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| Friday Jan 03, 2025 |
The PGA Tour's season-opening Sentry features a wide ranging field, including four FedEx Cup champions, 31 PGA Tour tournament winners — including 15 first-time winners — and 29 players who qualified via finishing inside the top 50 in the 2024 FedEx Cup standings. The field also includes:
> 19 players making their tournament debut
> Three past champions — Justin Thomas (2017, 2020), Xander Schauffele (2019), Chris Kirk (2024)
> 37 players ranked in the Top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking, led by Xander Schauffele (No. 2), Collin Morikawa (No. 4), Ludvig Åberg (No. 5), Hideki Matsuyama(No. 6), Wyndham Clark (No. 7) and Viktor Hovland (No. 8)
IN THIS ISSUE
> Design Notes: Robert Trent Jones II reopens Hawaii’s Mauna Kea | Read
> 2024: A banner year for golf books | Read
> Podcast: "Golf Innerview with Ann Liguori" with guest Jordan Peace, Concert Golf Partners senior vice president of corporate development | Listen
POLL
> Do you expect to lower your golf handicap in 2025 | Vote
> Previous: What should be the penalty for slow play on the professional tours? | Results
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
From a golf perspective, what are you most looking forward to — either personally or for the sport as a whole — in 2025?
Send replies on this question or other topics and questions you would like to have asked to shall@buffalogroupe.com. For a response to be published, you must include your first and last name, along with the city and state of residence.
> Responses to the last question: The First Call's Gary Van Sickle wrote about professional golf's pace-of-play issue and the Shot Clock Masters. How do you believe the issue should be addressed? | Read
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Missouri’s Big Cedar Lodge progresses on the Cliffhangers Par-3; A new West nine takes flight at Germany’s Green Eagle
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The sport — and Tiger Woods — continued to be the subject for numerous well-written titles that unearthed compelling nuggets and retold some worthy tales.
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PODCASTS
GOLF INNERVIEW WITH ANN LIGUORI
The rise of Concert Golf Partners
Guest: Jordan Peace, Concert Golf Partners senior vice president of corporate development
[Listen | More "Golf Innerview with Ann Liguori" episodes]
VIDEOS
THE MODGOLF PODCAST
5 tips to help women get into golf
Birdies Babes Golf founder Courtney Campbell joins host Colin Weston to discuss ways in which the first-timer's intimidation factor can be mitigated
[Watch | More "The ModGolf Podcast" edpisodes]
THE COACH MO GOLF SHOW
LPGA*USGA Girls Golf not stopping at 1 million
LPGA Foundation's Stephanie Peareth joins host Mo Gesualdi to discuss the transformative initiative for female junior golfers
[Watch | More "The Coach Mo Golf Show" episodes]
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Forecasts off the Pacific and Atlantic oceans will combine to bring varied weather throughout the country, based off six historical comps
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Vineyards Country Club: Appoints Sean O'Donnell as lead assistant golf professional for the Naples, Florida, club.
Full Wedge Golf: Announces the Full Wedge Orlando Classic, a two-person scramble tournament scheduled for Jan. 20 under the lights at the Orange Lake Golf Legends Walk Course in Orlando, Florida.
Swing Control: Plans to unveil its fall/winter 2025 collection at the PGA Show, Jan. 21–24, in Orlando, Florida. Swing Control’s exhibit will feature standout pieces from the After Hours and Mystic Marine collections, including the Side Stripe scuba pants and Jetsons Airspun skorts.
Jondo: Four-time major champion Ernie Els will debut as a brand ambassador for the golf eyewear company at the 2025 PGA Show. The sunglasses feature Krisp lens technology for enhanced depth perception and glare reduction, along with TR-90 frames for lightweight durability and 100% UV protection. Also, Jondo will support the Els for Autism Foundation.
Nippon Shaft: Patty Tavatanakit and Jake Knapp paired to win the Grant Thornton Invitational in Naples, Florida, on Dec. 15, and did so while playing Nippon Shaft products. Tavatanakit competed with N.S.Pro 950GH steel shafts in her irons and Modus3 Wedge115 steel shafts in her wedges. Knapp played Modus3 Wedge steel shafts in his wedges.
The Q at Myrtle Beach: Competition that blends traditional golf with innovative digital storytelling will return in 2025, offering 16 players the opportunity to earn a sponsor exemption into the PGA Tour’s Myrtle Beach Classic. Featuring a 16-player field comprised of eight influential content creators and eight aspiring professionals, the 18-hole shootout will again be played at TPC Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.
