THIS WEEK'S EDITIONS OF THE FIRST CALL

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QUESTION OF THE WEEK

How will Rory McIlroy's career trend after placing second at the U.S. Open, which was his 18th top-five major finish and fourth runner-up finish?

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> Read responses to last week's question.

TGL: Announces Genesis as the league’s first founding partner. TGL’s tech-infused, progressive approach to golf complements Genesis’ efforts to provide people more access to innovative experiences. TGL will launch on Tuesday, Jan. 7 and the season will run through the end of March.

LPGA Foundation: Wins the Hashtag Sports Award in the Impact category for Best Engagement for Good. This accolade was awarded for the LPGA Foundation's LPGA*USGA Girls Golf "One Million MORE Girls" campaign, an initiative dedicated to expanding access and opportunities for young female golfers. The campaign, launched to celebrate reaching 1 million girls through the LPGA*USGA Girls Golf program since its inception in 1989, aims to engage 1 million more girls in golf by 2030. 

National Golf Sales Representative Association, Association of Golf Merchandisers, RepSpark: Partner to introduce the Certified Golf Sales Representative Program, an initiative tailored for golf sales representatives aiming to enhance relationships with retailers, effectively represent golf brands, and help sales reps achieve their sales targets. The program is a six-part online course designed for sales reps to complete at their own pace. The course covers essential topics such as technology hacks for sales mastery, relationship building, event sales, strategic social media and email marketing, buyer insights, and retail strategies.

Desert Highlands: Unveils plans for an extensive renovation project to its Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course in Scottsdale, Arizona. Spearheaded by Nicklaus Design, the renovation project will include six major components — design enhancements to several holes, greens reconstruction, tee reconstruction, bunker reconstruction, desert de- and re-vegetation, and restoration of the turf found on the tees, fairways and rough. The $10 million golf course renovation project is set to begin April 2025 and should be completed by November 2025.

Ladies National Golf Association: Announces that the Amateur Championship, part of the EliteAmateurSeries, will be played July 23-25 at Hot Springs Country Club in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Maryland State Golf Association, Middle Atlantic PGA: Create a new team event — the Dolan Cup, which is named after professional emeritus Robert (Bob) Dolan Jr. of Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Teams comprised of eight players representing the MSGA and the Maryland contingent of the MAPGA will face off in the inaugural Dolan Cup Matches, Nov. 2, 2024, at Lakewood Country Club in Rockville, Maryland.

Epson Tour: Announces that the Great Lakes Championship at The Highlands has been added to the 2025 schedule and will be played June 9-15 at The Highlands located in Harbor Springs, Michigan. The Great Lakes Championship at The Highlands will offer a $250,000 purse and a $37,500 winner’s check, and will be the third Tour event in Michigan. This expansion of the Midwest stretch continues the Tour’s efforts in creating regional clusters of events to simplify travel experiences for players each week.

Sun Mountain: Introduces its Ridgeline3 three-wheel push cart, a patent-pending adjustable upper bag bracket that slides up and down to accommodate different size golf bags, from junior to adult. The Ridgeline3 retails for $349.99. 

Uswing Eyewear: Brand ambassadors CT Pan and Rose Zhang have qualified to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and will be wearing their own signature Uswing sunglasses at Le Golf National. Men's play begins Aug. 1, followed by the women on Aug. 7. Uswing reports that its sunglasses are statistically proven to enhance tour professionals' putting strokes by an average of 0.53 inches.

PGA Tour: Names Andy Weitz as chief marketing and communications officer and executive vice president, investor relations, for the Tour’s global operations. Weitz will be responsible for positioning the PGA Tour brand for current and future investment while communicating its global strategy and performance to the Tour’s stakeholders.

USA Golf: Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang will represent the United States at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, set for Aug. 7-10 at Le Golf National. Korda, currently world No. 1, won the women's competition gold medal at the 2020 Olympics Games in Tokyo. Vu (ranked No. 2 in the world) and Zhang (No. 9) will make their Olympic Games debuts.

LPGA Foundation: Celina Sattelkau of Vanderbilt University is the recipient of the 2024 Dinah Shore Trophy, which recognizes the top collegiate female golfer who excels in both academics and athletics. In 2024, Sattelkau maintained a 4.0 GPA while earning her Master of Science in Finance from the Owen Graduate School of Management, and helped the Commodores conclude their 2024 season at the NCAA Championships with the program's highest finish since 2014.

International Golf Federation: The two-year qualification period for the women’s golf competition at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 concluded on June 25 with the publication of the final women’s Olympic Golf Ranking. The ranking features 60 qualifiers representing 33 different countries with only the United States and the Republic of Korea with more than two qualifiers. The qualifiers are: Nelly Korda (USA), Lilia Vu (USA), Jin Young Ko (Republic of Korea), Ruoning Yin (China), Amy Yang (Republic of Korea), Celine Boutier (France), Hannah Green (Australia), Charley Hull (Great Britain), Rose Zhang (USA), Yuka Saso (Japan), Minjee Lee (Australia), Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand), Hyo-Joo Kim (Republic of Korea), Brooke Henderson (Canada), Xiyu Lin (China), Lydia Ko (New Zealand), Miyu Yamashita (Japan), Maja Stark (Sweden), Patty Tavatanakit (Thailand), Linn Grant (Sweden), Carlota Ciganda (Spain), Leona Maguire (Ireland), Georgia Hall (Great Britain), Ashleigh Buhai (South Africa), Aditi Ashok (India), Gaby Lopez (Mexico), Esther Henseleit (Germany), Alexandra Forsterling (Germany), Albane Valenzuela (Switzerland), Perrine Delacour (France), Emily Kristine Pedersen (Denmark), Peiyun Chien (Chinese Taipei), Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Denmark), Anne Van Dam (Netherlands), Azahara Munoz (Spain), Bianca Pagdanganan (Philippines), Morgane Metraux (Switzerland), Stephanie Meadow (Ireland), Manon De Roey (Belgium), Wei-Ling Hsu (Chinese Taipei), Diksha Dagar (India), Emma Spitz (Austria), Shannon Tan (Singapore), Maria Fassi (Mexico), Celine Borge (Norway), Klara Davidson Spilkova (Czech Republic), Paula Reto (South Africa), Mariajo Uribe (Colombia), Alessandra Fanali (Italy), Ashley Lau (Malaysia), Ursula Wikstrom (Finland), Ana Belac (Slovenia), Sara Kouskova (Czech Republic), Alena Sharp (Canada), Momoka Kobori (New Zealand), Dottie Ardina (Philippines), Noora Komulainen (Finland), Dewi Weber (Netherlands), Madelene Stavnar (Norway) and Ines Laklalech (Morocco).