Jon Rahm, Bethpage Black, Greg Norman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Hannah Inexperienced (clockwise from prime left).
Getty Photos
Welcome to the Monday End, the place we’re nonetheless selecting which TGL staff to decorate up as for Halloween. To the information…
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GOLF STUFF I LIKE
Perseverance.
Tim O’Neal has at all times liked golf. It hasn’t at all times liked him again.
At Q-Faculty in 2000 he wanted bogey on the ultimate gap to get his PGA Tour card. He made triple. In 2004 he missed by a single shot when his birdie putt at No. 18 burned the sting. There have been loads of eyeballs on O’Neal, a promising black golfer who’d ripped off wins at Jackson State in faculty and even earned some funding {dollars} from actor Will Smith. However whereas he made it to the perimeter of golf’s prime ranges, he might by no means appear to crack by means of.
O’Neal performed on a number of iterations of the PGA Tour’s prime feeder tour, incomes standing on the Purchase.com Tour, which grew to become the Nationwide Tour, which grew to become the Internet.com Tour, which is now the Korn Ferry Tour. He gained and misplaced that standing a number of instances and stuffed the in-between years in tournaments and mini-tours close to residence and in far-flung locations. There have been instances he was tempted to stop however he by no means did; by 2013 he was one of many older gamers on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica however discovered some magic that season, successful twice. There have been at all times sufficient indicators that his recreation was there to maintain going, and the final time O’Neal received a PGA Tour-sanctioned occasion was in 2016 at Casa de Campo within the Dominican Republic, which was a PGA Tour Latinoamerica occasion on the time.
Till Sunday, that’s.
O’Neal, who made it by means of PGA Tour Champions Q-Faculty final yr, entered the ultimate spherical of the Dominion Vitality Charity Basic three photographs off the lead. He was in good place for his greatest end of the season — he’d posted only a single prime 10, a T7, in 23 begins in 2024 — however blew previous that objective and fired the spherical of the week as a substitute, a seven-under 65 punctuated by birdies on 16 and 18 to win his first PGA Tour Champions title by two.
O’Neal was emotional in his post-round interview as he tried to course of the second in real-time.
“It solely takes one week, proper? And this was my week,” he stated.
If he struggled to make sense of the accomplishment, that was comprehensible. O’Neal now has one thing he’s been chasing for many years: stability. He earned $350,000 for the win. He plowed his technique to the following spherical of the Charles Schwab playoffs. And he locked up his job for subsequent season, too.
“You recognize, I like all these guys out right here and I’ve discovered a lot the previous two years taking part in out right here on PGA Tour Champions,” he stated when requested concerning the gamers who’d caught round to congratulate him. “For them to really feel that manner for me, it means quite a bit as a result of I really feel like now that I’ve received, I really feel like I belong.”
Perseverance and reward — that’s golf stuff I like.
WINNERS
Who received the week?
J.T. Poston received the Shriners Youngsters’s Open, his third PGA Tour title and first as a father.
Hannah Inexperienced joined elite firm along with her third win of the season on the BMW Women Championship in South Korea, becoming a member of Lydia Ko and Nelly Korda within the three-plus group.
Julien Guerrier received the Estrella Damm Andalucia Masters, claiming his first DP World Tour victory practically 20 years after turning professional. It took a par on the ninth playoff gap to get there.
MJ Maguire received the Asian Tour’s Black Mountain Championship in a playoff.
And Tim O’Neal‘s massive win bought him to the following spherical of the playoffs.
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NOT-WINNERS
A number of guys who didn’t win.
Gary Woodland completed T9 on the Shriners, his second consecutive top-20 and his greatest consequence since mind surgical procedure 13 months in the past. He’s feeling higher, he stated, and that’s mirrored in his play.
Michael Kim, a Tour winner who’s grow to be well-known for his Twitter presence, fired a Sunday 62 — low spherical of the day by two — to dramatically improve his possibilities at retaining full PGA Tour standing for 2025. He went from No. 129 to 112 with the T5 end.
“I imply, it’s superior. It’s not a enormous monkey off my again, however a decent-sized one,” Kim stated. Appears fairly enormous to me.
Along with Kim’s Sunday transfer, Matti Schmid and Rico Hoey shot Sunday 66s to lock up their PGA Tour playing cards for subsequent yr; they went from 105 and 102 to 84 and 83, respectively.
Others making strikes: Woodland moved from No. 148 to 137 together with his T9 end. Alejandro Tosti additionally completed T9 to maneuver from No. 136 to 127. Joe Highsmith jumped contained in the quantity, a minimum of for now, going from No. 133 to 125. Vince Whaley improved his quantity from 125 to No. 120.
Joel Dahmen fell exterior the highest 125 after a high-profile penalty-WD combo; he’s now projected at No. 129. And Daniel Berger slipped from 126 to 128 after a T39.
SHORT HITTERS
5 issues to know, in short.
