Weekly Read: Trump National Doral's Tournament Legacy Continues With LIV Golf
The PGA Tour heads to Mexico for a new event, with a new venue, a new format and another reminder that the World Golf Championship concept has been diminished in 2022 with just two such events.
Meanwhile, the LIV Golf Invitational Series is set to announce Monday that the final event of its eight-tournament schedule will be played at Trump National Doral in Miami in October.
The correlation goes back six years, when the PGA Tour decided to leave Doral after a history of tournaments at the venue that dated to 1962.
Then a WGC event, it was moved to Mexico City for a four-year run that was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic last year and moved to Florida for a one-off event one by Collin Morikawa, with the WGC distinction being dropped this year.
That left a void at an iconic venue in Miami that saw the PGA Tour come to town for 55 consecutive years. Billy Casper won the tournament two of the first three years. Lee Trevino was a winner, as was Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf. Raymond Floyd won the tournament three times, as did Andy Bean.
Tiger Woods won the last two regular Doral events in 2005 and 2006, and then won the event there in 2007 when it was upgraded to a WGC.
And Greg Norman won twice at Doral, too.
After five years away, Doral will get professional golf again under Norman’s LIV Golf banner, the $50 million team championship in which the four-man winning team will split $16 million.
The PGA Tour did not leave Doral without controversy, although it did not do so for the reasons that former President Donald Trump suggested — politics.
Cadillac was the event’s title sponsor and alerted the PGA Tour it would not be renewing its deal beyond the 2016 event. After trying to locate a title sponsor to replace Cadillac, the Tour accepted an offer from Grupo Salinas to move the event to Mexico.
That did not go over well with Trump, who at the time was campaigning for president.
"I just heard that the PGA Tour is taking their tournament out of Miami and moving it to Mexico," Trump said in an interview with Fox News in May of 2016. "It's at Doral ... they used one of my places. They're moving their tournament; it's the Cadillac World Golf Championship. And Cadillac's been a great sponsor, but they're moving it to Mexico. They're moving it to Mexico City which, by the way, I hope they have kidnapping insurance.
"But they're moving it to Mexico City. And I'm saying, you know, what's going on here? It is so sad when you look at what's going on with our country."
The following day, Trump issued a statement in which he said: "It is a sad day for Miami, the United States and the game of golf, to have the PGA Tour consider moving the World Golf Championships, which has been hosted in Miami for the last 55 years, to Mexico."
On that aspect, Trump was correct. It was a shame that Miami was losing its tournament, Doral in particular.
But it was a bit more complicated than the politics Trump suggested. An avid golfer and follower of the sport, Trump took on a big role at the event after purchasing the resort out of bankruptcy in 2012. But his larger-than-life presence actually hurt the title sponsor, Cadillac, which was overwhelmed by Trump.
It made finding a new title sponsor difficult, as well. And while Trump himself could have probably picked up the title sponsorship tab, he elected not to do so. And so the PGA Tour followed a path Trump knows well: it went with the money, leaving behind a long history in Miami.
“I know everybody’s talking about politics, but it’s actually not that, in my view,’’ said then-PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem. “I think it’s more Donald Trump is a brand, a big brand, and when you’re asking a company to invest millions of dollars in branding a tournament and they’re going to share that brand with the host, it’s a difficult conversation.’’
The Tour leaving a longtime or large market is nothing new, either. This year, the PGA Tour will not play in New York, Boston or Chicago. It does not have a regular stop in Washington, D.C., nor Philadelphia nor Atlanta. It goes where a title sponsor is willing to pony up millions.
Putting on a WGC event costs a title sponsor in the neighborhood of $15-$18 million per year. Grupo Salinas was willing to do that, and is still involved in the new Mexico Open at Vidanta Vallarta, which is now a full-field event of 144 players – and being contested on a Norman-designed course. You cannot make this up.
Now an event is scheduled again for Doral, Oct. 28-30, with Norman in charge as commissioner of the LIV Golf Invitational Series. The team concept of the event has yet to be revealed, but the last-place team will earn $1 million – or $250,000 each.
Jay Haas and Sam Snead
In his 799th PGA Tour start, Jay Haas, 68, became the oldest player in PGA Tour history to make a cut, surpassing the mark set by Sam Snead, who was 67 when he made the cut at age 67 in 1979 at Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic. (Snead made three cuts at age 67, including the PGA Championship.) Playing the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, he and his son, Bill, teamed to shoot a final-round 72 in the alternate shot format to tie for 36th.
“I don’t think it should (count) because Sam Snead did it on his own and all that, but anything that I’m even remotely close to Sam Snead on would be very special,’’ said Haas. Snead was in the field when Haas made his PGA Tour debut at the 1973 tournament in Greensboro.
A nine-time PGA Tour winner, Haas brought up an interesting point as it relates to team events.
Since the New Orleans event went to a team format in 2017, the PGA Tour elected to make the results official. It awards official money and FedEx Cup points. Both Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay are given credit for a PGA Tour win. It is Schauffele’s first on the PGA Tour since 2019.
And it is a reminder that Snead’s 82 PGA Tour victories – tied with Tiger Woods for the top spot – included wins in five team events.
Snead also won three events over 36 holes and another over 18; the Tour now requires 54 holes for a victory to be considered official. He also was credited for a victory at the 1950 Bing Crosby Pro-Am, where he was tied with three other players when play was suspended. Instead of returning for a playoff, all four players were declared winners.
None of Woods’ 82 PGA Tour victories came in a team event. And while Snead won several small-field tournaments, Woods captured 18 WGC titles, all with limited fields and no cut.
