The band is getting back together this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida.
For the first time since last season’s Tour Championship, the top three golfers in the Official World Golf Ranking, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele, will be competing in the same tournament on the PGA Tour.
Schauffele, who picked up his first two major championship victories at the PGA Championship and The Open last season, hasn’t competed since the Sentry in Hawaii in early January because of a rib injury. He competed in a TGL match on Monday. “It’s awesome,” Schauffele said. “I missed being out, and just sitting at home, you sort of appreciate a lot of things when you’re sort of sidelined. Got some juices flowing. Even though you’re hitting into a screen, you’re still a bit nervous, just not really being competitive as of late. I feel good, and looking forward to getting over to Bay Hill.”
Scheffler, who has won the API twice in the past three years, missed the first month of the season because of a hand injury suffered in a Christmas cooking accident.
McIlroy spent part of January playing in a DP World Tour event in Dubai, then returned to the PGA Tour and won his first start of the season at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February.
What’s next for Tiger?
It doesn’t sound like 15-time major champion Tiger Woods is preparing to compete in next week’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Speaking to reporters Tuesday after his final appearance in a TGL match this season, Woods said he hasn’t practiced much since the death of his mother, Kultida Woods, on Feb. 4.
“This is the third time I’ve touched a club since my mom passed, so I haven’t really gotten into it,” Woods said. “My heart is really not into practicing right now. I’ve had so many other things to do with the tour and trying to do other things. Once I start probably feeling a little bit better and start getting into it, I’ll start looking at the schedule.”
It’s looking more and more likely that Woods won’t compete in a tournament before the Masters, the first major championship of the season, at Augusta National Golf Club on April 10-13. Woods, 49, is currently included in the Masters field.
Woods hasn’t competed in an official PGA Tour event since he missed the cut at The Open at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland in July.
Woods was scheduled to play in last month’s Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines outside San Diego, but withdrew from the event, saying he wasn’t ready to compete following his mother’s death. He did play in Monday’s Seminole Pro-Member in Juno Beach, Florida.
Woods spent part of last weekend watching his 17-year-old daughter, Sam, win a Florida class 2A state championship in soccer. She’s headed to Stanford, his alma mater, in the fall.
“To be able to end her high school career like that and to go on as a state champion is pretty cool,” Woods said.
DeChambeau pushes back
Reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau denied an online report that he’s unhappy because LIV Golf wouldn’t meet his demands of a contract extension worth more than $200 million.
The Crushers GC captain told reporters in Hong Kong, the site of this week’s LIV Golf League tournament, that he’s excited about the circuit’s future.
“I’m very excited to be the captain of the Crushers and continue our legacy that we’re starting to create,” DeChambeau said Wednesday. “That’s my goal is to create this lasting legacy where we impact millions and millions of golfers’ lives around the world. That should tell you everything you should know.”
DeChambeau said he’s experimenting with a new golf ball this week in preparation for the upcoming Masters. He played a practice round at Augusta National on Jan. 6 and might go back again before LIV Golf’s tournament at Trump National Doral in Miami on April 4-6.
At last year’s Masters, DeChambeau was the first-round leader and tied for sixth at 2 under, nine shots behind Scheffler. It was DeChambeau’s best career finish at Augusta National.
“We’re trying it out,” DeChambeau said. “It’s been pretty solid so far, so we’ll see how that works, but I’m just comfortable. I’m excited is really what it comes down to. However the cards play out, they’ll play out, but I am genuinely excited for this year.”
As the tours turn
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan wouldn’t say it, but there doesn’t seem to be much optimism that the tour will reach a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to reunify men’s professional golf in the very near future.
Monahan, speaking to reporters at Bay Hill on Tuesday, pushed back on the idea that his tone changed after a Feb. 20 meeting with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.
“I think anything that the three of us have said is consistent with what should be said when you’re in the middle of a complex discussion to try and unify the game of golf,” Monahan said. “It doesn’t speak to my confidence level; it speaks to the goal. I view that meeting as a huge step. And so, I look at that very positively.”
PGA Tour player directors Adam Scott and Woods also attended the four-hour meeting. Monahan and Scott met with Trump on Feb. 4 in an effort to speed up the federal government’s approval of the tour’s proposed deal with the PIF.
Monahan said Tuesday that a future meeting at the White House isn’t scheduled. Sources had previously told ESPN that the future of the LIV Golf League remains a sticking point in the negotiations.
At last month’s Genesis Invitational, Monahan said fans want to see the best golfers in the world competing on one tour. He noted Tuesday that “70% of our fans tell us that they’d like to see [the game] reunified versus about 30% who’d like to see an investment.”
“If you look at his commentary last week, ultimately seeing a deal happening, Yasir Al-Rumayyan’s comments about the good meeting that we had, we’ll just continue to move forward in those conversations,” Monahan said.
“When you’re looking to reunify the game, not everybody is going to be happy. With our player directors and with our board, we’re highly conscious of reunification and focusing on that as a goal, and ultimately, when we get to that position, that’s a question we’ll all answer. But I’m hopeful that when you look at what we’re trying to accomplish, what that means for the PGA Tour and what that means for the game on a long-term basis, we will solve for that in the most effective and proven way we possibly can.”
Aberg’s new home
Given how seamlessly Ludvig Åberg has transitioned from Texas Tech to the PGA Tour over the past year, it seems almost unfair that he’ll have a home-course advantage at next week’s Players Championship. The 25-year-old moved to the Jacksonville, Florida, area in October and plays out of TPC Sawgrass.
After picking up his second PGA Tour victory at the Genesis Invitational on Feb. 16, Aberg spent the past couple of weeks practicing at TPC Sawgrass.
“We did a lot of short game,” Aberg said. “Obviously, we spent a lot of time over at TPC Sawgrass, which is the type of grass that we’re going to get for the next two weeks. [With] a lot of these sort of short-sided, thick rough shots, get it up high and land it soft is going to be very important. Obviously, the overseeded Bermuda is always a little bit tricky, chipping from.”
Aberg finished eighth in his debut at the Players last year. “I’ve played it a lot,” he said. ” I mean, for me, it’s a top-five golf course in the world. Tee to green, I think it’s amazing. It’s right in front of you. You have to hit the shots, but if you don’t you’re going to get punished, which is the type of golf that I really like. So I can’t help myself but play it a lot when I’m home.”
Taking a break
Max Homa was among the most entertaining professional golfers on X, especially his blunt breakdowns of golf swings of random followers. It’s why his X account has nearly 700,000 followers.
But Homa hasn’t posted on his X account since Feb. 3, and he said he doesn’t plan to do it again anytime soon.
“I think I finally had a come-to-Jesus moment that it’s for the sick,” Homa said. “I was sick. I’m just trying to get healthy now. No, I have not enjoyed that app. It’s not very fun. It’s fun to watch our little highlights or lowlights, and that stuff is fun. The rest of it’s probably not great, so I’m going to stick to TikTok.”
