pga tour home of the majors

EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™

• PS Plus required for online play
• In-game purchases optional
• Supports up to 16 online players with PS Plus
• Online play optional
• 1 - 4 players

What is EA SPORTS PGA TOUR?

Experience the exclusive home of the Majors

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is the only place you can tee up at the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open Championship and The Open Championship.

Compete in the PGA TOUR's best events in the season-long race for the FedExCup. Conquer the top Amateur Championships, including the Augusta National Women's Amateur™, the U.S. Amateur™ and other elite international amateur events.

Buy EA SPORTS PGA TOUR on PlayStation Store

Deluxe Edition

• 1500 PGA TOUR POINTS
• PGA TOUR XP Bundle

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR key features

Pure Strike

Utilizing official PGA TOUR ShotLink powered by CDW and TrackMan data, Pure Strike gives you all the tools you need — including a set of 20 Shot Types — to realistically attack every hole on every golf course, the same way the pros do.

With Pure Strike, golfer-specific tendencies are combined with unique Course Dynamics and revolutionized Ball Behavior for the premier golf gameplay experience, resulting in unique golf swings with a fluid feel and realistic outcomes on every shot. 

Choose from a set of 20 Shot Types strategically during your round. Each Shot Type utilizes different club types, and each produces different Ball Behavior, so you can attack every course like a pro.

Course Dynamics

Backed by a rigorous course tuning process from tee to green, lifelike Course Dynamics ensure no two golf courses play the same. Every fairway, green and rough is meticulously scanned, handcrafted and uniquely tuned to simulate the individual nuances of different courses and terrain variables.

Ball Behavior

With three ball flight trajectories (high, medium, low), revolutionized Ball Behavior delivers next-gen responsiveness between your club, the golf ball and the golf course. Once your shot lands, the ball spins, bounces, dribbles and rolls as it would in real life.

The world’s most exclusive courses

Play at 30 courses including 28 of the world’s most prestigious tracks and two fantasy courses. Designed in stunning quality with Frostbite™ so you can enjoy more of golf’s finer details than ever before.

Immerse yourself in the stunning visual beauty and photo-realistic detail of pristine, bucket-list golf courses around the globe. Featuring unique Course Dynamics, test your skills and face the same challenges as the pros on every golf shot.

What courses are featured in EA SPORTS PGA TOUR?

• Augusta National
• The Old Course at St Andrews Links
• Pebble Beach
• The Los Angeles Country Club
• Southern Hills
• TPC Sawgrass
• Wilmington Country Club
• TPC Southwind
• TPC Scottsdale
• Whistling Straits
• Quail Hollow
• Torrey Pines
• The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort
• Chambers Bay
• Banff Springs
• Liberty National
• Harbour Town
• The Riviera Country Club
• Top of the Rock
• Bandon Dunes
• Evian Resort
• Teeth of the Dog
• Wetlands (fantasy course)
• Lighthouse Pointe (fantasy course)

Your career, your way

Create and customize a golfer and take on the PGA TOUR's best events in the season-long chase for the FedExCup. Develop your skills through unified RPG progression so you can master each course and learn to attack every hole like a pro on your way to becoming a Major champion.

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Ea sports pga tour to feature augusta national, exclusive home to all men's majors and lpga's amundi evian, share this article.

Augusta National is back in a video game.

Coming March 24, EA Sports PGA Tour will launch on all platforms, bringing EA Sports back into the golf video game realm. The last EA Sports golf game launched in 2015 with Rory McIlroy PGA Tour.

On Thursday, EA Sports launched a trailer featuring the game’s new elements. EA Sports PGA Tour will be the exclusive home of all four men’s majors, including the Masters.

Players will be able to compete in the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and Open Championship at numerous host courses, including all 2021 and 2022 venues. The 2023 ones will also be released at a later date. Additionally, players can compete in the top amateur championships including the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, the U.S. Amateur and other elite international amateur events. Players can also compete in the LPGA’s Amundi Evian Championship

Jordan Spieth hitting from a bunker at Augusta National. (Photo: EA Sports PGA Tour)

EA Sports PGA Tour will also have additional content throughout the 2023 PGA Tour and LPGA seasons.

“We’re bringing the premier PGA Tour experience to players around the world with real-world golf data powering incredibly realistic gameplay with every shot and some of the most iconic courses in the world rendered in painstaking detail,” Cam Weber, EA Sports’ EVP and GM, said in a release. “From The Old Course at St Andrews Links to Pebble Beach Golf Links and more, we’re giving players the chance to tee off in bucket list golf experiences like never before.”

The Players Championship and all three events of the FedEx Cup Playoffs will be in the game. As part of the career mode, top golfers at the end of the year will be given the opportunity to win the FedEx Cup.

Players will be able to create and customize a golfer and develop their skills. With 20 shot types available as players progress in the game, they can enhance their skill set for driving, approach, short game, or putting, depending on their style.

Tony Finau hitting from the fairway at Pebble Beach. (Photo: EA Sports PGA Tour)

Players can also play as several female athletes and create a female golfer in the overhauled Create-A-Player feature. They can participate in a series of LPGA-themed challenges and events. Iona Stephen joins the EA commentary team as the first female on-course commentator in-game, bringing her experienced insights from both playing professionally and working in golf broadcasting.

ShotLink and TrackMan data will also be incorporated to give players accurate rankings of skills.

Pre-orders for EA Sports PGA Tour are available now. Price will be $69.99 for the standard edition and $84.99 for the deluxe edition, which gives players access to numerous add-ons, like three-day early access to the game and Augusta National, Players Championship gear, the Grand Slam gear bundle, a Scotty Cameron putter in-game, 1,500 premium PGA Tour points, a PGA Tour XP Bundle and Masters gear.

A look at the cover of EA Sports PGA Tour. (Photo: EA Sports)

EA Play members will also receive early access to the game, starting with a 10-hour early access trial on March 21. EA Play Pro members will enjoy unlimited access to the deluxe edition – as well as the exclusive EA Play Staff Bag – starting March 21. Lastly, all EA Play members will unlock additional bonuses for EA Sports PGA Tour, with monthly drops of pro shop perks such as exclusive headcovers, shirts, hats and more.

EA Sports PGA Tour will be available on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC (EA App, Steam and Epic Games Store).

You can watch the official gameplay trailer here .

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EA Sports PGA Tour: Road to the Masters is a golf game unlike any other

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EA Sports PGA Tour: Road to the Masters is out now.

Didn’t score Masters tickets this year? Still trying to cope with the fact you might never peg it at Augusta National? Those things might not change, but you can still visit Augusta … virtually.

For the first time since 2013, Augusta National is back in video game form with the latest release of EA Sports PGA Tour.

EA Sports, known for its popular Madden NFL and FIFA titles, is relaunching its popular golf series in 2023 for the first time since 2015 — and it’s bringing back the home of the Masters as part of it all.

Augusta National hasn’t been in the game since 2014, the last time the series was released under the “Tiger Woods” name. Augusta is one of 30 different courses now available on the new game, with more courses — like major hosts Oak Hill and Los Angeles Country Club — coming online as those majors get underway.

EA’s return to the golf world means that golf gamers have the option between two PGA Tour-licensed golf games for the first time. 2K Sports released its third PGA Tour-licensed game, PGA Tour 2K23 with Tiger Woods, last fall.

The EA game was officially launched on Masters Friday, and we at GOLF have been putting it through the wringer to see if it’s a worthy golf simulation game. Here’s what we learned.

What we liked

Graphics and Aesthetics: In the run-up to the release of the game, the EA Development Team credited significant advancements in video game visual technology with bringing the series back from its nearly decade-long hiatus.

They weren’t kidding. Not only do the courses look stunning — EA producer Ben Ramsour told GOLF a screenshot of Augusta’s 13th green was mistaken for a photograph — but also the swing animations have finally started to appear lifelike.

You can really see EA’s attention to detail with the equipment highlighted in the game. From Callaway and TaylorMade drivers to Scotty Cameron putters, most of the game’s most modern offerings are available to users. And it all looks like the real thing. EA even brought insane detail into recreations of the trophies from golf’s majors, which brings us to the next item…

The four majors : Unlike the 2K games, EA Sports PGA Tour features exclusive rights to all four of the men’s major championships, meaning that the majors are now playable in career mode. That also goes for the U.S. Amateur, as well as the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. You can also play in the LPGA’s Evian Championship .

Each major has a unique broadcast package, with specific lines of dialogue from the broadcast team — a solid grouping that reunites Rich Lerner with Frank Nobilo, Notah Begay III and Iona Stephen. Nick Faldo even handles a spine-tingling intro for the Masters.

Career mode : You have three options of where to start your career: as an amateur in either the U.S. Am or the ANWA, a pro playing on the Korn Ferry Tour or by skipping those steps and heading straight to the PGA Tour.

I chose to start as an amateur, winning the U.S. Amateur to qualify for both the Masters and U.S. Open. My player made the cut on the number at Augusta (I have yet to break 71 there, more on that in a bit) and then earned a solid top 10 at the U.S. Open. Eventually, I’ll have to tackle Korn Ferry Tour Q-School before advancing up the ranks into the world of the PGA Tour.

As you play rounds or challenges, which can range from easy to very difficult, you earn XP to level up your golfer and earn skill points to improve your ratings and add shot selections to your repertoire.

Gameplay and shot types: Finally, a golf game has done justice to the stinger and the knockdown, two of my favorite shots. You have to level up your golfer enough to unlock these speciality shots — at which point you need to learn how to use them — but it’s fun to see a game actually delve into shot-making.

I’ve been playing on a custom difficulty in between the two most-difficult settings, “Tour” and “Simulation.” This means my shots are penalized or rewarded for timing, my clubs are recommended to me by carry distance, not total yardage, and I don’t get putt previews or shot trails. In the past, I’ve found golf video games were too easy in the mid-difficulty levels and far too difficult at the harder settings. With the latest EA offering, I’ve found a balance that allows me to shoot some “normal” scores that a pro would shoot on a real course.

The actual swing mechanic works nicely into the user interface. Some people have noticed some lagging in the timing, but it rarely impacts me significantly.

That said, Augusta National is hard. I mean, seriously hard, especially around the greens. I have yet to break 71 there and it’s mostly due to the crazy slope in the greens. That makes not only putting difficult but also chipping and approach shots.

Thanks to new ball flight and ball behavior settings, shots seem to react like they would at ANGC. Miss the tiny plateau in the upper right corner of 6 green? You’re going all the way back to the front left corner. Come up short on 9? You’ll be rewarded with a fun 50-yard pitch. Go long of the Sunday pin on 18? Good luck with that putt.

As expected, you also won’t get the same kind of spin at say, Bandon Dunes or St. Andrews, where the ball bounces and bounds like a true links course. These tendencies are independent of what the course setting is too. “Tournament” conditions at St. Andrews will naturally be firmer than at Augusta, but green speeds in Georgia will be quicker.

What could be better

I’m no video game expert (I only ever buy golf and basketball games at this point) but here’s what I, as a golfer, would like to see.

Short game: Short shots have always been the toughest to replicate in video games for some reason. Thanks to the new ball behavior, putting from off the green is finally reasonably accurate. The game also added a spinner shot, basically a lower pitch that checks, which I found myself using most of the time once I unlocked it. However, I still find myself using the flop shot at times I wouldn’t in relief simply because it spins way more than it should, even out of the rough. Also, where the spinner checks a little, the regular pitch and chip shots don’t. It would be very hard to recreate Tiger’s chip-in from the 2005 Masters.

Real-world weather : I believe the previous EA games had access to real-world weather that would allow you to play courses in real-time conditions. I would love to see that again as the tournaments I’ve played had random wind directions and speeds each day. Plus, the PGA is in May now — no way there’s perfect weather all the time!

Parting thoughts

The graphics and actual shot types make this game a must-have for any golf-loving video gamer or a video game-loving golfer. But then again, a golf game with Augusta National might be enough to earn “must-have” status alone.

After Tiger Woods’ 2K23 game came out around the same time this one was teased, I thought more people would gravitate toward 2K thanks to Tiger’s name (which was part of the success of EA’s previous games ).

But EA deserves a big chunk of the market share with this game. They knocked it out of the park with a vastly superior experience both from a visuals and gameplay standpoint. Would I love to play with Tiger in this game? Yes — but I’d argue having access to some of the best venues in golf is more important. I’d also love to figure out how to use EA’s graphics on a golf simulator, because the game has some of the best golf visuals I’ve ever seen.

EA Sports PGA Tour is out now for PlayStation 5, Xbox S|X and PC; the standard edition costs $69.99 and the deluxe edition costs $84.99.

EA Sports PGA Tour

Latest in lifestyle, 5 great golf finds you should buy (all under $50), memorial tournament betting guide: 7 picks our gambling expert loves this week, the most annoying golfer habit here's what nearly 4,000 golfers said, the key to the perfect burger toppings, according to a golf club chef.

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at [email protected] .

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EA SPORTS PGA TOUR, THE EXCLUSIVE HOME OF ALL FOUR MEN’S MAJORS AND ROAD TO THE MASTERS, AVAILABLE NOW WORLDWIDE

April 9, 2023

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR Includes “Road to the Masters” – Experience Augusta National, Complete Challenges Inspired By Real World Masters Moments and More

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) launched  EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™  worldwide for PlayStation®5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via the EA App, Steam and the Epic Games Store.  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  is the exclusive home of all four majors in men’s golf – the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship™, U.S. Open Championship® and The Open. The game features 30 courses at launch, THE PLAYERS Championship and FedExCup Playoffs, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and all-new Pure Strike gameplay featuring ShotLink® Powered by CDW.  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  will also launch with Road to the Masters which incorporates challenges, online tournaments and gear tied to the Masters.

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  features the most accurate representation of Augusta National, from exact locations of its flowers and trees, bird sounds, as well as the newly redesigned hole 13 commonly known as “Azalea.” Within Road to the Masters, players can compete for a Green Jacket at the world famous Augusta National and participate in a variety of unique challenges including “Championship Moments” from the Masters, where they’ll complete quests inspired by the prestigious Tournament. Players can test their skills in exciting season-long online tournaments, earning Masters-branded rewards, and equipping their created golfers with official clubs and gear.