Fore! Things
1. Patrick Cantlay’s victory – along with Xander Schauffele – means he is the first player since Dustin Johnson in 2020 to follow a playoff defeat with a victory the following week. Johnson lost the BMW Championship in a playoff to Jon Rahm, and then won the Tour Championship. Cantlay lost to Jordan Spieth last week at the RBC Heritage.
2. Schauffele’s win was his first on the PGA Tour since he captured the Sentry Tournament of Champions in 2019. He won the gold medal at the Olympic golf tournament last summer.
3. Jay Haas made his first cut on the PGA Tour at the 1973 Greater Greensboro Open. That week, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Billy Casper and Snead also made the cut. This week, Haas, at 68, became the oldest player to make a PGA Tour cut.
4. Monday is the last day that potential competitors in the PGA Championship can register for the tournament, which is May 19-22 at Southern Hills. Both Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods are expected to be on the entry list, their participation still to be determined.
The Shark and The Open ...
Greg Norman’s desire to submit an entry for this year’s British Open at St. Andrews is curious at best. Does he really believe he has a shot at getting an exemption? Is he feeling reflective and wanting one last go inside the ropes and at the home of golf? Or is he stirring things up?
The CEO of LIV Golf Investments and the face behind the controversial LIV Golf Invitational Series that is set to kick off in June told the Sydney Telegraph that he was in the process of filling out the entry form and that “I think I can still get in.’’
Presumably, Norman was not talking about qualifying. At age 67, he is seven years past the R&A’s age limited for past champions. And on Saturday, the R&A issued a statement in which it said it had “no plans’’ at this time to offer an exemption. It’s also interesting that in the wake of the LIV Golf involvement with the Asian Tour, the R&A rescinded the Open exemption to the leader of the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit.
“I love St. Andrews. I love the history, I love the fact that you can play it backwards,’’ Norman said. “There’s not a golf shot out there that’s boring to me, Everything’s got character, every shot’s got to be played, every club in your bag has got to be used. There’s so much goodness about the golf course and it’s stood the test of time.’’
And yet, Norman skipped the last two opportunities to play at St. Andrews, in 2010 and 2015, when he was eligible. It’s possible injuries prevented his participation, but Norman has not played The Open since 2009 at Turnberry and hasn’t played an official World Golf Ranking event since the Australian PGA Championship in 2012.
The winner of the 1986 and 1993 Opens, Norman played three Opens at St. Andrews – in 1984 (T6), 1990 (T6) and 1995 (T15). He missed the 2000 event, the only major he skipped that year.
And in a recently released book called “Aussies at The Open,’’ Norman suggested he was fine with not taking his last shot at St. Andrews in 2015, saying he did not like the idea of being a ceremonial golfer.
“It’s not like I want my final round of The Open and to stand on the Swilcan Bridge and say goodbye to everybody,’’ he said. “Or to go to Australia and play any one of the golf courses I’ve played, like Royal Melbourne, and say, “This is my last round of golf, I’m never playing golf again.’ That’s not true. When you retire from golf, you actually retire from golf. You never pick up a golf club again. I was never going to be that way.’’
... and one more for Calc
Mark Calcavecchia, who defeated Norman (and Wayne Grady) in an aggregate playoff to capture the 1989 British Open at Royal Troon, will make this year’s Open his last appearance. Calcavecchia requested an extension of his age exemption because the 2020 Open was not played due to the pandemic and last year he was injured.
Calcavecchia, 61, played in his 1,000th combined event on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions over the weekend. And he told PGA.com how his final Open appearance came about.
“Last year, I couldn’t play because I’d had back surgery,’’ he said. “So I wrote a long letter in April when I knew I wouldn’t be able to play and I asked the Open committee to consider letting me play at St. Andrews, make it my last Open. They got right back to me and said, ‘Let me bring it up to the championship committee.’ And not even a few weeks later, I got an email back. The decision by the 25 committee members was unanimous. ‘We’d love to have you play your last Open at St Andrews. We love to take care of our past champions.’
“My daughter and my son will be coming, and my wife, Brenda, of course. And my goal is to make the cut … I really think I can make the cut. Either way, it’s going to be a blast.”
PGA Championship Countdown
There are 24 days until the first round of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where typically one of the best fields of the year assembles.
Aside from the 20 PGA of America club professionals who qualified via last week's PGA Professional Championship, the tournament essentially takes all of the top 100 players in the world. It does not explicitly say so in its qualification criteria, but it often fills out its field by inviting those among the top 100 who have yet to qualify.
The tournament’s main qualification is the top 70 players from a running money list that begins before the previous year’s PGA and concludes two weeks prior. Past major champions for five years as well as PGA champions for life are also invited.
Southern Hills last held the championship in 2007 when Tiger Woods won his 13th major championship.
The entry deadline was Friday and the PGA of America is expected to announce its field to date on Monday.
Social Matters
— Careful, Keegan.
— What took so long, JD?
Next Up
The PGA Tour heads to a new tournament, the Mexico Open at Vidanta, a full-field event of 144 players who will compete at Vidanta Vallarta.
The event fills the gap left by the former WGC-Mexico Championship, which was played in Mexico City from 2017 through 2020 and won by Patrick Reed the last year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the event could not be played in Mexico last year, so the PGA Tour moved it to Bradenton, Florida, for one year, with Collin Morikawa the winner.
Since, the WGC distinction has been dropped, meaning this is a regular event with a $7.3 million purse and $1,314,000 going to the winner. World No. 3 Jon Rahm is the highest-ranked player in the field and will be joined by Gary Woodland, Reed, Mexico’s top golfer Abraham Ancer, and Daniel Berger.
Although it is a new event on the PGA Tour, the tournament is considered Mexico’s national open, which dates to 1944.
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