Money for old rope, as they say. And Tiger Woods walking away with $10 million in the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program (PIP) for 2024 says it all really, especially in a year when Scottie Scheffler won nine times (including Olympic gold) and was arrested for a traffic violation (later dropped) at the US PGA.
Scheffler picked up $8 million in the newly released earnings for the leading 10 players who scooped greenbacks, with Rory McIlroy, in third, collecting $4.5 million, and Shane Lowry, in seventh, adding $3.5 million to his year’s takings.
For Scheffler, aka Inmate number 00654436 (according to the Louisville Metropolitan Police department), only taking the number two position behind a player, Woods, who only played five times, must surely make him wonder about the PIP’s criteria (based on internet searches, earned media, TV sponsor exposure, general population awareness and golf fan awareness).
He’ll be able to let his clubs do the talking in the future, though. The 2024 payouts are the last under the PGA Tour’s PIP, to be replaced by the Player Equity Program (PEP) which comes into play this year and which is providing a recurring $100 million annual grant through 2030 for players on the PGA Tour, with an increased focus on performance.
McKibbin on the Great Britain and Ireland team taking on continental Europe
Tom McKibbin will be juggling life on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour for the season ahead, but the 22-year-old Northern Irishman gets his season’s work under way as part of the Great Britain and Ireland team that takes on continental Europe in this week’s Team Cup in Abu Dhabi, starting on Friday.
Under the playing captaincy of Justin Rose (perhaps a first step on the Englishman’s likely captaincy for Europe at Adare Manor in 2027), McKibbin gets a taste of life in a team set-up on a side that also includes Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Laurie Canter, Aaron Rai, Jordan Smith, Matthew Jordan, Matt Wallace and Paul Waring.
Séamus Power, meanwhile, kick-starts his season at the Sony Open in Hawaii on the PGA Tour this week, while Shane Lowry has a rather different starting point to his year’s work in leading his The Bay team against New York in the inaugural match of the TGL presented by SoFi simulator founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy which takes place in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
By the Numbers: 305,625
That’s the amount – in US dollars – which Australian Cam Davis lost out on for playing the wrong ball in the final round of the Sentry. Davis and Will Zalatoris were each penalised two shots for playing each other’s ball: Davis ultimately won $410,000 for his tied-13th finish but would have earned $715,625 without the penalty; while Zalatoris won $163,333 for tied-26th (rather than $283,200 if he’d finished two shots better).
Word of Mouth
“I actually wasn’t feeling too well this week, and so I was really just focused on what I needed to do, so I really didn’t speak much . . . in December I was kind of ill and I thought I was better coming into this tournament. I had a couple sores in my mouth, so it was hard for me to speak this week” – Hideki Matsuyama on letting his clubs do the talking in winning the season-opening Sentry tournament on the PGA Tour
On this day: January 7th, 2001
Steve Stricker rode his luck before a ball was hit in anger in the WGC-Accenture Matchplay Championship at Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia.
Ranked 90th in the world, the American had no chance of making it into the limited 64-man field with a $1 million winner’s purse until a pile of players – among them world number one Tiger Woods – decided that the early year trip to Australia wasn’t on their play list.
So it was that Stricker, as one player after another decided not to travel, made it into the field for what would turn out to be his biggest win as a professional, where he defeated Sweden’s Pierre Fulke – who had disposed of top seed Ernie Els in the semi-final – by 2 and 1 in a 36-holes final where his opponent’s putting deserted him.
“I was lucky to get in,” confessed Stricker, whose $1 million pay-day was as much as he had made in the previous two seasons on the PGA Tour.
Of perhaps an asterisk being attached to the win because so many were absent, Stricker retorted: “They all had the opportunity to commit and come over and they didn’t. That’s all I care about. It’s a big win, it’s my biggest win and it gets me going in the right direction. They can say whatever they want because I feel like I deserved it.”
Social Scene
“Captain Shane’s dad, John Scanlan, was DGC Captain in 1991. Sadly, he died in office without having the opportunity to drive in. Shane took that drive for him yesterday before hitting his own. He used his dad’s Macgregor driver and an old Maxfli Balata” – post from Douglas Golf Club on incoming men’s captain Shane Scanlan’s drive in as 2025 captain.
“The year is 2025 and 67s are officially not good #golf” – Max Homa on being left behind at the Sentry, where his 19-under-par total of 273 was only good enough for tied-26th. Hideki Matsuyama shot a PGA Tour record low of 35-under-par 257, three clear of Collin Morikawa.
“They say you should never meet your heroes but how wrong they were with this one. @christymoore45 you really are one of the greats” – Shane Lowry on finally meeting up with singer Christy Moore. Lowry’s party piece is My little Honda 50.
In the Bag
Hideki Matsuyama - The Sentry
Driver – Srixon ZX5 MkII LS (9.5 degrees)
3-wood – TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
5-wood – Cobra King RadSpeed Tour (19 degrees)
Irons – Srixon Z-Forged II (4-9)
Wedges – Cleveland RTX 4 Forged Prototype (48, 52 and 56 degrees)
Putter – Scotty Cameron 009M Center Shaft Tour Prototype
Ball – Srixon Z-Star XV9
Know the Rules
Q A player finds her ball lying next to a half-eaten apple in a bunker. She decides to move the apple, but in doing so accidentally causes her ball to move. She places her ball back on its original spot and plays it from there. What is the ruling?
A The player incurs a one stroke penalty: Clarification Loose Impediment/1 and Rule 15.1b. Fruit that is detached from its tree or bush is a loose impediment, even if the fruit is from a bush or tree not found on the course. The player gets one penalty stroke for causing their ball to move while removing a loose impediment.