“From the outset, our goal was to provide golf fans a true-to-life experience that replicated the excitement and passion that real life players experience every week on the PGA TOUR, as well as the beauty and grandeur of the Masters at Augusta National,” said Cam Weber, EVP and GM, EA SPORTS. “As the only golf game with all four men’s majors featuring some of the most iconic courses and tournaments in the world and realistic gameplay powered by real-world golf data, we’re extremely excited about giving players the most realistic golf game in the world today.”

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  is powered by EA’s Frostbite™ engine and boasts 30 bucket list courses at launch such as The Old Course at St Andrews Links, The Country Club, Pebble Beach Golf Links and Torrey Pines, allowing players to experience some of the world’s most prominent golf destinations in stunning 4K like never before†. Meticulously crafted using drone technology, flight helicopters equipped with custom LiDAR scanners and Frostbite’s state-of-the-art Terrain Procedural Tools, each course is packed with details that fans know and love, even down to the clubhouses. The photogrammetry and scanners were also applied to create precise renderings of clubhouses, iconic vegetation, bridges, tee markers, rock formations, and other on-course elements offering players life-like visual experiences of their favorite courses. The full list of courses available at launch is available at the  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  website.

The Pure Strike gameplay system, featuring ShotLink® powered by CDW and TrackMan, allows players to feel like a pro golfer by incorporating fluid swing mechanics, innovative ball behavior and lifelike course dynamics. With a robust career mode, online modes for friends and competitive play, real-life pros including LPGA golfers and deep customization options,  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  is the most content-rich entry in the franchise.

After the launch of  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR , players can expect compelling content updates alongside golf’s biggest moments such as the Majors, FedExCup, and the Ryder Cup. New challenges inspired by current and historic golf moments will be added along with the 3-Click Swing mechanic and five new courses featuring the sites of the 2023 men’s majors including Oak Hill Country Club, The Los Angeles Country Club and Royal Liverpool as well as Olympia Fields and Marco Simone, site of the 2023 Ryder Cup. More information on these new  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  content updates will be revealed later in 2023.

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  is packed with competitive content for players to experience in Career mode, including:

• THE PLAYERS Championship and FedExCup Playoffs  –   The PLAYERS Championship and all three FedExCup Playoffs events will be in the game. Players can earn in-game FedExCup points in Career Mode for the opportunity to compete in the FedExCup Playoffs.
• Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and The Amundi Evian Championship  – In partnership with the LPGA,  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  players can compete at The Amundi Evian Championship for the first time ever in a videogame. Players can compete as some of the top women in the sport, create a female golfer in the overhauled Create-A-Player feature, and participate in a series of LPGA-themed challenges and other events. The golfing world’s Iona Stephen will also be joining the EA commentary team, becoming the first woman to appear in a golf videogame providing on-course broadcast commentary.
• Your Career, Your Way  –   EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  provides players with an RPG-like progression system on the Road to the Masters. As their   golf game improves, the closer they’ll be to becoming a major champion. Players will be able to create and customize a golfer, develop their skills and master each course to attack every hole like a pro. For more information on the Career Mode in  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR , watch the deep dive video and read the detailed blog on all the features.
• Online Gameplay  –   Online game modes include Competitive play featuring simultaneous rounds with up to 16 players, as well as social and private matches for more casual experiences. Players can also play in a variety of timed tournaments for exclusive rewards.

For more details on  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR , and to register for email updates, visit www.ea.com/games/pga-tour. Follow @EASPORTSPGATOUR on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for the latest updates.

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  is developed by EA Orlando and EA Madrid.

PRESS ASSETS ARE AVAILABLE AT EAPressPortal.com

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company develops and delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, mobile devices and personal computers.

In fiscal year 2022, EA posted GAAP net revenue of approximately $7 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as EA SPORTS™ FC, Battlefield™, Apex Legends™, The Sims™, Madden NFL, EA SPORTS™ FIFA, Need for Speed™, Titanfall™, Plants vs. Zombies™ and F1®. More information about EA is available at www.ea.com/news.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS logo, Battlefield, Apex Legends, The Sims, Need for Speed, Titanfall, and Plants vs. Zombies are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. John Madden, NFL, FIFA and F1 are the property of their respective owners and used with permission. FIFA and FIFA’s Official Licensed Product Logo are copyrights and/or trademarks of FIFA. All rights reserved.

About PGA TOUR

By showcasing golf’s greatest players, the PGA TOUR engages, inspires, and positively impacts our fans, partners, and communities worldwide.

The PGA TOUR, headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, co-sanctions tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, Forme Tour and PGA TOUR Series-China. Members on the PGA TOUR represent the world’s best players, hailing from 29 countries and territories outside the United States (96 international members). Worldwide, PGA TOUR tournaments are broadcast to 216 countries and territories in 28 languages. Virtually all tournaments are organized as non-profit organizations to maximize charitable giving, and to date, tournaments across all Tours have generated more than $3.2 billion.

Fans can follow the PGA TOUR on PGATOUR.COM, the No. 1 site in golf, on the PGA TOUR app and on social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram (in English, Spanish and Korean), LinkedIn, Twitter, WeChat, Weibo, Toutiao and Douyin.

EA is a licensee of the USGA.

*Conditions & restrictions apply. See https://www.ea.com/games/ea-sports-pga-tour/disclaimers for details.

**Conditions, limitations and exclusions apply. See EA Play Terms for details.

†   Visual quality depends on your hardware.

Category: EA Sports

Ray Almeda Global Public Relations Manager 650-628-7015 [email protected]

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• MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

By The Numbers: 2021’s Four Major Winners: Matsuyama, Morikawa, Mickelson, Rahm

With a win at The 149th Open Championship, Collin Morikawa claimed the final major trophy up for grabs in 2021. The Cal Berkeley product joined Hideki Matsuyama (Masters), Phil Mickelson (PGA), and Jon Rahm (U.S. Open) as the year’s major champions.

It may go down as one of the greatest major seasons in history with Mickelson’s win at 50 years old, headlining the four.

Matsuyama, Morikawa, and Rahm are three of the game’s elite players – all 20-somethings in their prime, so this season could take on even more significance, historically speaking, as their legacies grow.

Here’s a look-back at the 2021 season’s four winners, including scores, stats, and photos.

Hideki Matsuyama Wins 2021 Masters

Storyline : Matsuyama became the first Japanese golfer to win a men’s major golf championship.

2021 Masters Tournament

Dates: April 8-11, 2021 Where: Augusta, Ga. Course: Augusta National GC Distance: Par 72, 7435 yards

Champion: Hideki Matsuyama

Age : 29 Nationality Japan Height : 5′ 11″ Weight : 190 lbs Golf Ball : Srixon Z-Star XV Winnings: $2,070,000 OWGR : 25th to 14th Scores : 69, 71, 65, 73 Driving : 288.6 yards Fairways : 64.3% Greens : 69.5% Scoring : 3 Eagles, 13 Birdies, 47 Pars, 9 Bogeys

Hideki’s Four Rounds at The Masters

Round 1 : -3, 69, 2nd ( Recap ) Round 2 : -4, 71, 6th ( Recap ) Round 3 : -11, 65, 1st ( Recap ) Round 4 : -10, 73, 1st ( Recap )

2021 Masters: Top 5

Pos-Player-To Par (Final Rd) 1. Hideki Matsuyama -10 (+1) 2. Will Zalatoris -9 (-2) 3. Jordan Spieth -7 (-2) 3. Xander Schauffele -7 (E) 5. Jon Rahm -6 (-6) 5. Marc Leishman -6 (+1)

Phil Turns Back Time to Win the PGA Championship

Storyline : At 50, Mickelson became the oldest golfer to win a major championship.

2021 PGA Championship

Dates:  May 20-23, 2021 Where: Kiawah Island, SC Course:  Ocean Course Distance: Par 72, 7849 yards

Champion: Phil Mickelson

Age : 50 Nationality: American Height : 6′ 3″ Weight : 200 lb Golf Ball : Callaway Chrome Soft X Triple Track Winnings: $2,160,000 OWGR : 115th to 32nd Scores : 70, 69, 70, 73 Driving : 313.1 yards Fairways : 55.4% Greens : 63.9% Scoring : 22 Birdies, 36 Pars, 14 Bogeys

Phil’s Four Rounds at the PGA

Round 1 : -2, 70, 8th ( Recap ) Round 2 : -5, 69, 1st ( Recap ) Round 3 : -7, 70, 1st ( Recap ) Round 4 : -6, 73, 1st ( Recap )

2021 PGA: Top 5

Pos-Player-To Par (Final Rd) 1. Phil Mickelson -6 (+1) 2. Brooks Koepka -4 (+2) 2. Louis Oosthuizen -4 (+1) 4. Padraig Harrington -2 (-3) 4. Shane Lowry -2 (-3) 4. Harry Higgs -2 (-2) 4. Paul Casey -2 (-1)

Jon Rahm Claims Maiden Major at U.S. Open

Storyline : Previously the best player in the world without a major, Rahm became the first Spaniard to win the U.S. Open.

2021 U.S. Open

Dates:  June 17-20, 2021 Where: La Jolla, CA Course:  Torrey Pines GC Distance: Par 71, 7698 yards

Champion: Jon Rahm

Age : 26 Nationality Spain Height : 6′ 2″ Weight : 220 lb Golf Ball : Callaway Chrome Soft X Winnings: $2,250,000 OWGR : 3rd to 1st Scores : 69, 70, 72, 67 Driving : 317.6 yards Fairways : 52.0% Greens : 68.0% Scoring : 15 Birdies, 49 Pars, 7 Bogeys, 1 Double

Rahm’s Four Rounds at the U.S. Open

Round 1 : -2, 69, 5th ( Recap ) Round 2 : -3, 70, 5th ( Recap ) Round 3 : -2, 72, 6th ( Recap ) Round 4 : -6, 67, 1st ( Recap )

2021 U.S. Open: Top 5

Pos-Player-To Par (Final Rd) 1. Jon Rahm -6 (-4) 2. Louis Oosthuizen -5 (E) 3. Harris English -3 (-3) 4. Guido Migliozzi -2 (-3) 4. Brooks Koepka -2 (-2) 4. Collin Morikawa -2 (-1)

Collin Morikawa Wins Second Career Major at The Open

Storyline : Became the First Player in the Modern Era To Win Two Majors in Less Than 10 Major Starts

The 2021 Open Championship

Dates:  July 15-18, 2021 Where: Sandwich, Kent, England Course:  Royal St George’s Distance: Par 70, 7204 yards

Champion: Collin Morikawa

Age : 24 Nationality: American Height : 5′ 9″ Weight : 160 lb Golf Ball : TaylorMade TP5 Winnings: $2,070,000 OWGR : 4th to 3rd Scores : 67, 64, 68, 66 Driving : 295.0 yards Fairways : 60.7% Greens : 75.0% Scoring : 19 Birdies, 49 Pars, 4 Bogeys

Morikawa’s Four Rounds at The Open

Round 1 : -3, 67, 9th ( Recap ) Round 2 : -9, 64, 2nd ( Recap ) Round 3 : -11, 68, 2nd ( Recap ) Round 4 : -15, 66, 1st ( Recap )

2021 The Open: Top 5

Pos-Player-To Par (Final Rd) 1. Collin Morikawa -15 (-4) 2. Jordan Spieth -13 (-4) 3. Jon Rahm -11 (-4) 3. Louis Oosthuizen -11 (+1) 5. Dylan Frittelli -9 (-2)

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Men’s golf majors in 2024: schedule and locations for the biggest events.

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The 2024 men’s golf major season will begin, per usual, in Augusta, Georgia. Here’s a look at when and where the Big 4 (in bold) will be contested this year, as well as a few other high profile events in the men’s professional game:

The Majors: Masters, US PGA, US Open, The Open

Every year in the golfing calendar there are four men's majors: the masters, us pga championship, us open and the open..

Today's Golfer's 2022 Major coverage is brought to you in association with  TaylorMade

The Major season begins with the Masters in April and ends in July with The Open Championship, the only one of the four to be played on British and Irish soil.

THE MASTERS:  Everything you need to know about the year's first Major

Winning a Major title is seen as a defining moment in a golfer's career. Jack Nicklaus holds the record for the most Majors won at 18, with Tiger Woods three behind on 15. Walter Hagen won 11, Ben Hogan and Gary Player won nine, Tom Watson lifted eight Major titles, while Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen, Bobby Jones and Harry Vardon have seven.

Nick Faldo is Britain (and Europe's) most successful golfer in the Majors to date, winning six throughout his career, one more than the legendary Seve Ballesteros.

Just five men have won all four Majors across the course of their careers – known as the career grand slam. They are Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Of the current players, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson are all one Major away from joining them, needing to win The Masters, US PGA Championship and US Open respectively.

What are golf's men's Major Championships?

The masters.

The Masters tournament, also known as The Masters or The US Masters, is the first men's Major of the year. It returned to its normal April spot in 2021, having been played as 2020's final men's Major in November, due to Covid-19.

Unlike the other Major Championships, the Masters is always played at the same location,  Augusta National Golf Club , a private golf club in the city of Augusta, Georgia, USA, and spectators in attendance are referred to as patrons.

The Masters was started by Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones. Jones designed Augusta National with course architect Alister MacKenzie. The tournament was established in 1934 and has been played on 85 occasions.

The tournament is an official money event on the PGA Tour, the European Tour, and the Japan Golf Tour, with a purse of $11.5m. The field of players is smaller than those of the other major championships because it is an invitational event.

Each year a special tournament is played around Augusta National's par-3 course on the afternoon before the main tournament begins. No one who has won the par-3 tournament has ever gone on to win the Masters in the same year.

The winner of The Masters famously wins the Green Jacket along with a trophy modelled on Augusta National's clubhouse and can return to play in the tournament for as many years as they wish – or physically can. The winner also chooses the menu for the following year's Champion's Dinner .

The current holder of the Masters is Hideki Matsuyama , who became the first Japanese man to win a Major at last April's tournament.

The player with the most Masters victories is Jack Nicklaus, who won six times between 1963 and 1986. Tiger Woods has five wins, followed by Arnold Palmer with four, while Jimmy Demaret, Gary Player, Sam Snead, Nick Faldo and Phil Mickelson all have three titles to their name.

RELATED: How a club golfer scored around Augusta

US PGA Championship

The second men's Major of the year is the US PGA Championship, known as the PGA Championship in America.

