (injured) and Tony Finau . It will be a preview of the 13 elevated events next season, as the Tour's top players have committed to play in each of them.

Rory's defense: McIlroy hasn't competed on the PGA Tour since winning the FedEx Cup for the third time at East Lake in August. But the No. 2 player in the world hasn't been taking it easy. He made three starts on the DP World Tour, tying for second at the BMW PGA Championship, finishing solo fourth at the Italian Open and tying for fourth at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Last year, McIlroy beat Collin Morikawa by 1 stroke to pick up his 20th PGA Tour victory at the CJ Cup @ Summit in Las Vegas. He'll have a chance to unseat Scottie Scheffler as the No. 1 player in the world if he defends his title or finishes solo second, depending on how Scheffler performs this week.

No rest for the weary: More than three dozen players in the field, including Viktor Hovland , Tom Kim , Hideki Matsuyama and Morikawa competed in the Zozo Championship in Japan, which ended around 3 a.m. ET on Sunday. The PGA Tour chartered a United flight for players, caddies and staff to get back to the U.S. The flight departed Tokyo around 10:45 p.m. ET on Sunday and landed in Savannah, Georgia, at 10:21 a.m. ET on Monday. The 12½ hour-flight covered more than 7,300 miles.

What's next in LIV Golf?

LIV Golf Team Championship When: Oct. 28-30 Where: Trump National Doral Miami Purse: $50 million

It's all about the team: The seeding is set for the season-ending Team Championship, in which 12 four-man squads will compete for $50 million. The first-place team will evenly split $16 million, second place gets $10 million, and third place takes home $8 million. Dustin Johnson's 4 Aces GC is the top seed with 152 points, followed by Bryson DeChambeau's Crushers (96 points), Sergio Garcia's Fireballs (93) and Louis Oosthuizen's Stinger GC (72). They'll each receive a first-round bye and get to pick their opponents for the second round. Brooks Koepka's Smash GC, which won the team event in Saudi Arabia last week, is the fifth seed and will be the first to choose its opponent for the opening round. Harold Varner III's Niblicks are the 12th seed.

Koepka ends drought: Koepka took down former roommate Peter Uihlein on the third playoff hole to win the LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. It was his first victory since February 2021. The former world No. 1 golfer also revealed to reporters that he wasn't sure he would play again after he suffered a dislocated and shattered right kneecap in March 2021. Koepka said he'll need a knee replacement in the next few years.

"I wasn't sure whether I could even move the same way and if I want to play if I could move the way I wanted," Koepka said. "I'm fortunate [to] be in the spot that I'm in right now."

It was a $4.75 million payday for Koepka, who collected $4 million for the individual title and $750,000 for the team win (one-fourth of $3 million). It's going to cost him a new Lamborghini, which he promised his brother and teammate, Chase, if they won a team event.

Golf but (much) louder: The entertainment lineup for the team championship was announced last week and it's not what you would expect to see at a traditional golf tournament. Then again, there's not much that's traditional about LIV Golf. The music lineup includes The Chainsmokers (not including South African golfer Shaun Norris ), Nelly, DJ Tay James, Snoop Dogg and Travis Scott. They'll be playing some golf, too.

What's next on the LPGA Tour

BMW Ladies Championship When: Thursday-Sunday Where: Oak Valley Country Club, Busan, South Korea Purse: $2 million Defending champion: Jin Young Ko

Player of the year race: Australia's Minjee Lee seemed to have the Rolex Player of the Year award wrapped up after she won the U.S. Women's Open and tied for second at the Women's PGA Championship. But a WD and consecutive missed cuts by Lee allowed three other players to get back into the race. With four tournaments left to play this season, Lee is 19 points ahead of Canada's Brooke Henderson , winner of the Amundi Evian Championship. Thailand's Atthaya Thitikul, 19, is 25 points back after picking up her second victory of the season at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in late September. And Lydia Ko, thanks to top-seven finishes in six of her past seven starts, is 29 points behind.

Ko is back: Defending BMW Ladies Championship winner Jin Young Ko, the No. 1 player in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings, is expected to make her first start since late August. Ko hasn't played since the CP Women's Open, in which she missed her second straight cut for the first time in her LPGA career, because of a nagging left wrist injury. It's the same injury that bothered her last season. Ko's lone victory this season came at the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore in early March.

