Latest Golf News

As the PGA TOUR ramped up preparations for next week’s return to competition at the Charles Schwab Challenge, it identified the implementation of a quick, reliable COVID-19 testing procedure for players, caddies and essential personnel as one of the most critical requirements, one that also could carry over to PGA TOUR Champions and the Korn Ferry Tour for the remainder of the season.

It turns out the TOUR had to look no further than an existing partner on PGA TOUR Champions in tournament sponsor Sanford Health. Among the largest health systems in the United States, Sanford Health demonstrated the ability to deliver on-site testing with rapid results through mobile testing units staffed by several lab technicians. So, plans have been finalized whereby Sanford Health will deploy three of the units across the continental U.S., each manned with a driver and three technicians, to cover the three Tours for the remainder of the season.

Each unit will arrive the Saturday prior to the tournament to begin processing RT PCR tests. The test itself takes less than five minutes to administer, and test results are returned within several hours. Approximately 400 individuals are expected to be tested on-site each week.

In this video, Neil Tappin poses 10 golf rules questions that every golfer needs to know. These are some of the most important rules that commonly occur during a round of golf. From practising on the course during the round to identifying your ball, knowing these will help you avoid any unwanted penalty shots.

Chances are, it was not really Mark Twain who said, “Golf is a good walk spoiled.”

Although the phrase is widely attributed to him, there was no record of him ever having said it before a Saturday Evening Post article in 1948, which was 38 years after his death.

The website quoteinvestigator.com indicated that the aphorism was used in 1903 by an unnamed lawn tennis player and in 1904 by the novelist Harry Leon Wilson. In any event, and no matter who said it first, the tart barb toward golf remains a respectful ode to walking.

Walking was and is a focal point in the game and many people still believe each brings out the best in the other. The Walking Golfers Society is a group founded on that very concept.

Rob Rigg, a Toronto, Ontario native who established it, wrote about an insight he gained after he graduated from college: “As I took a step back and began to think less about my game, and more about the experience of walking the course, I began to play better.” Noting that he soon became a single-digit handicap, he added, “What had changed? Simply—enjoying the walk.”

Even the most enthusiastic walking golfers do not begrudge against cart-riders. They understand that some people simply cannot physically walk a course. They also acknowledge that for various reasons, including revenue streams and pace of play, many courses require golfers to ride.

In the 2020 Capital One's The Match: Champions for Charity, Peyton Manning lands his tee shot on the green and makes the putt for birdie to win the hole at the par-3 4th hole. The win would get Manning and Tiger Woods to 2 up over Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady.

In this video, we highlight the best and worst things about how playing golf is different now the courses are open in England again after lockdown. The courses may look a little rough around the edges, but round times are down and the 2 metre social distancing easy to maintain.

120th U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Amateur retain August dates;
four remaining amateur championships canceled; no qualifying to be conducted for 2020 championships

LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. (May 18, 2020) – The USGA announced several updates to its 2020 championship schedule today, as the organization continues to reconfigure its season due to uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 120th U.S. Women’s Amateur, scheduled for Aug. 3-9 at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md., and the 120th U.S. Amateur, scheduled for Aug. 10-16 at Bandon (Ore.) Dunes Golf Resort, will be conducted as scheduled, provided that CDC recommendations and state and local government guidelines make it possible to do so.

In addition, the USGA announced that the remaining four 2020 amateur championships will be canceled: those are the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur (which was scheduled Aug. 29-Sept. 3 at Berkeley Hall Club in Bluffton, S.C.); U.S. Senior Amateur (Aug. 29-Sept. 3 at Country Club of Detroit in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.); U.S. Mid-Amateur (Sept. 12-17 at Kinloch Golf Club in Manakin-Sabot, Va., and Independence Golf Club in Midlothian, Va.); and U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur (Sept. 12-17 at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Ala.). 

“Throughout this process, our primary focus has been the safety and well-being of everyone involved, including our players, volunteers, host club representatives and staff,” said John Bodenhamer, senior managing director of Championships for the USGA. “We have not taken these decisions lightly and wish we had more options. But with a continued, keen interest in doing what is best for all involved, although we are extremely disappointed, this is the right decision.”

The USGA previously announced the cancellation of six 2020 championships: the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Senior Women’s Open, U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Junior Amateur.

The USGA will thus conduct four championships in 2020, all at their originally scheduled sites. In early April, the USGA announced that the 120th U.S. Open will be played at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., from Sept. 17-20, and the 75th U.S. Women’s Open will be played at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas, from Dec. 10-13. Testing and robust health and safety protocols will be in place at each of the four championships.

Neil Tappin takes a look at the 8 weird things golfers do from putting gloves in back pockets to plumb-bobbing and strange swing rehearsals. Take a look at our list of what we think are the most 8 common and see how many you do! To non-golfers many of these things look truly strange but there is often a logic behind the weird things we do.

A collection of the funniest moments on the PGA TOUR, from players reacting to Tiger Woods' grandiose introductions, to team antics at the Presidents Cup, Phil Mickelson's dance moves and more.

A shorter season brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic means no one will lose a PGA Tour card this year and the Korn Ferry Tour players will have to wait a year before fully joining the big leagues.

A memo sent to players Thursday to outline the changes was another step in the tour trying to figure out what's equitable in a season that will be without 13 previously scheduled events.

The tour said players exempt for this season will keep the same status for the 2020-21 season that is scheduled to start in September unless they earn a higher ranking after this shortened season.

That could help someone like Harris English, who started the season with conditional status from finishing between Nos. 126 and 150 the previous season. He has posted five top 10s and is No. 24 in the FedEx Cup, making his a lock to have a full card for next season.

As for the developmental Korn Ferry Tour, no one will graduate to the PGA Tour after the season. The tour was working on rewarding the top 10 players, such as allowing them in opposite-field field events for next season.

All of this is contingent on golf resuming June 11-14 at Colonial, the restart of a season that would include only one major championship. The PGA Championship is tentatively set for Aug. 9-12 in San Francisco. The U.S. Open was pushed back to September, the Masters was moved to November and the British Open was canceled.

In this video, Joel Tadman tests the world's first adjustable ball marker! That's right, the Trident Align is a new ball marker design, approved by the USGA and R&A, that is adjustable - allowing you to fine-tune your aim without the ball being in place in front of it. It also has a clever way to make sure the line on your ball is positioned perfectly so you can start your putts on line more often than not. Joel puts it in play to see if the concept works in reality.