Established in  1916 and played on 103 occasions to date, the US PGA was originally a matchplay event, becoming a strokeplay event in 1958. It is an official money event on the PGA Tour, European Tour, and Japan Golf Tour, with a purse of $11m.

The tournament used to be played in August and was the final men's Major of the year, but it was moved to be played in May in 2019. It has  primarily been played in the eastern half of the United States, only venturing west on 11 occasions .

Last year's tournament was played on Kiawah Island's Ocean Course from May 20-23, with Phil Mickelson winning his sixth Grand Slam and becoming the oldest men's Major champion in history at 50 years, 11 months and 7 days of age.

RELATED: WITB Phil Mickelson

The US PGA Championship winner receives the impressive Wanamaker Trophy, named after  businessman and golfer  Rodman Wanamaker. The winner has to return the trophy after a year but gets to keep a smaller replica.

PGA champions are automatically invited to play in the other three men's Majors and The Players Championship for the next five years, and are eligible for the PGA Championship for life. They receive membership on the PGA Tour for the following five seasons and on the European Tour for seven seasons.

The PGA Championship is the only one of the four majors that is exclusively for professional players, with no amateurs in the field.

The player with the most US PGA victories is Jack Nicklaus, who won five times between 1963 and 1980, followed by Tiger Woods, who won his first Wanamaker trophy in 1999 and has four victories to date.

The third men's golf Major of the year is the US Open, or the United States Open Championship to give it its full name.

It has been played since 1895 with 121 editions to date. The first three tournaments were on a nine-hole course, played across 36 holes in a single day. Since 1898 the competition has been 72 holes of strokeplay across an 18-hole course.

The US Open is staged by the United States Golf Association (USGA) in mid-June, at a variety of courses, which tend to be set up to make low scoring as difficult as possible.

It is an official money event on the PGA Tour, European Tour, and Japan Golf Tour and has the largest purse of all of the men's Majors, at $12.5m.

2021's US Open was played across the South Course at Torrey Pines from June 17-20, where Jon Rahm won his first Major title and returned to the top of the world rankings. 

The tournament has a field of 156 players and is open to any professional, or to any amateur with a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 1.4.  Players gain a spot in the field by  being fully exempt or successfully qualifying.

Winning the US Open gives a golfer several privileges that make his career much more secure. US Open champions are automatically invited to play in the other three majors for the next five years, along with the The Players Championship. They are also exempt from qualifying for the US Open itself for 10 years.

Winners also receive a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour and receive automatic invitations to three of the five senior Majors once they turn 50 (a five-year invitation to the US Senior Open and a lifetime invitation to the Senior PGA Championship and Senior British Open).

Willie Anderson ,  Bobby Jones ,  Ben Hogan  and  Jack Nicklaus  hold the record for the most US Open wins, with four each, while Hale Irwin and Tiger Woods have three victories a piece.

RELATED: WITB Jon Rahm

The Open Championship

The Open, often called The Open Championship or British Open (by those in America), is the only one of the four men's Major Championships to be played outside of the United States of America, with the tournament moving between a select number of links golf courses in Great Britain and Ireland chosen by The R&A.

It is the oldest golf tournament in the world, having been founded in 1860, and was originally held at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Since 2019, The Open has been the final men's Major of the year, played in the third week of July. It is an official money event on the PGA Tour, European Tour, and Japan Golf Tour, with a purse of $10.75m.

The tournament is known as The Open because it is "open" to all professional and amateur golfers thanks to the local and final qualifying systems. 156 players start the four-round strokeplay tournament with the top 70 and ties making the cut to play the final two rounds.

The winner of The Open is named 'The Champion Golfer of the Year' and receives the Claret Jug, arguably the most famous and coveted prize in golf, and the Gold Medal. The runner-up receives a Silver Salver, while the leading amateur golfer receives the Silver Medal.

The Open Championship has been hosted by 14 courses across its 148 tournaments.

Scotland (96 Opens)

The Old Course at St Andrews (29),  Prestwick   (24),  Muirfield   (16),  Royal Troon (Championship)   (9), Carnoustie  (8), Musselburgh (6),  Turnberry  (4). 

England (50)

Royal St George’s   (14),  Royal Liverpool   (12),  Royal Lytham & St Annes   (11), Royal Birkdale (10),  Royal Cinque Ports   (2),  Prince’s   (1).

Ireland (2)

Royal Portrush (Dunluce)   (2)

The Old Course will be the venue for the 150th Open in 2022, with Royal Liverpool Golf Club (Hoylake) hosting in 2023 and Royal Troon Golf Club hosting in 2023.

RELATED: Golf World Top 100 Links Courses in Britain and Ireland

In 2020, The Open was cancelled for the first time since the Second World War, due to the Covid-19 global health pandemic.

Collin Morikawa won the 2021 Open at Royal St George's, the American's second Major in two years, having broken his duck at the 2020 PGA Championship.  

Harry Vardon is the most successful player in Open history, having won the event six times. James Braid, J H Taylor, Tom Watson and Peter Thomson all have five victories, Walter Hagen, Bobby Locke, Tom Morris Sr, Tom Morris Jr and Willie Park Sr have four, and Tiger Woods, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Jack Nicklaus, Bobby Jones, Henry Cotton, Bob Ferguson and Jamie Anderson have won three each.

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One year after historic PGA Tour-LIV 'agreement,' golf appears as lost as ever

Golf isn’t a sport that generates “this can’t be real” news, even accounting for the world No. 1 player getting arrested before his tee time at a major . But the most seismic “this has to be fake” golf news in a decade hit one year ago Thursday. That’s when the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund announced — after months of bare-knuckle media sparring — that they had reached a “framework agreement” that would reshape men’s professional golf as we know it.

The two parties announced that they were ending legal hostilities, that they would create a new combined organization to help shepherd golf into its next era, that everybody involved would make so much money, and that this would all be done by Dec. 31.

You probably don’t need a spoiler warning for this: Except for the “so much money” part, exactly none of that has happened.

One year after the stunning announcement of the framework agreement — negotiated in secret by just a few principals, dropped on the heads of PGA Tour players with little to no warning — men’s professional golf is stuck in a swampy mire of its own creation.

Looking back at the initial news out of that day, which we described as “stunning,” it’s fascinating — but definitely not stunning — how few of the promises of that initial announcement were kept:

The Saudi PIF was to be the sole financial investor in the new, yet-to-be-formed commercial entity that would run golf, with the right of first refusal on any additional investors. The PGA Tour neatly sidestepped that aspect with the January announcement that Strategic Sports Group, an entity made up of several American professional sports owners, would invest $1.5 billion in the Tour. The move bumped the PIF off its “exclusive” financial perch, perhaps for good.

An early version of the framework agreement included a provision that neither side would poach players from the other; that provision was dropped over antitrust concerns. But an informal hands-off agreement persisted … right up until the bombshell December announcement that Jon Rahm would be jumping to LIV Golf. So much for working together toward a common goal.

The PGA Tour and the PIF did not, in fact, come together to devise a pathway for LIV Golf players to return to the PGA Tour after the 2023 season. At the moment, and for the foreseeable future, the only time that Tour and LIV players cross paths is at the four majors.

No deadline for the finalization of the agreement was mentioned in earliest announcements beyond a simple, and wildly optimistic “few weeks.” The two sides blew right through a self-imposed Dec. 31 deadline, then an informal before-the-Masters one, and now there is no deadline at all.

So what happened? The simple version is that power and money collided, and everyone wanted a larger share of both. We don’t really know what’s going on behind closed doors, if anything, but we can guess, based on the comments of those who have been — even if only briefly — in the room.

The players, shut out of the initial agreement, have taken their revenge, claiming a much larger share of power in the direction of the Tour. That has, in turn, put a strain on the relationship with existing Tour executives and board officials, tilting the board’s power in the players’ direction. The Saudi incursion forced the PGA Tour to massively increase its purses across the board at its tournaments, and the players are now happily reaping the rewards of that … for however long it lasts.

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Jimmy Dunne, who helped broker the initial framework agreement, resigned from the Tour’s policy board right before the PGA Championship, timing his moment for maximum media effect. Dunne indicated that there has been “no meaningful progress” on any sort of agreement between the Tour and the PIF. Mark Flaherty, another board member, resigned soon afterward. The Tour’s player representatives, including Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay, continue to insist that all is well, but their words don’t mean much in the face of others’ actions .

Meanwhile, LIV Golf churns onward. In addition to welcoming in Jon Rahm, the tour reintroduced Anthony Kim to the golf world after a 12-year absence, and then saw Bryson DeChambeau nearly swoop in and claim the PGA Championship. LIV Golf players still don’t have a direct pathway to the majors via official world rankings, but the majors have shown a willingness to invite LIV players to play, regardless.

Few of the principals involved in this entire imbroglio have given more than lip service to golf’s fans, with most falling back on creaky old “grow the game” lines. Fans have noticed that the sport’s attention appears to be on everything but the on-course experience, and have tuned out. A compelling tournament — or a compelling figure’s arrest — can bring them back , but the trend is clear. One year out from what should have been a momentous day in the sport’s history, and golf still seems like it’s wandering in the forest, trying to find a wayward drive and wondering how things all went so sideways.

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EA SPORTS PGA TOUR , THE EXCLUSIVE HOME OF ALL FOUR MEN’S MAJORS, AND ROAD TO THE MASTERS LAUNCHES WORLDWIDE MARCH 24, 2023

Press release, new trailer provides a first look at pure strike gameplay featuring shotlink powered by cdw as pre-orders begin today.

Watch the Official Gameplay Trailer HERE   REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – January 19, 2023 - Today, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) announced that EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ will be launching on March 24, 2023 for PlayStation®5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via the EA App, Steam and the Epic Games Store. Pre-orders begin today for EA SPORTS PGA TOUR , the exclusive home of all four majors in men’s golf - the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship™, U.S. Open Championship™ and The Open.   In addition, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR will launch with Road to the Masters which brings tradition and unmatched stakes featuring Augusta National, challenges, tournaments and gear tied to the Masters. The Masters made its first-ever virtual appearance with EA SPORTS in 2011, and its return to video games has been highly requested by golf fans. EA SPORTS will also provide more details on additional live service content throughout the 2023 PGA TOUR and LPGA Tour seasons.   “We're bringing the premier PGA TOUR experience to players around the world with real-world golf data powering incredibly realistic gameplay with every shot, and some of the most iconic courses in the world rendered in painstaking detail,” said Cam Weber, EVP and GM, EA SPORTS. “From The Old Course at St Andrews Links to Pebble Beach Golf Links and more, we’re giving players the chance to tee off in bucket list golf experiences like never before in EA SPORTS PGA TOUR .”   EA SPORTS PGA TOUR released the official gameplay trailer today, featuring the all-new Pure Strike shot system. The full trailer can be seen on EA SPORTS PGA TOUR’s YouTube channel , and can be watched here .   Pure Strike gives golf fans all the tools they need to realistically attack every hole on every course the same way the pros do. Featuring ShotLink® powered by CDW and TrackMan, Pure Strike also helps ensure that each professional golfer’s unique swing and attributes will be accurately reflected in the game. Pure Strike incorporates the three parts of every golf shot - fluid swing mechanics that are highly accurate to a player’s backswing length and speed of follow through, innovative ball behavior allowing every bounce and roll to behave more accurately across a variety of terrain and course conditions, and lifelike course dynamics that play true to their real-life course counterparts.   In addition to being the exclusive home of all four men’s majors, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is filled with experiences and content players have been asking for in a golf game, including:  

• World Famous Courses - The tee is yours at 30 courses, including some of the world’s most  prominent venues such as Augusta National Golf Club, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Southern Hills Country Club, The Old Course at St Andrews Links, The Country Club, Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course, Torrey Pines, Evian Resort Golf Club in Évian-les-Bains, France, East Lake Golf Club, TPC Southwind, The Los Angeles Country Club, Wilmington Country Club and more. EA SPORTS PGA TOUR will also feature the past major host courses in 2021 and 2022 as well as the new 2023 majors courses releasing post-launch.
• Your Career, Your Way - EA SPORTS PGA TOUR provides players with an RPG-like progression system on the Road to the Masters. As their golf game improves, the closer they’ll be to becoming a major champion. Players will be able to create and customize a golfer, develop their skills and master each course to attack every hole like a pro. With 20 shot types available as players progress in the game, they can enhance their skill set for driving, approach, short game, or putting, depending on their style. Players will be able to compete to become a major champion, and take on the PGA TOUR's best events in the season-long race for the FedExCup, as well as conquer the top Amateur Championships including the Augusta National Women's Amateur, the U.S. Amateur, and other elite international amateur events.
• THE PLAYERS Championship and FedExCup Playoffs - The PLAYERS Championship and all three events of the FedExCup Playoffs will be in the game, and players can earn in-game FedExCup points in Career Mode for the opportunity to compete in the FedExCup Playoffs. As part of the Career mode, top golfers at the end of the year will be given the opportunity to win the FedExCup.
• Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and The Amundi Evian Championship - In partnership with the LPGA, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR allows fans to compete at The Amundi Evian Championship, one of the LPGA Tour’s five major championships, and have the opportunity to play as several female athletes as well as create a female golfer in the overhauled Create-A-Player system. Players will also be able to participate in a series of LPGA-themed challenges and other events. Iona Stephen will be joining the EA commentary team as the first female on-course commentator in-game, bringing her experienced insights from both playing professionally and working in golf broadcasting.
• True-to-Life Course Visuals - EA SPORTS PGA TOUR will also present the most realistic visuals in any golf game utilizing EA’s Frostbite™ engine. Using state-of-the-art equipment, including drone technology, helicopters and airplanes equipped with custom LiDAR scanners, and more to develop terrain maps, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR depicts courses exactly as they appear in real life. The photogrammetry and scanners were also applied to create precise renderings of clubhouses, iconic vegetation, bridges, tee markers, rock formations, and other on-course elements offering players life-like visual experiences of their favorite courses.
• ShotLink® - Utilizing ShotLink ® powered by CDW, the PGA TOUR’s proprietary real-time scoring system since 2001, golfers will authentically be replicated with accurate player ratings, skills and magnified true-to-life in-game events.
• TrackMan Data - Insights implemented from TrackMan, a world leader in 3D ball flight measurement and swing analysis, is a critical component to authentic gameplay utilizing a myriad of stats including club tuning, flight trajectory, landing position and much more.