Choi's farewell: South Korea's Na Yeon Choi will compete for the final time on the LPGA Tour this week. She announced her retirement on Oct. 5. Choi, 34, won nine times during her LPGA career, including the 2012 U.S. Women's Open in Kohler, Wisconsin.

"All athletes encounter the moment when they decide to retire," Choi said in a statement. "I think this is the right moment for me to make this big decision because I know that I will be leaving with no regrets in my career, which has been filled with my sweat and blood. It is not an easy decision to make but I am going to make the choice with no regrets for myself and my future. I'm going to stop playing golf, which was my whole life and at the same time a sport I both loved and hated. I've experienced many challenges but I will miss those moments a lot."

Inside the Official World Golf Rankings

Keegan Bradley Current rank: 23 Previous rank: 44

Bradley's emotional victory in Japan, his first on Tour in more than four years, helped him move inside the top 25 of the OWGR for the first time since August 2014.

Emiliano Grillo Current rank: 75 Previous rank: 87

Grillo, from Argentina, was solo fourth at the Zozo Championship, moving him up 12 spots. He shot 6-under 64 in the final round, but then threw some shade at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club.

"I don't like it, to be honest," Grillo said.

Andrew Putnam Current rank: 79 Previous rank: 109

The former Pepperdine star tied for second at the Zozo Championship, his best finish on Tour since he was runner-up at the 2021 Barracuda Championship.

Rickie Fowler Current rank: 106 Previous rank: 160

Fowler couldn't hold a 1-shot lead in the final round in Japan and finished runner-up for the 15th time in his PGA Tour career. Fowler hasn't won in more than three years, but his form seems headed in the right direction.

Keita Nakajima Current rank: 311 Previous rank: 354

The former world No. 1 amateur player, who played in three majors as an amateur last season, tied for 12th in his first Tour start as a pro in his native Japan.

Moving down

Brooks Koepka Current rank: 35 Previous rank: 33

Since LIV golfers still aren't receiving OWGR points, their rankings continue to fall. It is the four-time major champion's worst ranking since near the end of the 2014 season, when he was playing as a non-PGA Tour member.

Patrick Reed Current rank: 59 Previous rank: 56

Maybe Reed should add the OWGR to his growing list of defendants in his lawsuit . He was ninth in the world heading into the 2021 Open Championship.

Justin Rose Current rank: 69 Previous rank: 66

The former world No. 1 golfer has been struggling with his form for a while and withdrew after the first round of the BMW PGA Championship, the DP World Tour's flagship event, because of a back injury.

Phil Mickelson Current rank: 143 Previous rank: 138

The six-time major champion might believe LIV Golf is winning in its ongoing battle with PGA Tour, but Lefty is losing when it comes to his world ranking. It's his worst position since 1993, less than a year after he turned pro.

Jason Day Current rank: 146 Previous rank: 143

Another former world No. 1 golfer, Day tied for eighth at the Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas. It was his first top-10 finish since a tie for third at the Farmers Insurance Open in February.

On the record

J.T. Poston picked up his second PGA Tour victory at the John Deere Classic in July. He advanced to the Tour Championship for the first time in his career and tied for 15th at East Lake Golf Club. Poston is also an ambassador for Congaree Golf Club, which is hosting its second PGA Tour event. South Africa's Garrick Higgo won the 2021 Palmetto Championship there. Poston talked to ESPN on Monday about what PGA Tour players can expect this week and other topics.

Q: What do you think of the layout at Congaree?

A: It's awesome. I really like it. I think a lot of the guys will like it this week. I think it's going to be very different from what we see week in and week out. There's no rough. It's all fairway and waste areas. It's not something you'd usually see on Tour. Usually, you see a lot of rough around the greens and off the tee. It's mowed real tight and the fairways are firm and fast. I think it will be fun. I think it's a good layout, and I'm looking forward to it getting the exposure it deserves.

Q: What can you tell me about the Congaree Foundation?

A: The way they have it set up as a foundation and they call people ambassadors. They want you to be an ambassador of the club and the foundation. The foundation helps local kids and kids from all over the country and world take the next step with college golf. They do two junior camps every summer and kids come in from all over the world. They take classes, get instruction from the pros, they have trainers and learn everything about playing golf at the college level. It's a pretty sweet deal. They've had a number of kids come through the program get college scholarships, where otherwise they probably wouldn't have exposure to that kind of instruction.

Q: What is going to be at a premium this week on the course?

