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