  Pre-orders for EA SPORTS PGA TOUR are now available, including the Deluxe Edition where players will receive three-day early access to the game and Augusta National, THE PLAYERS Championship Gear, The Grand Slam Gear Bundle, Scotty Cameron Putter in-game, 1,500 Premium PGA TOUR points, a PGA TOUR XP Bundle and The Masters gear*. EA Play** members will also receive early access to the game, starting with a 10-hour early access trial on March 21. EA Play Pro members will enjoy unlimited access to the Deluxe Edition of the game – as well as the exclusive EA Play Staff Bag – starting March 21. Lastly, all EA Play members will unlock additional bonuses for EA SPORTS PGA TOUR, with monthly drops of Pro Shop perks such as exclusive headcovers, shirts, hats and more.   For more details on EA SPORTS PGA TOUR , and to register for email updates, visit www.ea.com/games/pga-tour . Follow @EASPORTSPGATOUR on Twitter , Facebook , and Instagram for the latest updates.   EA SPORTS PGA TOUR is being developed in Orlando and Madrid by EA Tiburon. PRESS ASSETS ARE AVAILABLE AT EAPressPortal.com   About Electronic Arts Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company develops and delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, mobile devices and personal computers.   In fiscal year 2022, EA posted GAAP net revenue of approximately $7 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as EA SPORTS™ FIFA, Battlefield™, Apex Legends™, The Sims™, Madden NFL, Need for Speed™, Titanfall™, Plants vs. Zombies™ and F1® . More information about EA is available at www.ea.com/news.  ;   EA SPORTS, Battlefield, Need for Speed, Apex Legends, The Sims, Titanfall and Plants vs. Zombies are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. John Madden, NFL, FIFA and F1 are the property of their respective owners and used with permission.   About PGA TOUR By showcasing golf’s greatest players, the PGA TOUR engages, inspires, and positively impacts our fans, partners, and communities worldwide.   The PGA TOUR, headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, co-sanctions tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, Forme Tour and PGA TOUR Series-China. Members on the PGA TOUR represent the world’s best players, hailing from 29 countries and territories outside the United States (96 international members). Worldwide, PGA TOUR tournaments are broadcast to 216 countries and territories in 28 languages. Virtually all tournaments are organized as non-profit organizations to maximize charitable giving, and to date, tournaments across all Tours have generated more than $3.2 billion.   Fans can follow the PGA TOUR on PGATOUR.COM , the No. 1 site in golf, on the PGA TOUR app and on social media channels, including Facebook , Instagram (in English , Spanish and Korean ), LinkedIn , Twitter , WeChat , Weibo , Toutiao and Douyin . EA is a licensee of the USGA.

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The 4 PGA Majors: A Complete Guide

When it comes to professional golf, there are four tournaments that hold a special place in the hearts of players and fans alike. Known as the “Major Championships,” these events bring together the world’s best golfers and showcase their skills on some of the most iconic courses in the sport. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll take a closer look at the four PGA Majors – The Masters Tournament, U.S. Open Championship, The Open Championship (British Open), and the PGA Championship – and explore their rich history, legendary moments, and lasting significance.

Overview of the 4 PGA Majors

The masters tournament.

First held in 1934, The Masters Tournament is a true testament to golf’s timeless traditions. Taking place annually at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, this Major is renowned for its stunning beauty and challenging course design. From the historic Green Jacket awarded to the winner to the azaleas that color the landscape, The Masters encompasses both athletic excellence and a sense of Southern hospitality.

Notable moments from The Masters include Tiger Woods’ iconic comeback in 2019 and Jack Nicklaus’ record-breaking 18-under-par victory in 1965. Each year, golf enthusiasts eagerly anticipate the picturesque setting and nerve-wracking drama that unfolds on Augusta’s famed fairways and greens.

U.S. Open Championship

Considered the most grueling Major, the U.S. Open Championship pushes golfers to their limits both mentally and physically. Founded in 1895, this tournament prides itself on challenging course setups and unforgiving rough. The U.S. Open rotates among various prestigious venues across the United States, including iconic courses like Pebble Beach and Winged Foot.

Memorable U.S. Open moments include Ben Hogan’s legendary performance in 1950 and the “The Massacre at Winged Foot” in 1974, where only seven players finished the tournament below par. The U.S. Open is a true test of skill and endurance, demanding precision and strategy from each participant.

The Open Championship (British Open)

As the oldest Major Championship, The Open Championship has a storied history dating back to 1860. Renowned for its links-style courses that bring the unpredictable nature of wind and weather into play, this tournament presents unique challenges to golfers from around the world. The rotation of venues throughout the United Kingdom further adds to the allure and excitement surrounding The Open Championship.

Golf legends such as Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, and Tiger Woods have all left their mark on The Open with their remarkable victories. From Henrik Stenson’s record-breaking performance at Royal Troon in 2016 to the Duel in the Sun between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus at Turnberry in 1977, The Open Championship has produced some of the sport’s most memorable moments.

PGA Championship

Established in 1916, the PGA Championship has evolved into one of golf’s most prestigious events. Unlike the other Majors, the PGA Championship is hosted at a different venue every year across the United States. This allows players to experience a wide range of course styles and challenges.

Some of the most iconic moments in golf history have occurred during the PGA Championship, such as John Daly’s long-shot victory in 1991 at Crooked Stick and Tiger Woods’ “Tiger Slam” in 2000, where he held all four Major titles simultaneously. With its dynamic venue rotation and fierce competition, the PGA Championship holds a special place in golf enthusiasts’ hearts.

Comparison of the 4 Majors

While each Major has its unique characteristics, they all share the common goal of identifying the best golfer of each year. Here are some factors to consider when comparing the four Majors:

Course Difficulty and Conditions

Each Major presents its own set of challenges, from the tight fairways and lightning-fast greens of Augusta National to the punishing rough and narrow fairways of the U.S. Open. The Open Championship tests golfers’ ability to adapt to ever-changing weather conditions, while the PGA Championship showcases a variety of course styles.

Prize Money and Payout Structure

The prize money and payout structure vary among the four Majors. The Masters has the smallest purse but awards the coveted Green Jacket. The U.S. Open and The Open Championship offer substantial prize pools, while the PGA Championship boasts a hefty purse and a more generous payout structure.

Field Composition and Qualification Process

Each Major has its own qualification criteria, which can include exemptions for past champions, top-ranked players, and successful qualifiers from regional competitions. The U.S. Open famously has a rigorous qualifying process, which allows amateur and professional golfers alike to compete for a spot in the field.

Fan Engagement and Global Reach

The four Majors attract millions of viewers from around the world, with dedicated fans eagerly following the action both on television and in person. The Masters’ tradition-laden ambiance and The Open Championship’s international appeal make them particularly beloved by golf enthusiasts around the globe.

Impact and Importance of Winning a Major

Winning a Major Championship has a profound impact on a golfer’s career. Not only does it bring immediate recognition and validation, but it also solidifies a player’s place in golf history. Majors often serve as stepping stones for players to achieve greatness and build a lasting legacy.

Furthermore, winning a Major opens doors to numerous sponsorship and endorsement opportunities, propelling a golfer’s brand into the spotlight. Major winners often experience increased fame and financial success, as well as the chance to compete in other prestigious tournaments.

Additionally, winning all four Majors in a single calendar year, known as the Grand Slam, is one of the rarest and most elusive achievements in golf. Only a select few, including Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods, have managed to accomplish this feat.

Beyond the 4 Majors: Other Noteworthy Golf Tournaments

While the four Majors take center stage, there are other significant tournaments in professional golf that deserve recognition:

World Golf Championships (WGC)

The WGC events bring together the world’s top-ranked players in a series of four annual tournaments. Each WGC event showcases a strong field and offers substantial prize money, further elevating the global competition in professional golf.

FedEx Cup Playoffs

The FedEx Cup Playoffs consist of a series of three tournaments that conclude the PGA Tour season. The playoffs offer significant prize money and determine the FedEx Cup champion, adding an exciting climax to the PGA Tour calendar.

Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup

These team competitions showcase the best players from Europe and the United States in a spirited battle for international bragging rights. The Ryder Cup, held every two years, and the Presidents Cup, held in non-Ryder Cup years, bring together the world’s top golfers in an iconic team format.

Conclusion: The Everlasting Significance of the 4 PGA Majors

The four PGA Majors – The Masters Tournament, U.S. Open Championship, The Open Championship, and the PGA Championship – hold a special place in the world of golf. They capture the essence of the sport, from the timeless traditions of Augusta National to the rugged beauty of links-style courses. These Majors celebrate excellence, create lasting memories, and shape the legacies of the game’s greatest players. Whether it’s the pageantry of The Masters or the demanding nature of the U.S. Open, each Major Championship brings its unique charm and excitement, delighting golf enthusiasts and captivating fans worldwide.

Robert Akin

Viktor Hovland & Co. Falls Prey to a Brutal List as PGA Tour & LIV Golfers Reaches Mid-Way Point of 2024 Majors

Viktor hovland tops the list of major-less-active players, the next best golfers in the sport without a major.

• Press releases

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR,  THE EXCLUSIVE HOME OF ALL FOUR MEN’S MAJORS AND ROAD TO THE MASTERS, AVAILABLE NOW WORLDWIDE

Press release.

EA SPORTS PGA TOUR Includes “Road to the Masters” – Experience Augusta National, Complete Challenges Inspired By Real World Masters Moments and More REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – April 7, 2023 -  Today, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) launched  EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™  worldwide for PlayStation®5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via the EA App, Steam and the Epic Games Store.  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  is the exclusive home of all four majors in men’s golf - the Masters Tournament, PGA Championship™, U.S. Open Championship® and The Open. The game features 30 courses at launch, THE PLAYERS Championship and FedExCup Playoffs, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and all-new Pure Strike gameplay featuring ShotLink® Powered by CDW.  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  will also launch with Road to the Masters which incorporates challenges, online tournaments and gear tied to the Masters.   EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  features the most accurate representation of Augusta National, from exact locations of its flowers and trees, bird sounds, as well as the newly redesigned hole 13 commonly known as “Azalea.” Within Road to the Masters, players can compete for a Green Jacket at the world famous Augusta National and participate in a variety of unique challenges including “Championship Moments” from the Masters, where they’ll complete quests inspired by the prestigious Tournament. Players can test their skills in exciting season-long online tournaments, earning Masters-branded rewards, and equipping their created golfers with official clubs and gear.   “From the outset, our goal was to provide golf fans a true-to-life experience that replicated the excitement and passion that real life players experience every week on the PGA TOUR, as well as the beauty and grandeur of the Masters at Augusta National,” said Cam Weber, EVP and GM, EA SPORTS. “As the only golf game with all four men’s majors featuring some of the most iconic courses and tournaments in the world and realistic gameplay powered by real-world golf data, we’re extremely excited about giving players the most realistic golf game in the world today.”   EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  is powered by EA’s Frostbite™ engine and boasts 30 bucket list courses at launch such as The Old Course at St Andrews Links, The Country Club, Pebble Beach Golf Links and Torrey Pines, allowing players to experience some of the world’s most prominent golf destinations in stunning 4K like never before†.  Meticulously crafted  using drone technology, flight helicopters equipped with custom LiDAR scanners and Frostbite's state-of-the-art Terrain Procedural Tools, each course is packed with details that fans know and love, even down to the clubhouses. The photogrammetry and scanners were also applied to create precise renderings of clubhouses, iconic vegetation, bridges, tee markers, rock formations, and other on-course elements offering players life-like visual experiences of their favorite courses. The full list of courses available at launch is available at the  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  website .   The  Pure Strike  gameplay system, featuring ShotLink® powered by CDW and TrackMan, allows players to feel like a pro golfer by incorporating fluid swing mechanics, innovative ball behavior and lifelike course dynamics. With a robust career mode, online modes for friends and competitive play, real-life pros including LPGA golfers and deep customization options,  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  is the most content-rich entry in the franchise.   After the launch of  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR , players can expect compelling content updates alongside golf’s biggest moments such as the Majors, FedExCup, and the Ryder Cup. New challenges inspired by current and historic golf moments will be added along with the 3-Click Swing mechanic and five new courses featuring the sites of the 2023 men’s majors including Oak Hill Country Club, The Los Angeles Country Club and Royal Liverpool as well as Olympia Fields and Marco Simone, site of the 2023 Ryder Cup. More information on these new  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  content updates will be revealed later in 2023.   EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  is packed with competitive content for players to experience in Career mode, including:  

• THE PLAYERS Championship and FedExCup Playoffs -  The PLAYERS Championship and all three FedExCup Playoffs events will be in the game. Players can earn in-game FedExCup points in Career Mode for the opportunity to compete in the FedExCup Playoffs.
• Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and The Amundi Evian Championship -  In partnership with the LPGA,  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  players can compete at The Amundi Evian Championship for the first time ever in a videogame. Players can compete as some of the top women in the sport, create a female golfer in the overhauled Create-A-Player feature, and participate in a series of LPGA-themed challenges and other events. The golfing world’s Iona Stephen will also be joining the EA commentary team, becoming the first woman to appear in a golf videogame providing on-course broadcast commentary.
• Your Career, Your Way -   EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  provides players with an RPG-like progression system on the Road to the Masters. As their golf game improves, the closer they’ll be to becoming a major champion. Players will be able to create and customize a golfer, develop their skills and master each course to attack every hole like a pro. For more information on the Career Mode in  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR , watch the  deep dive video  and read the  detailed blog  on all the features.
• Online Gameplay -  Online game modes include Competitive play featuring simultaneous rounds with up to 16 players, as well as social and private matches for more casual experiences. Players can also play in a variety of timed tournaments for exclusive rewards.