A: I think it's going to be iron play and controlling your ball. I think the greens can get firm and fast, so getting your ball pin high is [going to be important]. I don't think it's going to be a week where guys are going to be able to attack a bunch of flags, so just hitting solid shots and hitting a lot of greens in regulations [are going to be key]. You're going to have to be sharp around the greens. There's a lot of run-offs, so the ball is not going to be just sitting just off the green if you miss. It's going to be like links golf, where choosing the right club, trajectory and right part of the green can make or break getting up and down.

Q: After picking up your second PGA Tour win and finishing in the top 15 of the FedEx Cup points standings, what are your goals this season?

A: I just want to put myself back in that position. One of the big things from last season was kind of being in the mix for the Presidents Cup. I know I was probably on the outside looking in, but just being part of the conversation was something I was pretty new to and something that I thought was awesome. A light bulb kind of went off to where I feel like I can play well enough to be in the mix for those teams. I really want to try to put myself in that position again and see if I can make one of those teams. In order to do that, I think it's sort of the mentality of going out and trying to win golf tournaments, and not worrying about just having good weeks and top 10s or top 20s. I want to try to give myself a chance to win as many times as possible this year and see where I stack up at the end of the season.

Q: In terms of your game, what do you feel like is dialed in and what needs improvement?

A: I feel like my putting and short game have always been pretty good through the years. It's been streaky at times, but I'd say the last couple of years it's been a little more consistent. I've started to drive the ball a little bit better, but the weeks that I play my best are when my tee to green is really good, especially my approach play and irons. As far as where I can improve, it's probably just being a little bit more consistent and tighter on shots into the greens, because I feel like the short game and putter are always going to be there.

Q: What did you make about Phil Mickelson's comments about LIV Golf "winning"?

A: My gut says of course it's easy for him to say that because he's not on the PGA Tour and he's on the LIV tour. He'd be stupid not to say that, whether he actually believes it or not. It feels like there's a lot of decisiveness between the LIV tour and PGA Tour and choosing sides and this and that, but at the end of the day what's going to be best for the game of golf? I think what the PGA Tour has done is obviously a model for success and it has been for a long time. They're obviously making a few changes here and there to try and constantly better the product. I'd have a hard time saying that the LIV golf is going to be better than the PGA Tour, personally.

Wells Fargo Championship payout distribution 2024: Prize money, purse

T he Wells Fargo Championship has become one of the flagship events on the PGA Tour , which made it an obvious choice for a limited-field signature event during the 2024 season. But unlike some of the other signature events before it, this trip to Quail Hollow this week gave us what we've been looking for in these elevated tournaments featuring all of the top golfers on the PGA Tour.

Not only was Quail Hollow playing extremely difficult with its length and windy, wet conditions (the latter more so earlier in the week) but the cream of the crop separated themselves. Entering Sunday's final round, it was two of the game's biggest stars battling at the top of the leaderboard. Xander Schauffele held the 54-hole lead looking to go wire-to-wire, but Rory McIlroy made a big moving day charge to be just one stroke behind Xander.

And in the heart of the final round with Schauffele not making any big move, Rory made his push and pulled ahead of his playing partner on Sunday in Charlotte. Then it became a question of how they would handle the Green Mile and a tough finish.

In the end, though, it would all be worth it with the 2024 Wells Fargo prize money on the line. How much is the purse this week Quail Hollow and what does the payout look like for every player, though? Let's take a look.

Wells Fargo Championship purse 2024: Winner's prize money, total purse

The winner of the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship will receive a massive $3.6 million in prize money for their victory at Quail Hollow. With this long golf course and the wind whipping throughout the week, they'll have earned every penny. So will every other player who is looking for their share of the $20 million purse that has become standard for signature events this season on the PGA Tour. The test put forth at this event, however, makes it seem more worthy of that type of payout than most.

Wells Fargo Championship payout distribution by finishing position in 2024

Here is the full payout breakdown at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship with the prize money for every finishing place in the tournament.

Again, as a signature event, we see the payout and prize money for the 68 players who teed it up this week (it was 69 before Hideki Matsuyama withdrew before his tee time in the first round) at Quail Hollow. The top three finishers will all clear seven figures this week while every player who finishes 36th or better will make six figures -- which means more than half of the Wells Fargo field will see that type of payday.

With this type of money on the line in addition to the tough test that the golf course offered this week, it feels like this was absolutely a worthy and heavy-hitting tune-up before next week's PGA Championship at Valhalla in Kentucky.

This article was originally published on fansided.com as Wells Fargo Championship payout distribution 2024: Prize money, purse .