1. Might the PGA of America promote the Ryder Cup? Golfweek columnist Eamon Lynch made that case right here, suggesting it might fetch extra from the newly former PGA Tour Enterprises group now than ever. If that’s a risk, it’s truthful to place in your tinfoil hat and join the dots to the Cup’s $750 ticket costs. Might proving demand for prime costs and producing a ton of income have the side-benefit of jacking up the occasion’s buy worth…?
2. Cognizant is out because the sponsor of the LPGA’s Founders Cup, per reporting from Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols. The occasion was based in 2011 as a technique to honor the legacies of the LPGA’s 13 founders and, with Cognizant’s assist, quickly boasted a $3 million purse. Now its future is in query. Nichols additionally writes that the Ford Championship in Arizona and the Portland Basic face sponsorship questions — although Black Desert is predicted so as to add a big-money occasion to the calendar. Good learn right here.
3. LIV is in search of a brand new CEO to switch Greg Norman, per Sports activities Enterprise Journal; they’ve enlisted an government search agency to help within the course of. Norman is predicted to stick with the league, although his function isn’t instantly clear. Some high-profile gamers together with PGA Tour execs Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy plus LIV star Jon Rahm have urged that Norman would want to step apart for negotiations on professional golf’s future to meaningfully progress.
4. TGL launched its schedule for early 2025; issues will kick off on Tuesday, Jan. 7 on ESPN in primetime with a showdown between New York Golf Membership and The Bay Golf Membership. Tickets for the 1500-person South Florida area are going off at $160.
5. Wyndham Clark defined that PGA Tour gamers have been battling the mechanics of LIV execs doubtlessly rejoining the league.
“If we 100% knew we might take the cash and are available again, then all of us would have executed that,” Clark stated on the No Laying Up podcast this week. “As a result of all of us would’ve been manner richer and you then come again and truly play on the highest degree.”
He intimated that, had been it as much as him, achieved execs like Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson would have the ability to return. However he additionally didn’t counsel that negotiations are nearing any form of end line.
ONE SWING THOUGHT
There’s extra to life than birdies. Kinda.
J.T. Poston had missed quick putts on 16 and 17, chopping his lead over Doug Ghim from 4 photographs to 2. Then Ghim birdied 18 and out of the blue Poston confronted a must-make four-footer.
“Yeah, I instructed myself that is what you dream of. You bought a putt to win on the PGA Tour. Simply try to overlook concerning the final two. Didn’t make superb strokes on both of them, however I instructed myself I’ve made 1,000,000 of those and simply do another.”
He buried it.
ONE BIG QUESTION
Who’s becoming a member of LIV subsequent?
There are extra questions than solutions relating to LIV’s 2025 rosters, however we discovered a number of extra issues this week.
Sergio Garcia instructed GolfMagic that Eugenio Chacarra isn’t within the staff’s plans for 2025; Chacarra completed thirty ninth in LIV’s standings and his subsequent cease is unsure. Garcia hinted that he’s hoping so as to add “a bit little bit of a special profile sort of participant,” which suggests there’s a particular goal in thoughts. One rumored risk: U.S. Novice champ (and present Arizona State Solar Satan) Jose Luis Ballester. Ballester’s longtime coach is Garcia’s father, Victor, and Ballester has spoken extremely of Sergio’s mentorship.
Jon Rahm has a spot to fill on his Legion XIII staff after Kieran Vincent was relegated. He instructed Golf Sin Etiquetas on YouTube that, whereas he doesn’t but have a participant signed, he has “six or seven in thoughts.”
Rahm stated that one professional he’d been contemplating was Spanish and within the DP World Tour discipline this week. He additionally urged {that a} Callaway staffer can be a great match as he goals of a sponsored staff. Angel Hidalgo, a Spanish professional who edged out Rahm in a playoff a pair weeks in the past, looks as if one potential candidate; Rahm has seen his recreation up shut (though he performs Cobra and wears Puma).
John Catlin continued his run of stellar play on the Asian Tour with a runner-up end on the Black Mountain Championship; he’s in place to earn a LIV spot, too, if he maintains his No. 1 Worldwide Collection rating.
ONE THING TO WATCH
Michael Greller talks Spieth.
We’ve usually heard Jordan Spieth discuss to Michael Greller. We’ve even sometimes heard Greller discuss to Spieth. Nevertheless it’s not usually we’ve heard Greller discuss about Spieth. However then he bought some ice cream with our Claire Rogers, which suggests right here’s your probability.
NEWS FROM SEATTLE
Monday End HQ.
Gamble Sands is arguably Washington’s hottest destination-style golf course. Now? It’ll be twice nearly as good. The resort introduced David McLay-Kidd again for a sequel and so he and affiliate Nick Schaan have delivered to life “Scarecrow,” the property’s second full 18-hole course (there’s additionally a 14-hole quick course).
The brand new course is on a extra compact footprint, it’s hillier, it has much more expansive views of the close by Columbia River and, though it’ll nonetheless boast beneficiant fairways, small greens might make it more durable than the unique. Hope to see you there when it opens in 2025.
However first, I’ll see you again right here subsequent week!
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Dylan Dethier welcomes your feedback at dylan_dethier@golf.com.
