A week after FedEx Cup decided, a new PGA Tour season begins
PGA TOUR
FORTINET CHAMPIONSHIP
Site: Napa, California.
Course: Silverado Resort and Spa (North). Yardage: 7,123. Par: 72.
Prize money: $7 million. Winner's share: $1.26 million.
Television: Thursday-Sunday, 6-9 p.m. (Golf Channel).
Defending champion: Stewart Cink.
FedEx Cup champion: Patrick Cantlay.
Last tournament: Patrick Cantlay won the Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup.
Notes: The new season begins 11 days after the last FedEx Cup season ended. ... The tournament has a new title sponsor this year, played on the same course. ... Jon Rahm, the No. 1 player in the world, is the only Ryder Cup player in the field. Also playing is assistant captain Phil Mickelson. Both are part of the management company that runs the event. ... Rahm, defending champion Stewart Cink, Kevin Na and Hideki Matsuyama are the only players at Silverado who were at East Lake two weeks ago for the Tour Championship. ... Will Zalatoris, the PGA Tour rookie of the year, makes his first start as a full PGA Tour member. He played last year as a special temporary member and was ineligible for the FedEx Cup postseason. ... Kurt Kitayama, a Californian who has been playing in Asia and Europe since college, earned his card through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. He is playing this week. ... The field has three of the four major champions from 2021, missing only Collin Morikawa.
Next week: Ryder Cup.
Online:
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LPGA TOUR
CAMBIA PORTLAND CLASSIC
Site: West Linn, Oregon.
Course: Oregon GC. Yardage: 6,478. Par: 72.
Prize money: $1.4 million. Winner's share: $210,000.
Television: Thursday-Sunday, 3-6 p.m. (Golf Channel).
Defending champion: Georgia Hall.
Race to CME Globe leader: Nelly Korda.
Last tournament: Europe won the Solheim Cup.
Notes: In the first LPGA event since Europe won the Solheim Cup, only six of the 24 players who were at Inverness are playing this week. Carlota Ciganda of Spain is the only European from the winning Solheim Cup team. ... The U.S. Solheim Cup members who are playing are Brittany Altomare, Jennifer Kupcho, Austin Ernst, Yealimi Noh and Mina Harigae. ... Georgia Hall of England, the defending champion, is not playing. ... The tournament dates to 1972 when Nancy Lopez won the inaugural event. ... This is the start of four straight domestic tournaments — in Oregon, Arkansas and two in New Jersey — before the LPGA Tour takes a two-week swing into Asia. ... Patty Tavatanakit is the only major champion from 2021 in the field. ... Brooke Henderson is playing. She won back-to-back in the Portland Classic in 2015 and 2016. ... Ernst won the first of her three LPGA titles at Portland in 2014.
Next week: Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.
Online:
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EUROPEAN TOUR
DUTCH OPEN
Site: Cromvoirt, Netherlands.
Course: Bernardus Golf. Yardage: 7,200. Par: 72.
Prize money: 1 million euros (U.S. $1.182 million). Winner's share: 166,667 euros.
Television: Thursday-Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (Golf Channel).
Defending champion: Sergio Garcia (2019).
Race to Dubai leader: Collin Morikawa.
Last week: Billy Horschel won the BMW PGA Championship.
Notes: The tournament was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. ... Billy Horschel joined Arnold Palmer (1975) as the only Americans to win the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. ... Horschel moved to No. 2 in the Race to Dubai, closing in on British Open champion Collin Morikawa. ... Louis Oosthuizen was planning to play until injuring his neck late in the PGA Tour season and wanting to rest. ... Joost Luiten and Wil Besseling of the Netherlands were kept from playing in the Olympics by a Dutch national policy that players had to be among the top 100 in the world to be sent to the Games. The silver medal went to Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia, who was ranked No. 204 at the Olympics. ... Sabbatini is making his third European Tour start this year. ... The only member of the Ryder Cup team at the Dutch Open is Graeme McDowell, a vice captain. ... The Dutch Open has been part of the European Tour schedule since 1972. Seve Ballesteros was a three-time winner.
Next week: Ryder Cup.
Online:
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PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
SANFORD INTERNATIONAL
Site: Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Course: Minnehaha CC. Yardage: 6,729. Par: 70.
Prize money: $1.8 million. Winner's share: $270,000.
Television: Friday-Sunday, 9:30-11:30 p.m. (Golf Channel-Tape Delay).
Defending champion: Miguel Angel Jimenez.
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Bernhard Langer.
Last week: David Toms won the Ascension Charity Classic.
Notes: Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker and three PGA Tour Champions-eligible assistants — Fred Couples, Jim Furyk and Davis Love III — are in the field. ... Bernhard Langer remains atop the Charles Schwab Cup standings by about $2,500 over Jerry Kelly, with Furyk just over $8,000 out of the lead. ... David Toms had not won since the U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor in Colorado in 2018. ... Last week was the sixth playoff on the PGA Tour Champions season, but only the second of 2021. ... Jay Haas closed with a 67 and shot his age or better for the fifth time, the last three at age 67. ... Steven Alker tied for ninth in St. Louis to earn a spot in the field in South Dakota. It's the fourth straight time he has finished in the top 10 to get into the following tournament. ... Langer now has shot par or better in his last 18 rounds on the PGA Tour Champions. ... Haas has played 334 times on the PGA Tour Champions to go along with his 798 starts on the PGA Tour. That gives him 1,132 combined starts on both tours, fifth on the all-time list. The leader is Miller Barber, who played 603 times on the senior circuit and 711 times on the regular tour.
Next week: Pure Insurance Championship.
Online:
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OTHER TOURS
Symetra Tour: Guardian Championship, Capitol Hill GC, Prattville, Alabama. Defending champion: Laura Restrepo (2019). Online:
Ladies European Tour: Lacoste Ladies Open de France, Golf du Medoc (Chateaux), Le Pian-Medoc, France. Defending champion: Julia Engstrom. Online:
Japan Golf Tour: ANA Open, Sapporo GC (Wattsu), Hokkaido, Japan. Defending champion: Yosuke Asaji. Online:
Challenge Tour: Hopps Open de Provence, Golf International de Pont Royal, Mallemort, France. Defending champion: Lars Van Meijel (2019). Online:
Sunshine Tour: Vodacom Origins of Golf-Mount Edgecombe, The Woods at Mount Edgecombe, Mount Edgecombe, South Africa. Defending champion: New event. Online:
Japan LPGA: Ladies Tokai Classic, Shin Minami Aichi CC, Aichi, Japan. Defending champion: Ayaka Furue. Online:
Korean LPGA: Sei Ri Pak Invitational, Sejong Silk River CC, Cheongwon, South Korea. Defending champion: A Yean Cho. Online:
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