  For more details on  EA SPORTS PGA TOUR , and to register for email updates, visit  www.ea.com/games/pga-tour . Follow @EASPORTSPGATOUR on  Twitter ,  Facebook , and  Instagram  for the latest updates.   EA SPORTS PGA TOUR  is developed by EA Orlando and EA Madrid.   PRESS ASSETS ARE AVAILABLE AT  EAPressPortal.com   About Electronic Arts Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company develops and delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, mobile devices and personal computers. In fiscal year 2022, EA posted GAAP net revenue of approximately $7 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as EA SPORTS™ FC, Battlefield™, Apex Legends™, The Sims™, Madden NFL, EA SPORTS™ FIFA, Need for Speed™, Titanfall™, Plants vs. Zombies™ and F1®. More information about EA is available at  www.ea.com/news . EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS logo, Battlefield, Apex Legends, The Sims, Need for Speed, Titanfall, and Plants vs. Zombies are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. John Madden, NFL, FIFA and F1 are the property of their respective owners and used with permission. FIFA and FIFA's Official Licensed Product Logo are copyrights and/or trademarks of FIFA. All rights reserved.   About PGA TOUR By showcasing golf’s greatest players, the PGA TOUR engages, inspires, and positively impacts our fans, partners, and communities worldwide.   The PGA TOUR, headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, co-sanctions tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, Forme Tour and PGA TOUR Series-China. Members on the PGA TOUR represent the world’s best players, hailing from 29 countries and territories outside the United States (96 international members). Worldwide, PGA TOUR tournaments are broadcast to 216 countries and territories in 28 languages. Virtually all tournaments are organized as non-profit organizations to maximize charitable giving, and to date, tournaments across all Tours have generated more than $3.2 billion. Fans can follow the PGA TOUR on  PGATOUR.COM , the No. 1 site in golf, on the  PGA TOUR app  and on social media channels, including  Facebook , Instagram (in  English ,  Spanish  and  Korean ),  LinkedIn ,  Twitter ,  WeChat ,  Weibo ,  Toutiao  and  Douyin . EA is a licensee of the USGA. *Conditions & restrictions apply. See  https://www.ea.com/games/ea-sports-pga-tour/disclaimers  for details. **Conditions, limitations and exclusions apply. See  EA Play Terms  for details.   † Visual quality depends on your hardware. Contact:   Ray Almeda Global PR Manager, EA SPORTS 650-628-7015 [email protected]

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EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ Deluxe Edition

+Offers in-app purchases.

Game requires online multiplayer subscription to play on console (Game Pass Core or Ultimate, sold separately).

In this bundle

Description

EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ Deluxe Edition includes: - EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ - 1500 PGA TOUR POINTS - PGA TOUR XP Bundle Tee off at Augusta National where you can compete for a Green Jacket. - Play unique challenges and complete quests inspired by the Masters. - Access exciting new content, golf gear drops to customize your golfer, and online tournaments to test your skills on the course. The exclusive home of the Majors, EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ features Pure Strike for superior golf gameplay powered by ShotLink®, and unrivaled access to the world’s most exclusive golf courses. Home of the Majors EA SPORTS™ PGA TOUR™ is the exclusive home of the Majors, including the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open Championship, and The Open Championship. Pure Strike powered by ShotLink® Powered by official PGA TOUR ShotLink® and TrackMan data, Pure Strike provides unique golf swings with a fluid feel, and realistic outcomes on every golf shot. Pure Strike combines golfer-specific tendencies with unique Course Dynamics and revolutionized Ball Behavior for the premier golf gameplay experience. Your career, your way As your golf game improves, so does your path to becoming a Major champion. Create and customize a golfer, develop your skill set with new Shot Types, gain deeper course knowledge as you play, and learn to attack every hole like a pro. The world’s most exclusive courses The tee is yours at 30 courses, including some of the world’s most exclusive, designed in stunning quality with Frostbite™ so you can enjoy more of golf’s finer details than ever before. Conditions & restrictions apply. See ea.com/legal for details.

Published by

Developed by, release date, playable on.

• Xbox Series X|S

Capabilities

• Xbox local co-op (2-2)
• Online co-op (2-2)
• Xbox local multiplayer (2-4)
• Online multiplayer (2-16)
• 4K Ultra HD
• Single player
• Spatial Sound
• Optimized for Xbox Series X|S

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How We Got Here: A Timeline of LIV Golf's Creation and How the PGA Tour Reacted

Bob harig | 0 minutes ago.

How did professional golf's split come to life? Here's a timeline compiled by Bob Harig, from the initial reports of a rival league in January 2020 until now, one year after a "framework agreement" was supposed to unify the sport.

2020: The rival circuit idea takes hold

2021: liv golf is born, early 2022: phil mickelson speaks, liv prepares, mid 2022: liv golf—with big names—tees off, early 2023: owgr, legal issues persist, summer 2023: the stunning agreement , late 2023: liv strengthens its lineup, 2024: pga tour lands an investor deal.

January:  Reports first surface about the potential for a rival golf league that has been meeting with players and agents behind the scenes and touting an 18-event circuit with just 48 players, 12 teams and guaranteed pay. Initial ideas saw $10 million purses with no cuts and a windfall for 12 team captains. The concept was called the  Premier Golf League .

Jan. 29:  Phil Mickelson  plays in the pro-am for the Saudi International, an event that is sanctioned by the European Tour. In his group is Majed Al-Sorour, CEO of the Saudi Golf Federation; Andy Gardiner, a director at Barclays Capital and a founder of the PGL; and Colin Neville of the Raine Group, also a backer of the PGL, which had Saudi Arabia backing as well through the Public Investment Fund.

Jan. 30:  Greg Norman, who once tried to spearhead a rival league with the backing of Fox Sports, sees viability in the PGL a day after the pro-am in Saudi Arabia. “It’s just a matter of getting all the right components together, whether players stay together," says Norman, whose World Golf League in 1993-94 was thwarted by the PGA Tour. “With my original concept, some players loved it, and others didn’t like it. I had corporate, I had television but you need 100% of the pie to be together before we can bake it. From what I’m seeing here, this one has every chance of getting off the ground."

Feb. 11:  Speaking at the Genesis Invitational,  Tiger Woods says he’s been approached about the PGL . “My team’s been aware of it and we’ve delved into the details of it and trying to figure it out just like everyone else. We’ve been down this road before with World Golf Championships and other events being started. There’s a lot of information that we’re still looking at and whether it’s reality or not, but just like everybody else, we’re looking into it."

Asked why he might even be interested, Woods said: “I think just like all events, you’re trying to get the top players to play more collectively. It’s one of the reasons why we instituted the World Golf Championships, because we were only getting (the top players) together five times a year, the four majors and the Players, and we wanted to showcase the top players on more than just those occasions. So this is a natural evolution, whether or not things like this are going to happen, but ideas like this are going to happen going forward, whether it’s now or any other time in the future."

Feb. 18:  A week later at the WGC-Mexico Championship,  Rory McIlroy  seemingly deals the PGL a serious blow: “The more I’ve thought about it, the more I don’t like it. The one thing as a professional golfer in my position that I value is the fact that I have autonomy and freedom over everything I do. I pick and choose—this is a perfect example. Some guys this week made the choice not to come to Mexico. If you go and play this other golf league, you’re not going to have that choice.

"I read a thing the other day where it said if you take the money they can tell you want to do. And I think that’s my thing, I’ve never been one for being told what to do, and I like to have that autonomy and freedom over my career, and I feel like I would give that up by going to play this other league. For me, I’m out. My position is I’m against it until there may come a day that I can’t be against it. If everyone else goes, I might not have a choice, but at this point, I don’t like what they’re proposing."

Spring/Summer:  Talk of the rival golf circuit dies down considerably amid the global Coronavirus pandemic. Talk shifts to when golf will resume and how it will take place amid a health crisis. The PGL idea goes into the background.

Fall:  The PGL approaches the European Tour, now the DP World Tour, with a proposal to merge or cooperate. CEO Keith Pelley turns down the PGL and instead forms a "strategic alliance" with the PGA Tour that will see some crossover events, the Tour take an ownership stake in European Tour productions, and effectively—at the time—hold off the outside threat.

May 4:  A report surfaces that a new Super Golf League has emerged and that it is either the new name for the PGL or something different. Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson are among those linked to it. Sometime during the spring and summer of 2021, the PGL sees some of its personnel switch allegiances to a new entity that will have full Saudi backing and will come to be known as LIV Golf.

Oct. 27:  At a private unveiling in New York, LIV Golf Investments is announced with Greg Norman as its CEO, with the idea of first helping to back golf in Asia with the $300 million investment in the Asian Tour, which will be used to finance a new elevated series of events called the International Series. It is eventually disclosed that Norman will also be the commissioner of a new tour called the LIV Golf League, with plans to launch in the spring of 2022.

Nov. 21:  PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan sends a memo to players outlining how 55% of the Tour’s revenue will be paid out to players in the form of prize money, bonuses and other benefits—believed to be in response to Phil Mickelson saying on a podcast that only 26% of revenue was going to the players.

Feb. 2:  While playing in the Saudi International for the third straight year, Phil Mickelson does an interview with  Golf Digest  in which he refers to the  PGA Tour’s "obnoxious greed"  as a reason why players might be interested in LIV Golf. He also maintains that the Tour is sitting on millions of dollars that should be going to the players. "It’s not public knowledge, all that goes on," Mickelson said. “But the players don’t have access to their own media. If the Tour wanted to end any threat, they could just hand back the media rights to the players. But they would rather throw $25 million here and $40 million there than give back the roughly $20 billion in digital assets they control. Or give up access to the $50-plus million they make every year on their own media channel."

Feb. 17:  Even Tiger Woods and the Genesis Invitational—where he is not playing—take a back seat to the drama that unfolds when Alan Shipnuck releases an excerpt from his soon-to-released  biography of Phil Mickelson  in which the golfer, among other things, says he is willing to use the Saudi-backed LIV Golf League as leverage against the PGA Tour and that he and other players paid attorneys to help LIV Golf develop its business plan.

Feb. 20:  With Phil Mickelson’s comments the talk of the tournament, players such as  Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau come out in support of the PGA Tour , viewed as a blow to LIV Golf. It is later learned that Mickelson’s comments and the subsequent back-tracking of several players who were interested in LIV set back the league’s plans and sent it into disarray.

Feb. 22:  In the wake of his comments,  Phil Mickelson offers an apology  and says he will step away from the game for a period of time and offers to pause relationships with sponsors. “I have always known that criticism would come with exploring anything new. I still chose to put myself at the forefront of this to inspire change, taking the hits publicly to do the work behind the scenes.”

Mickelson said that he offered the brands with which he was associated “the option to pause or end the relationship as I understand it might be necessary given the current circumstances.” KPMG and Amstel Light end their relationships with Mickelson, and a few days later, Callaway announces that it is pausing a relationship that dates to 2004.

March 8:  With Phil Mickelson missing—and, later it was learned, suspended—PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan addressed the media at the Players Championship. A typical state-of-the tour-type news conference  turned into questions about Mickelson and LIV Golf . "The PGA Tour is moving on," he said. "We have too much momentum and too much to accomplish to be consistently distracted by rumors of other golf leagues and their attempts to disrupt our players, our partners, and most importantly our fans from enjoying the Tour and the game we all love so much.

"I am grateful for the strong support our top players have shown recently and publicly, and I’m extremely proud that we’ve turned the conversation around to focus on what we do best: delivering world-class golf tournaments with the best players to the best fans, all while positively impacting the communities in which we play. We are and we always will be focused on legacy not leverage."

March 16:  Despite numerous setbacks, LIV Golf announces an eight-tournament schedule to begin in June. It won’t be the LIV Golf League, as planned, but the LIV Golf Invitational Series. Purses will be $20 million for the individual portion with $5 million more set aside for the teams. At the time, LIV Golf was unsure if it would be able to fill a 48-player field so it announced that the entire purse would be paid out regardless of the number of players who started. Total prize money for the eight events was set at $255 million, with $50 million set aside for a season-ending Team Championship.

May 10:  PGA Tour players and Korn Ferry Tour players interested in competing in the first LIV Golf event outside of London in June need to seek conflicting event and/or media releases but are denied. The Tour tells players it is not an authorized event. Greg Norman, the LIV Golf commissioner, pushes back. "Sadly, the PGA Tour seems intent on denying professional golfers their right to play golf, unless it’s exclusively in a PGA Tour tournament. This is particularly disappointing in light of the Tour’s non-profit status, where its mission is purportedly to promote the common interests of professional tournament golfers.

"Instead, the Tour is intent on perpetuating its illegal monopoly of what should be a free and open market. The Tour’s action is anti-golfer, anti-fan, and anti-competitive. But no matter what obstacles the PGA Tour puts in our way, we will not be stopped. We will continue to give players options that promote the great game of golf globally.”

May 31:  Dustin Johnson, a two-time major winner who has 24 PGA Tour titles, headlines  the field announced for the first LIV Golf event  to be played at The Centurion Club outside of London. Others listed are past major winners Sergio Garcia and Louis Oosthuizen, as well as Kevin Na, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.

June 6:   Phil Mickelson ends a four-month hiatus  in which he missed the  Masters  and defense of his  PGA Championship  title, emerging as LIV Golf’s latest signee who is set to compete later in the week at the first tournament. At a news conference prior to the tournament, Mickelson is asked several times about his past comments regarding Saudi Arabia, its human rights record and the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, believed by U.S. government officials to have been carried out by the Saudi regime.

“Well, certainly, I've made, said and done a lot of things that I regret, and I'm sorry for that and for the hurt that it's caused a lot of people. I don't—I don't condone human rights violations at all. Nobody here does, throughout the world. I'm certainly aware of what has happened with Jamal Khashoggi, and I think it's terrible. I've also seen the good that the game of golf has done throughout history, and I believe that LIV Golf is going to do a lot of good for the game as well. And I'm excited about this opportunity. That's why I'm here."

June 9:  Within minutes of the first tee shots being struck at the first LIV Golf event, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan issues a memo in which  players who are participating are told they are being suspended .

June 11:  Charl Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters champion, wins the first LIV event, holding on for his first victory anywhere in nearly six years. The win was worth $4 million from the $20 million purse and because Schwartzel’s team, Stinger GC, won the team competition, he pocketed another $750,000 from the $3 million paid to the winners.

June 21:  Following other players who committed to play for LIV during or after the first LIV event, then-four-time major champion  Brooks Koepka is announced as the latest addition . He joins the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Pat Perez, Patrick Reed and Abraham Ancer as those who were now set to play in LIV’s second event.

June 22:  During a news conference at the Travelers Championship, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan outlines a plan that will see the PGA Tour return to a calendar-year schedule in 2024 while also increasing the purses substantially at eight events, including the legacy events for Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and  Jack Nicklaus . The FedEx Cup season is also changed to see smaller fields at the first two playoff events.

Aug. 2:  Eleven LIV golfers sue the PGA Tour to challenge suspensions and claim a restraint of trade. Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau are among those named in the suit. Three other players—Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones—seek a temporary restraining order so they can play in the FedEx Cup playoffs. (The restraining order is denied on the eve of the FedEx Cup playoffs.)

Aug. 16:  Tiger Woods flies to Delaware and heads a players-only meeting at the BMW Championship along with Rory McIlroy where details are hashed out that will lead to substantial purse increases and benefits for players. It would later commonly be referred to as  "the Delaware Meeting."

Aug. 24:  On the back of the Delaware meeting, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announces a hastily-devised plan that will see eight tournaments in 2023 with boosted purses. First called designated events, these tournaments would have $20 million purses except for the Sentry, which will be $15 million. For several of the events, the result means more than doubling the purse. For the legacy events, it means adding $8 million per event. And the first two playoff events will also have $20 million purses.

Aug. 30:  Just more than a month after his victory at St. Andrews,  British Open  champion  Cam Smith becomes the latest player to join LIV Golf , doing so in time for its event in Boston. Smith is joined by Joaquin Niemann, who attended the Delaware meeting, along with Marc Leishman, Harold Varner III, Anirban Lahiri and Cameron Tringale. At the time, it gave LIV Golf six of the top 30 players in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Oct 5:  LIV Golf announces a strategic alliance with the MENA Tour, a developmental tour that has had Official World Golf Ranking accreditation since 2016. LIV Golf incorporates its events into the MENA Tour schedule and says it believes it should be granted OWGR immediately due to the association.  The move is scoffed at as an end-around to try and obtain points  and the OWGR does not grant points to LIV Golf.

Oct. 29:  Martin Slumbers, the CEO of the R&A, makes it clear that the British Open is not going to ban LIV golfers who are otherwise eligible for the 2023 championship. "We are not going to abandon 150 years of history have the Open not be open," Slumbers said.

Oct. 30:  LIV Golf completes its first season with Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces team winning the team championship in Miami. The four team members share a $16 million payday.

Nov. 15:  At the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, Rory McIlroy says it is time for golf’s warring factions to figure something out. But  he says it needs to happen without LIV Golf commissioner Greg Norman . “Greg needs to go. He needs to exit stage left. He’s made his mark but I think now is the right time to say you’ve got this thing off the ground but no one’s going to talk unless there’s an adult in the room that actually try to mend fences."

Nov. 29:  At his Hero World Challenge event in the Bahamas, Tiger Woods also says that Greg Norman needs to go. Woods had been planning to play for the first time since the British Open but withdrew due to plantar fasciitis. “I think (Greg Norman) has to go, first of all, and then obviously the litigation against us and then our countersuit against them. Those would then have to be at a stay as well, then we can talk, we can all talk freely. Right now as it is, not right now, not with their leadership, not with Greg there and his animosity towards the tour itself. I don’t see that happening. But why would you change anything if you’ve got a lawsuit against you? They sued us first."

Dec. 16:  Only a year into the job, the  Chief Operating Officer for LIV Golf leaves his position . Atul Khosla was hired by LIV Golf in December 2021 from the  Tampa Bay Buccaneers  NFL team, where he held the title of chief corporate development and brand officer. Khosla was also chief operating officer for the Chicago Fire soccer club in the MLS and also worked for General Electric and NBC Sports. In his role at LIV Golf, he reported to CEO and commissioner Greg Norman. His role was taken over by executives of the Performance 54 agency and not filled for nearly a year.

Dec. 20:  Augusta National makes clear it will be  inviting those eligible for the Masters to participate . “Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it," Masters chairman Fred Ridley said in a statement. “Although we are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers this coming April.”

Jan. 19:  LIV Golf announces it has a  long-awaited television partner  after its events were available only via streaming in the first year. The CW Network—the C is for CBS, the W for Warner Media—enters into a multi-year agreement to televise LIV Golf tournaments. The deal will not see LIV Golf get paid a traditional rights fee but that is "mutually financially beneficial." It is believed that LIV will share advertising revenue with the CW and will also likely be expected to shoulder a good bit of promotional work.

Jan. 24:  Jay Monahan and Keith Pelley recuse themselves from reviewing LIV Golf’s application for Official World Golf Ranking points. Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, and Pelley, the CEO of the DP World Tour, are two of the seven members of the OWGR board of directors that ultimately decides the fate of tours seeking accreditation. Keith Waters, who heads up the International Federation of PGA Tours and is the DP World Tour’s chief operating officer, also recused himself from the application.

“I have not looked at the LIV application," Pelley says during a session with reporters in Dubai. “So I can’t give an opinion on an application I have not seen. It is in the hands of the technical committee. On the advice of legal counsel, myself and Jay recused ourselves from the separate committee. Representatives of the four majors will now determine the LIV application. We are not involved and we have no influence on what transpires as far as LIV goes."

April 5:  The DP World Tour wins an arbitration case against LIV Golf players who were seeking to play the former European Tour. The arbitration panel rules that the DP World Tour had the right to fine and suspend players for violating its membership regulations in order to compete in LIV Golf events. Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and 10 other players had brought the action in response to fines levied for not being granted permission to compete in LIV Golf events. A separate antitrust case between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour is still scheduled for 2024.

May 4:  Amid its investigation of former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, the Department of Justice looks specifically at his dealings with LIV Golf, according to the  New York Times . Two of Trump’s courses hosted events in 2022 with three scheduled to do so in 2023.

June 6:  The golf world is stunned to learn that secret negotiations have been taking place and resulted in a  "framework agreement" between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Public Investment Fund . Initially said to be a "merger," it is later reframed as an agreement that would see the entities have an alliance. The biggest part of the news is that all of the lawsuits have been dropped. The idea is to have a final deal by Dec. 31, 2023.

As more details emerge, it is learned that PGA Tour Policy Board members Jimmy Dunne and Ed Herlihy secretly met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, for several weeks prior to the announcement. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan also had clandestine meetings with Al-Rumayyan. On the day of the announcement, they appeared together on CNBC.

June 7:  While surprised that everything came together so quickly, Rory McIlroy says that the PGA Tour’s partnership with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia will ultimately be good for the game of golf. Speaking after his pro-am round at the RBC Canadian Open,  McIlroy learned of the agreement shortly before the rest of the world  but said much of it has been mischaracterized and that it should not be viewed as a merger with LIV Golf.

“LIV has nothing to do with this. It’s the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund that are basically partnering to create a new company. That’s where I was a little frustrated. All I’ve wanted to do was protect the future of the PGA Tour and protect the aspirational nature of what the PGA Tour stands for. I think this does this. If you look at the structure, this new company sits above everything else. (PGA Tour commissioner) Jay (Monahan) on top of that. Technically, anyone involved with LIV would answer to Jay. The one thing whether you like it or not, the PIF were going to keep spending money in golf. At least the PGA Tour controls how that money is spent. You’re dealing with one of the biggest sovereign wealth funds in the world. Would you rather fight against or have them as a partner?"

June 7:  Although not involved in the negotiations, LIV Golf CEO and commissioner  Greg Norman has a positive message for the staff . Norman, who was not mentioned in any of the news releases associated with the agreement, tells more than 100 people on a 30-minute call that LIV will see no operational changes and that work is already being done on a 2025 schedule. “The spigot is now wide open for commercial sponsorships, blue chip companies, TV networks. LIV is and will continue to be a standalone enterprise. Our business model will not change. We changed history and we’re not going anywhere."

June 14:  On the Tuesday of the  U.S. Open  week, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announces through the Tour a  health-related leave of absence  that will see Tour executives Ron Price and Tyler Dennis take over his duties.

July 7:  In a memo to players, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan says he will return from his leave on July 14, which is the Monday of British Open week.

July 9:  Randall Stephenson, a longtime member of the PGA Tour and former head of AT&T,  sends a resignation letter to Monahan and the board  and specifically cites his displeasure with the framework agreement.

July 11:  Among wish-list ideas proposed by the LIV Golf League in the time leading up to the framework agreement was giving Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy LIV Golf League franchises and seeing them compete in LIV Golf events. It was just one of the ideas that discussed by the parties as part of documents released by a Senate subcommittee during a hearing in Washington, D.C., led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). The PGA Tour rejected it as part of the negotiation.

The committee is concerned about the foreign involvement in an American sports league as well as possible antitrust violations. Some of the ideas include having a "World Golf Series" team event that would be played in Saudi Arabia; LIV operating as it is but being played in the fall or with the idea of LIV coexisting along with the PGA Tour; two of the PGA Tour’s designated events that would be branded by the PIF or the Saudi Arabia oil company, Aramco.

July 18:  Masters champion  Jon Rahm  says he has no trust issues with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan—unlike several of his peers—and suggests time is needed. “As it comes to what he's been doing for us and the PGA Tour, I think he's done a fantastic job. I would say it was unexpected what happened. I think what the management of the PGA Tour, the turn they took without us knowing was very unexpected, but I still think he's been doing a great job. And right now after that happened, I only think it's fair to give them the right time to work things out. I still think they have the best interest of the players at heart."

Rahm, speaking before the British Open, also reiterates he is not interested in LIV Golf. “We all had the chance to go to LIV and take the money and we chose to stay at the PGA Tour for whatever reason we chose. As I've said before, I already make an amazing living doing what I do. I'm extremely thankful, and that all happened because of the platform the PGA Tour provided me. As far as I'm concerned they've done enough for me, and their focus should be on improving the PGA Tour and the game of golf for the future generations."

Aug. 1:   Tiger Woods is named to the PGA Tour Policy Board , giving the players a power boost as he becomes the sixth player director on the board. Part of the move includes a stipulation that will see a change in PGA Tour governance that means the player directors will have final say in any decisions going forward.

Aug. 8:  PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan speaks with reporters for the first time since his leave and after returning to work and takes responsibility for the way the negotiations for the “framework agreement" were secretly handled and the subsequent rollout. “It was ineffective and as a result there was a lot of misinformation. And anytime you have misinformation that can lead to mistrust. And that’s my responsibility. That’s me and me alone. I take full accountability for that. I apologize for putting players on their back foot. But ultimately it was the right move for the PGA Tour. I firmly believe that as we go forward time will bear that out. It was the right move and obviously we’re now in a position with NewCo (PGA Tour Enterprises) that provides the opportunity to have productive conversations."

Oct. 19:  On the eve of LIV Golf’s final event of 2023, CEO and commissioner Greg Norman speaks with reporters publicly for the first time since the agreement was announced and says  he has "zero" concern about the future of the league , regardless of what happens with the “framework agreement."

“All indications are showing that the position of LIV has never been stronger and that the success of our players and our brand has never been in a better place. And as we look forward into 2024, we’ve got a full schedule. We’ve got some places we’ve been to before, but we’ve got some new venues as well and we’re reaching different regions."

Nov. 28:  Tiger Woods speaks publicly for the first time since the framework agreement was announced and he joined the Policy Board, touching a variety of subjects including outside Public Equity Investment in the PGA Tour, the Public Investment Fund and LIV Golf.  He calls the ongoing negotiations "murky"  and says "I would have to say there's a lot of moving parts on how we're going to play. Whether it's here on the PGA Tour or it's merging, or team golf. There's a lot of different aspects that are being thrown out there all at once and we are trying to figure all that out and what is the best solution for all parties and best solution for all the players that are involved.’’

He says during the week and again two weeks later at the PNC Championship that he is focused on a deal getting done or some resolution by the Dec. 31 deadline.

Dec. 7:  After weeks of speculation,  Jon Rahm is announced as the newest member of LIV Golf . The two-time major champion, who on numerous occasions had expressed his disinterest in LIV due to the format, among other things, makes it official in New York where he said the lucrative offer was difficult to ignore and he had come to terms with the format. He also said his decision had nothing to do with any animosity or issues wit the PGA Tour.

I am proud to join @livgolf_league and be part of something new that is bringing growth to the sport. I have no doubt that this is a great opportunity for me and my family and am very excited for the future. pic.twitter.com/myf4isJgJ3 — Jon Rahm Rodriguez (@JonRahmOfficial) December 7, 2023

“I’m forever grateful to the PGA Tour and the platform they allowed me to be on. I have nothing bad to say about them. They allowed me the opportunity to play in some great events and allowed me to make a mark."

Dec. 31:  The agreement deadline comes and goes but the PGA Tour says  there is "meaningful progress" and that negotiations will continue  into 2024.

Jan. 31:  The PGA Tour  announces the formation of PGA Tour Enterprises  in a partnership with Strategic Sports Group, a group of investors from a number of professional sports. The deal, worth $3 billion, is said to allow nearly 200 PGA Tour players access to $1.5 billion in equity over time. The deal states that it allows for co-investment from the PIF in the future.

March 12:  Speaking with reporters for the first time since August, PGA Tour commissioner  Jay Monahan said negotiations with the PIF are “accelerating”  and that he and PGA Tour Policy Board members met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan in January, but did not offer specifics.

May 9: Rory McIlroy reveals that he is part of a subcommittee including Tiger Woods and commissioner Jay Monahan that is tasked with working directly on a deal with the PIF.  The seven-man committee also includes Adam Scott, player liaison Joe Ogilvie, Joe Gorder, a board member from Valero Energy, and John Henry from Strategic Sports Group.

May 13: Jimmy Dunne, one of the architects of the June 6, 2023, agreement, resigns from the PGA Tour Policy Board . In a letter to the board, he wrote that “no meaningful progress has been made towards a transaction with PIF,” and that ever since players seized control of the board and cut him out of negotiations, “my vote and my role is utterly superfluous.”

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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Will the PGA Tour, PIF make a deal? A year later it’s still uncertain

It’s been one year since the shocking announcement of a framework agreement between the PGA Tour and PIF (the owners of LIV Golf), the monumental deal that ended litigation between the competing men’s pro golf tours and proposed a new business entity with the Saudis potentially investing billions into what has become PGA Tour Enterprises.

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It was far from an actual deal, though. It was, in actuality, an agreement to stop the lawsuits and simply negotiate in good faith.

In the past year, deadlines have been extended. The United States government held an inquiry into the potential union. Players have taken on power. Key figures on June 6, 2023 have either stepped down or seen their influence wane. A new investment group, led by American sport owners, emerged. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan went from the man with the most power to players calling for his resignation to firmly back in control. All while players like Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth have taken on powerful roles. Still, few seem to know where any of this is heading.

So where are we a year on from the June 6 bombshell ? Let’s try to cut through the noise and explain where things stand.

The change in power

A “PGA Tour policy board” may mean nothing to you. It shouldn’t. But know the policy board decides almost everything for the PGA Tour. And there’s no better way to begin to detail the chaotic past year than the shuffling of seats on the board.

A year ago, investment banking legend Jimmy Dunne, popular with players for his willingness to connect them with the corporate world, was the key outside force on the board. Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy was balancing being one of golf’s biggest superstars and the most powerful among the five player-directors on the board. He was the PGA Tour’s most effective communicator, repeatedly denouncing LIV.

Well, when the June 6 announcement happened, it sent the golf world into a tizzy. For starters, it was all done in complete secrecy, so on a tour where the players are also essentially the owners, they had no say. Additionally, players who spent the past year turning down massive sums of money from the Saudis and defending the tour were livid that the tour just legitimized LIV and they still didn’t get the payday . Monahan and Dunne, the former secretly deputizing the latter to initiate talks with PIF, went from the leaders to the bad guys in many players’ eyes.

The players wanted more of a say. They wanted more voting power, insisting on an extra voting seat to be added specifically for Woods. They also campaigned to add former tour player turned investment banker Joe Ogilvie as “liaison director.” Suddenly the players were not just more engaged — they had voting power.

The narrative became that the Cantlay camp fought for more money for the biggest stars, while McIlroy’s side wanted the money spread throughout the tour, among other disagreements like any potential return for LIV players and a more global golf tour. Eventually, McIlroy resigned from the board. Spieth, who reportedly sides with Cantlay and Woods, took McIlroy’s spot.

Since then, McIlroy has dramatically softened his stance on LIV and campaigned for the sport to unify and bring the best players together. He’s even criticized comments from board members like Spieth and Cantlay publicly. So when board member Webb Simpson (aligned with McIlroy) asked to resign in April and have McIlroy take his place, the powers that be rejected that move. Whether it was vendetta or procedure, the impact was the same — McIlroy was instead added to the PGA Tour Enterprises transaction subcommittee that negotiates with LIV.

Within 12 days of McIlroy’s failed return, two more board members in favor of a deal with PIF resigned, Dunne and investment banker Mark Flaherty. Dunne cited players taking control of board voting and “no meaningful progress” toward a deal with PIF.

“I think things are, unfortunately, put in a really bad light right now,” Spieth said last month, “and I think things are actually in a really, really good place, based on what I know, which is quite a lot in this situation.”

LIV did not stop

When the June 6th announcement happened, it was argued the PGA Tour and Monahan had the power. PIF would invest billions into the newly created PGA Tour Enterprises and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan would be chairman and get a seat on the policy board, but Monahan would be CEO of the new venture and have control over LIV’s future. That was met with skepticism, as many argued the man with the money actually controls things, but it was sold as PIF just wanted a seat at the table in professional golf and everyone got what they wanted.

By the fall, there was little actual movement toward a deal and the PGA Tour had made it clear it was actually seeking other investment opportunities — more on that in a second. There was deserved doubt of anything happening by the original Dec. 31 deadline. So in late November, it was major news when rumors circulated about LIV negotiating with the reigning Masters champ, Jon Rahm . He was widely considered the first or second-best player in the world, and many wondered if LIV pursuing Rahm was to put pressure on the PGA Tour. Rahm admitted months later he thought signing, for hundreds of millions of dollars, would expedite negotiations and bring the sport back together.

No such thing has happened yet. No deal was done by Dec. 31, and both sides agreed to extend the deadline. LIV has continued to add executives in recent weeks with new hires from Pepsi and the Philadelphia 76ers while adding office spaces in New York and London.

PGA Tour added new investors

If Rahm was LIV’s key bargaining chip, the PGA Tour’s leverage was to add outside investment. On Jan. 31, the tour officially launched PGA Tour Enterprises backed by a $3 billion commitment from Strategic Sports Group , a consortium of major investors in professional sports like John Henry, Arthur Blank and Steve Cohen, among others. The deal made players actual owners in the sport, with $750 million in equity distributed to contributing players (past and present) based on value added to the tour.

The challenge of this investment was understanding if it signaled a move toward a deal or the tour ensuring it didn’t “need” the Saudis. Some argued it was the tour pushing PIF out. Others argued private equity investment expects a return and those investors would want a deal unifying the sport. SSG investors have not spoken publicly to provide transparency but Ogilvie told Golfweek that he believes SSG “committed with the hope that there would be another investor.”

Spieth was asked his thoughts on needing PIF the week before the announcement and said, “I don’t think it’s needed. The idea is that we have a strategic partner that allows the PGA Tour to go forward the way that it’s operating right now without anything else, with the option of other investors.”

A week later, SSG investors and PGA Tour representatives reportedly traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with Al-Rumayyan. In March, the parties (including players on the policy board) met again at Woods’ home in the Bahamas. Members involved said it was more of a pleasant, well-intentioned greeting and no major movement happened toward a deal.

What about Jay Monahan?

As recently as December, board members asked Monahan to resign from his place as PGA Tour commissioner. He completely lost the players’ trust after the June 6 announcement, and after Rahm left it appeared he was losing more and more control of the situation.

Then, with allies like Dunne and Flaherty leaving and the possibility of another board member Ed Herlihy departing when his term is up this fall, it was reasonable to wonder if Monahan was on his way out. McIlroy and Justin Thomas defended Monahan, while others like Xander Schauffele admitted Monahan has “a long way to go.” The tricky thing with Monahan is people have always said he’s great one-on-one and great with sponsors and investors. It’s just on the big stages and podiums that he appears so unconvincing.

So where does this leave a deal?

It’s never felt more unclear. The answer might really be that both sides are preparing for the possibility of no deal while simultaneously hoping to get one done.

From the outside looking in, it appears there’s been very little movement and many of the key figures in favor of a deal have been marginalized. Others argue that there’s far more happening than people know and it’s just going to take time to figure out what this future looks like.

There are hang-ups, like the possibility of a “global tour” and the future of LIV. Different possibilities from “AFC-NFC” style crossover tournaments to an elevated Champions League -like tour across the world have been suggested. Taking the sport to a more global place has been a key focus for LIV, and McIlroy is a fan of that path. Many on the PGA Tour side are reluctant to commit to that sort of schedule, preferring the United States-centric series. Also, there’s the conversation of whether or not to invite LIV defectors back to PGA Tour events, and some factions on tour are adamantly against it.

Any deal would also require government oversight. Sports Business Journal reported earlier this year that Department of Justice approval could take more than a year, making any sort of unification years away.

There’s far more that we don’t know than we do, with most key figures sticking to generalities and vague sentiments about hoping a deal gets done. We do not truly know what might happen with the DOJ. We don’t really know who wants a deal and who doesn’t. It’s all a game of sorting through clues and attempting to create meaning.

(Top photo of Jon Rahm, left, and Jay Monahan: Mark Brake, Sam Hodde / Getty Images)

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Brody Miller covers golf and the LSU Tigers for The Athletic. He came to The Athletic from the New Orleans Times-Picayune. A South Jersey native, Miller graduated from Indiana University before going on to stops at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Indianapolis Star, the Clarion Ledger and NOLA.com. Follow Brody on Twitter @ BrodyAMiller

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PGA Tour: Robert MacIntyre reacts to criticism over withdrawal from Memorial Tournament after Canadian Open win

Robert MacIntyre claimed his maiden PGA Tour title with victory at the RBC Canadian Open; MacIntyre withdrew from the Memorial Tournament - live on Sky Sports from Thursday - to return home to Scotland ahead of the US Open

Thursday 6 June 2024 14:39, UK

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Robert MacIntyre insists his decision to withdraw from the Memorial Tournament shows the height of his ambition rather than any disrespect to the event's host Jack Nicklaus.

MacIntyre's victory in the RBC Canadian Open on Sunday secured his place in one of the PGA Tour's signature events, live on Sky Sports, which boasts a prize fund of $20million (£15.7million) and sees 28 of the world's top 30 in action.

The Scot has played six tournaments in a row and with the US Open to come next week, MacIntyre opted to return home to the UK for a few days before heading back across the Atlantic for the year's third major championship.

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• 'Speechless' Robert MacIntyre enjoys breakthrough PGA Tour success
• PGA Tour: Latest news and video | Stream golf on Sky Sports with NOW

"I miscounted the tournaments that I've played there when I was doing the press conference last week. That was actually week six (not five)," MacIntyre said on a media conference call. "And it's been a good six weeks.

"I had two top 10s, I had the chance at Myrtle Beach which was a top-15. The mental aspect of that six-week stretch was high, and then obviously winning last week was an even bigger high.

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"If I played Memorial, US Open and the Travelers (Championship) that's nine weeks in a row. Not many players play nine weeks in a row, except probably me the madman. With everything that was going on, there was no disrespect for pulling out of Jack Nicklaus's event.

"This was all about what was right for me and the fifth week in a row at Colonial I thought was even a step too far after having a chance to win at Myrtle Beach, an outside chance at the (US) PGA.

Analysis: MacIntyre's PGA Tour success

How MacIntyre claimed breakthrough win

MacIntyre 'speechless' after Canada glory

When is the PGA Tour live on Sky Sports?

"There was a lot going on and I just thought it was the right thing to pull back, have a week off. It could have been any event. Yes, I get that it's an elevated event and it's 20 million or whatever it is. But does preparing right for the US Open not show ambition? It's up to you."

MacIntyre: Dad has had more messages than I have!

MacIntyre embraced his father Dougie after his win, who had been called on to caddie at short notice, with the world No 39 wanting to celebrate his victory with the rest of his family rather than immediately tee it up again on the PGA Tour.

Live US Open Golf

"I was never gonna have a proper party," MacIntyre added. "I'm sure I might have a few drinks for my mates at the weekend, probably in the house.

"Me and my dad and family have just done something special and I just wanted to get home and spend time with the people who really matter in life.

"Yes, I play golf at the highest level. Yes, I've won a golf tournament that means so much to me and everyone around me, but let's just get home, spend it and celebrate with the people that really matter in life.

"This is obviously a special one with my dad on the bag and I think he's more of a he's had more messages than than I have probably!"

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The Five: Which Viktor Hovland will show up and more major Memorial storylines

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DUBLIN, Ohio – There’s no rest for the weary at this point in the PGA TOUR calendar. The Memorial Tournament presented by Workday kicks off a crucial three-event stretch, with the U.S. Open and the Travelers Championship, the final Signature Event of the season, rounding out the trio of tournaments.

The bunched schedule allows players to catch fire and make a Scottie Scheffler-like run. Could that be Xander Schauffele, who finished second at Quail Hollow and broke through with a win at the PGA Championship? Or could it be Rory McIlroy or Scheffler or Wyndham Clark or Ludvig Åberg? The next three weeks will loom large over the narratives that carry through the end of the FedExCup season and into 2025.

So, here are the top five storylines of the week to get everyone ready for the Memorial at Jack’s place.

1. Which Viktor Hovland will show up?

Viktor Hovland was direct when describing the challenges Muirfield Village Golf Club presents.

“It's going to punish you and bring you down if you miss it on the wrong sides,” he said Tuesday. “I think it's one of the hardest courses we play all year.”

For the Hovland we saw the first four months of 2024, a course of that difficulty was likely to break him. He struggled to control his ball flight and had not tallied a top 10. But the version of Hovland we saw at the PGA Championship, who challenged Xander Schauffele down the back nine and nearly claimed his first major, was the same version we saw win the 2023 Memorial.

And it’s that version the golf world eagerly hopes is here to stay. His title defense at Muirfield Village is his first start since the solo third at Valhalla Golf Club, offering us the first chance at an answer.

Hovland said his form returned at Valhalla and remained through his practice sessions. He has continued to work with swing coach Joe Mayo, who Hovland brought back into his inner circle ahead of the PGA Championship. The two worked together in 2023 during the best year of Hovland’s career.

The reversal in form begs the question, does Hovland regret parting with Mayo in the first place? Hovland didn’t go that far but said it’s been a learning experience.

“Looking back, I've given this some thought, I'm a completely different player than I was when I first came out here, and every single thing that I've done since turning pro has led me to become a better player,” Hovland said.

Viktor Hovland on when to trust data vs. instinct

“I got a longer driver, I fastened my backswing, I got a little bit stronger in the gym, I started doing AimPoint on greens, whatever it might be, like every single thing that I've done has helped me to play better golf. So I don't think I need to completely throw the baby out with the bath water, but definitely have to maybe spend a little bit more time and make sure that if I'm going to go in a different direction it's maybe a little bit more planned out, or need more data supporting that decision. But, yeah, probably, I mean, the classic saying, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' I mean, you need a very good and valid reason to try to change something if it's already working, but I do kind of think my track record speaks for itself.”

It’s the fine edge of golf. Every player tries to improve, but knowing when to stop innovating is hard. Xander Schauffele spent the last five years living inside the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking, yet he brought on new coach Chris Como and chased speed gains, hoping to improve. It translated into his first major. Meanwhile, Billy Horschel tried to find marginal improvements after 2022, which translated into his worst season on TOUR in recent memory in 2023. The pursuit of innovation can go both ways.

Hovland has always been a tinkerer. He learned the golf swing by watching YouTube videos and only found Mayo through social media videos. Innovation is inherent in his DNA, and pursuing more of it also caused his short-lived downfall earlier this year.

Muirfield Village won’t look so scary if Hovland's found the right formula.

Viktor Hovland on being patient with his game

2. Final chance for U.S. Open spot

The following players are in the field at the Memorial but NOT in the field at the U.S. Open and could qualify with a strong finish (likely a victory) this week.

• Ben Griffin – 70th (in the OWGR)
• Lee Hodges – 75th
• Davis Riley – 78th
• Andrew Putnam – 79th
• Patrick Rodgers – 87th

Notably, Adam Scott, No. 60 in the OWGR, is not in the Memorial field. Scott lost in a playoff to Cameron Davis to earn a U.S. Open spot during Final Qualifying on Monday. Scott is in danger of snapping his streak of 91 consecutive major championship appearances. His hopes aren’t dashed, though he will need nearly every player below him in the rankings to struggle at Muirfield Village.

Griffin, Putnam and Rodgers failed to qualify through Final Qualifying, while Hodges and Riley withdrew ahead of The Longest Day in Golf.

“I decided to withdraw from Canada, just to take a week of rest to get prepared for (Memorial),” Riley said. “Then obviously I was doing the U.S. Open qualifier in Canada the Monday after, and I just felt like it would be pretty taxing to go all the way up to Canada just for a 36-hole event and then come down here.

“There is still a way for me, I don't know exactly what I've got to finish, but there is a way, if I have a well enough finish this week, to get into next week, so I was just kind of putting all my eggs in the basket that route.”

3. Is Jackson Koivun the next college star?

The hottest golfer in the Memorial field is not Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele or Rory McIlroy. It’s Auburn freshman Jackson Koivun who will make his PGA TOUR debut this week.

Koivun is playing the Memorial on a sponsor exemption earned by winning the Jack Nicklaus Award, given by the Golf Coaches Association of America to the player of the year. It’s just the latest in a prestigious list of accolades. Koivun is the only golfer in NCAA history to win the Nicklaus Award, Ben Hogan Award, Haskins Award and Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award in the same season.

And he was the central piece in Auburn winning its first national championship last week. Koivun earned the clinching point in his semifinal match, which went to extra holes. Then he earned Auburn’s first point in the national championship against Florida State. Koivun won twice in his freshman season, including the SEC Championship. He finished in the top 10 in 12 of his 13 stroke-play starts and had the lowest adjusted scoring average (67.3) in Division I.

Koivun has already amassed 13 PGA TOUR University Accelerated points and will earn two more this summer when Christo Lamprecht and Michael Thorbjornsen make their pro debut and are removed from the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Koivun could earn a PGA TOUR card before his sophomore year, and he appears destined to become the second golfer to earn TOUR status through the Accelerated program, joining Gordon Sargent.

Koivun has checked every box of a young phenom. His performance at Memorial could launch him to even higher heights.

Jackson Koivun on if college players can compete on TOUR

4. Trending into Pinehurst?

That Xander Schauffele played well at the PGA Championship was no surprise, given his performance the week prior. He finished second at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte before heading West to Louisville and claiming his maiden major championship.

Will a similar story emerge over the next two weeks? A Signature Event again precedes a major, with the Memorial followed by the U.S. Open at Pinehurst next week. Could someone parlay a standout performance at Muirfield into an equally impressive showing at Pinehurst? That seems likely. So, who could those players be? Here are the 10 top performers, using Strokes Gained data, over the last 30 days.

1. Xander Schauffele 2. Rory McIlroy 3. Scottie Scheffler 4. Collin Morikawa 5. Viktor Hovland 6. Keegan Bradley 7. Byeong Hun-An 8. Corey Conners 9. Justin Thomas 10. Russell Henley

5. A subtle but significant tweak to the 16th hole

The famous par-3 16th hole will look different for this year’s tournament. Nicklaus and the tournament team moved the tee box 25 yards to the right, allowing golfers to play the hole up through the front of the green instead of over the pond that hugs the left side of the hole. Nicklaus also removed one of the front-right bunkers and added depth to another bunker.

“It definitely looks different, a little wider on the right side,” Hovland said after playing the back nine on Tuesday. “You're going to see a lot of guys in that right bunker. I think for the back right pin, that's a very tough bunker shot. Obviously all the right pins are going to be pretty tough. Yeah, it's still a hard hole, but at least now it feels like with the angle, you can hit a good shot and kind of run it on or around the green, so I think it's good.”

Rory McIlroy plays a shot from the 16th tee at Muirfield Village. (Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR)

Billy Horschel said he likes the changes and expects the hole to play a bit easier but much more fairly. The 16th played as the second-hardest hole at the Memorial last year, yielding only 21 total birdies, the fewest of any hole. That should increase, Horschel predicted, though he also expects more balls to end up in the water left of the green.

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Schauffele now a major champion at Memorial and facing a big stretch of golf

Xander Schauffele celebrates after winning the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Valhalla Golf Club, Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Xander Schauffele celebrates after winning the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Valhalla Golf Club, Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

Scottie Scheffler hits a tee shot on the third hole during the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday, May 26, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Viktor Hovland, of Norway, waves after making a putt on the 12th hole during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Valhalla Golf Club, Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

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DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — One moment that stood out to Xander Schauffele in the two weeks since he won the PGA Championship was the morning he woke up and realized nothing had changed.

Yes, he holed a 6-foot birdie putt on the final hole at Valhalla to become a major champion. He no longer has to face questions about going two years since his last victory and sealing the deal at a major after a handful of close calls.

But he was still the same person, with the same motivations and same simple lifestyle.

“Maybe I didn’t give myself enough time to sit and really take it in,” Schauffele said. “I was at home and I woke up one of the mornings and I looked at my wife and said: ‘You know, it’s great. Nothing feels different. Like, our life feels the same.’ And that was a really nice feeling. I really was away from golf. My life at home was really nice and we did everything normal.

“But in terms of golf ... I was really satisfied and I was really happy,” he said. “But I was pretty motivated to get back to work.”

It might feel like nothing has changed upon his return.

The first stop is the Memorial, which gets underway on Thursday and starts a big three-week stretch in which every tournament features the best fields. Muirfield Village is known for generous fairways and rough that is every bit as severe as a major.

Well, most majors.

Next week is the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, which was restored a decade ago to feature more dunes and native wiregrasses. Then it’s off to another signature event, the Travelers Championship, where the rough is said to be thicker than ever.

“It’s going to be a really interesting stretch,” Schauffele said. “Actually, the U.S. Open might have the least amount of rough out of all the places we’re playing the next three weeks, which sounds wrong.”

Two changes about the Memorial stand out, beyond rough Schauffele says is denser than he can ever recall. Tournament founder Jack Nicklaus tinkered again with the par-3 16th hole after hearing complaints — and agreeing with them — that it was unfair.

Nicklaus said that even with players hitting no more than 8-iron, only 35% of the field hit the green in the third round, and the number dropped to 28% in the final round. He shifted the tee so the water is running more down the left side instead of players having to go over it.

“It’s still a hard hole, but at least now it feels like with the angle, you can hit a good shot and kind of run it on or around the green,” defending champion Viktor Hovland said.

The big change is more about the calendar than the course.

The PGA Tour model of $20 million signature events with short fields — 72 players at Muirfield Village, but at least this tournament has a cut — required them to be bunched together to give a dozen or so players a chance to qualify.

The Memorial was named that for a reason — it’s typically around Memorial Day — and it traditionally falls two weeks before the U.S. Open. Now it’s the week before, with another signature event on the other side of a major.

Nicklaus would like to see it moved back. Asked if there could be a conversation with the PGA Tour after this week, Nicklaus replied, “The discussion is in progress.”

“We would prefer the other week,” he said. “We are here this week because the tour asked us to help them out. But we said we would review it after this tournament and we’ll figure out how we’re going to settle the schedule after that.”

From a personal standpoint, Nicklaus said he rarely played the week before a major and it didn’t seem right to host a tournament that went against that philosophy. As for the tournament, there was a buzz about starting out on Memorial Day. That was missing this year with a sparse gallery early in the week.

“We want to try to continue to support what is best for the tour,” he said. “But we also want to support what’s best for the Memorial Tournament.”

Regardless of the date, it still should pack plenty of drama. Scottie Scheffler leads a field that has 28 of the top 30 — the missing two are with LIV Golf in Houston this week — and it ends with a handshake from Nicklaus off the 18th green when it’s over.

Scheffler remembers coming over to watch at Muirfield Village while in college when he was in town for U.S. Open qualifying.

“It would mean a lot to me to be able to shake his hand and win this golf tournament with all the history here and what Mr. Nicklaus has meant to the game,” Scheffler said.

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2024 U.S. Open picks, odds, field: Surprising predictions from proven PGA golf model that has hit 12 majors

Sportsline's proven model simulated the u.s. open 2024 10,000 times and revealed its surprising pga tour golf picks.

Rory McIlroy hasn't won a major since 2014, but he's come close. The 26-time PGA Tour winner has finished second in three of his last 20 majors since taking home the Open Championship in 2014. McIlroy finished second at last year's U.S. Open, one shot behind Wyndham Clark, for his fourth straight top-10 showing at the U.S. Open. Does this mean you should include the four-time major winner in your 2024 U.S. Open picks? McIlroy is 9-1 in the 2024 U.S. Open odds. He has the second-shortest odds in the 2024 U.S. Open field despite going winless over his last 20 major events, so is there value in playing him to win the U.S. Open 2024?

The 2024 U.S. Open tees off from Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina beginning on Thursday, June 13 and Scottie Scheffler is the 4-1 favorite. Should you bet one of the favorites or could there be a longshot among the 2024 U.S. Open golfers like Max Homa (30-1) or Jordan Spieth (35-1) to include in your 2024 U.S. Open prediction? Before locking in any 2024 U.S. Open picks of your own, entering PGA DFS lineups on sites like DraftKings or FanDuel, or finalizing U.S. Open props and U.S. Open Pick 6 or PrizePicks entries, be sure to see the 2024 U.S. Open golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine .

Our proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed in June of 2020. In fact, the model is up almost $9,000 on its best bets since the restart, nailing tournament after tournament.

McClure's model correctly predicted Scheffler would finish on top of the leaderboard at the 2024 Masters, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and The Players Championship this season. McClure also included Hideki Matsuyama in his best bets to win the 2024 Genesis Invitational. That bet hit at +9000, and for the entire tournament, McClure's best bets returned nearly $1,000.

The model also predicted Rahm would be victorious at the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions and The American Express. At the 2023 Masters, the model was all over Rahm's second career major victory heading into the weekend. Rahm was two strokes off the lead heading into the third round, but the model still projected him as the winner. It was the second straight Masters win for the model, which also nailed Scheffler winning in 2022.

This same model has also nailed a whopping 12 majors entering the weekend, including the last three Masters and 2024 PGA Championship. Anyone who has followed it is way up.

Now with the U.S. Open 2024 approaching, SportsLine simulated the tournament 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard .

Top 2024 U.S. Open predictions 

One major surprise the model is calling for at the 2024 U.S. Open: Brooks Koepka (12-1), a two-time U.S. Open champion and one of the top favorites, stumbles and barely cracks the top 10. Koepka has five major championships overall but he hasn't been much of a factor in major tournaments since that last victory at the 2023 PGA Championship. In his four majors since then, his best finish is tying for 17th at last year's U.S. Open. Koepka has finished outside the top 25 in each of his last three major starts, which is one shy of tying a career-long drought.

He's finished outside the top 15 in four straight appearances at majors and has struggled overall this season. Over his last eight tournament starts, he has twice as many finishes outside the top 25 (four) as he has inside the top 10 (two). Add in that he shot over par in his lone previous start at Pinehurst No. 2, and there are much better values to utilize U.S. Open 2024 bets on.  See who else to fade here .

Another surprise: Justin Thomas, a 33-1 longshot, makes a strong run at the title. He has a much better chance to win than his long odds imply, so he's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. Thomas has recorded seven top-25 finishes in his first 11 events of the season, including a T8 in the PGA Championship, T5 in the RBC Heritage and T6 in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Thomas ranks seventh on the PGA Tour in both strokes gained: approach to green and birdie average, making him a dangerous player when he gets on a roll. Thomas is a two-time major champion who has a pair of top-10 finishes at the U.S. Open during his career. His recent form and experience winning majors make him an appealing longshot wager for the 2024 U.S. Open, according to the model.  See who else to back here .

How to make 2024 U.S. Open picks

The model is also targeting two other golfers with odds of 20-1 or longer to make a strong run at the title. Anyone who backs these longshots could hit it big. You can only see the model's picks here .

Who will win the 2024 U.S. Open, and which longshots will stun the golfing world? Check out the U.S. Open 2024 odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected U.S. Open leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed 12 golf majors, including the last three Masters and the 2024 PGA Championship .

2024 U.S. Open odds, field

Get full 2024 U.S. Open picks, best bets, and predictions here

Scottie Scheffler 4-1 Rory McIlroy 9-1 Xander Schauffele 10-1 Brooks Koepka 12-1 Jon Rahm 12-1 Ludvig Aberg 14-1 Viktor Hovland 18-1 Collin Morikawa 18-1 Bryson DeChambeau 20-1 Patrick Cantlay 22-1 Wyndham Clark 22-1 Joaquin Niemann 25-1 Cameron Smith 25-1 Max Homa 30-1 Justin Thomas 33-1 Cameron Young 35-1 Dustin Johnson 35-1 Jordan Spieth 35-1 Hideki Matsuyama 35-1 Shane Lowry 40-1 Sahith Theegala 40-1 Tom Kim 40-1 Tony Finau 40-1 Sungjae Im 40-1 Matt Fitzpatrick 40-1 Jason Day 45-1 Tommy Fleetwood 50-1 Min Woo Lee 50-1 Tyrrell Hatton 50-1 Brian Harman 55-1 Corey Conners 60-1 Sam Burns 60-1 Patrick Reed 60-1 Si Woo Kim 65-1 Justin Rose 65-1 Sepp Straka 70-1 Louis Oosthuizen 75-1 Abraham Ancer 75-1 Rickie Fowler 75-1 Adam Scott 75-1 Talor Gooch 75-1 Russell Henley 90-1 Daniel Berger 100-1 Keegan Bradley 100-1 Keith Mitchell 125-1 Ryan Fox 125-1 J.T. Poston 125-1 Billy Horschel 125-1 Tiger Woods 125-1 Sergio Garcia 125-1 Thomas Pieters 150-1 Kurt Kitayama 150-1 Phil Mickelson 150-1 Mito Pereira 150-1 Denny McCarthy 150-1 Harris English 150-1 Christiaan Bezuidenhout 150-1 Adam Schenk 175-1 Emiliano Grillo 175-1 Austin Eckroat 175-1 Robert MacIntyre 175-1 Marc Leishman 175-1 Adam Hadwin 175-1 Lucas Glover 200-1 Nick Taylor 200-1 Davis Riley 200-1 Mackenzie Hughes 200-1 Jason Kokrak 200-1 Harold Varner III 225-1 Seamus Power 225-1 Taylor Moore 250-1 Ben Kohles 250-1 Gary Woodland 250-1 Aaron Wise 250-1 Francisco Molinari 350-1 Joel Dahmen 350-1 Martin Kaymer 500-1 Bernhard Langer 750-1

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