PGA Tour: Nick Dunlap, 20, wins the Arnold Palmer Award as the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year for the 2024 season. Dunlap, who became the first player in Tour history to win as an amateur and a professional in the same season, is the youngest player to be named Rookie of the Year since Jordan Spieth in 2013. Rookie of the Year is determined by a member vote and Dunlap received 57 percent of the vote over three other nominees — Max Greyserman, Jake Knapp and Matthieu Pavon.
United States Golf Association: Announces that the 70th U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, originally scheduled to be played at Biltmore Forest Country Club in Asheville, North Carolina, has been relocated to Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas. The championship will still be conducted from Aug. 23-28, 2025. The championship site is being moved due to the impact of Hurricane Helene, which caused extensive flooding and damage to the Asheville area. Oak Hills was originally scheduled to serve as host of the 2028 U.S. Senior Amateur but agreed to move up in the championship order. Biltmore Forest will now host the 73rd U.S. Senior Amateur in 2028.
PGA Tour: Opens its PGA Tour Studios as the 2025 FedEx Cup season opens this week at The Sentry. First conceptualized in 2017 leading into media rights negotiations, the 165,000-square-foot building broke ground in 2022 and tested its capabilities throughout the fall of 2024. The opening of PGA Tour Studios is a pivotal next step of golf content production in an ever-changing media landscape. PGA Tour Studios now houses all PGA Tour media operations, including live production of PGA Tour Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, more than 5,000 hours of PGA Tour Live on ESPN+, as well as the Tour’s expansive roster of more than 50 original, social and digital media platforms.
Epson Tour: Announces 2025 schedule, which celebrates its 45th season, includes $5 million in total prize money to be awarded over 20 tournaments, and debuts with three new events. The Epson Tour will visit 14 states, with Michigan and Florida hosting three tournaments each, and will begin in Winter Haven, Florida, with the Central Florida Championship, Feb. 28-March 2. Three new tournaments are the Reliance Matrix Championship (May 1-4 in Las Vegas, Nevada), the Great Lakes Championship (June 13-15 in Boyne Falls, Michigan) and one in conjunction with the Legends of the LPGA (July 25-27 in Toledo, Ohio). The Epson Tour Championship will round out the 2025 schedule, Oct. 2-5 in Indian Wells, California.
PGA Tour: Releases its schedule for the 2025 FedEx Cup Fall, a seven-event slate that helps finalize PGA Tour eligibility for the 2026 season. The FedEx Cup Fall features the Procore Championship (Sept. 8-14, Silverado Resort, Napa, California); Sanderson Farms Championship (Sept. 29-Oct. 5, The Country Club of Jackson in Jackson, Mississippi); Baycurrent Classic (Oct. 6-12, Yokohama Country Club, Yokohama, Japan); The Black Desert Championship (Oct. 20-26, Black Desert Resort, Ivins, Utah); World Wide Technology Championship (Nov. 3-9, El Cardonal at Diamante, Los Cabos, Mexico); Butterfield Bermuda Championship (Nov. 10-16, Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda); and The RSM Classic (Nov. 17-23, Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Georgia.
PGA Tour: Announces a new version of its Fantasy Golf game, which will go live on Jan. 2. Refreshed with an updated design and enhanced features, PGA Tour Fantasy Golf is a free-to-play fantasy game that allows fans to showcase their golf knowledge by picking a team of six PGA Tour stars each week to compete against their friends and fellow fans. Prizes, courtesy of PGA Tour Superstore, will be awarded throughout the FedEx Cup Season, culminating with an overall champion named after the season-ending Tour Championship. The 2025 fantasy golf schedule will be broken down into three segments across the 2025 FedEx Cup Season, beginning with The Sentry, with midseason segments starting at The Players Championship and then the RBC Canadian Open. Prizes will be awarded after each segment and at the conclusion of the season.
RELATED: Industry press releases | Industry press release videos
RELATED: The First Call / PR Newswire feed
"And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been."
PGA Tour: The Sentry
Site: Plantation Course at Kapalua, Kapalua, Hawaii.
Television [ET]: Today, 6-10 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 4-6 p.m. (NBC), 6-8 p.m. (Golf Channel).
GCSAA Fact Sheet
JANUARY
20-22: NGCOA Golf Business Conference, Orlando, Florida | Info
21-24: PGA Show, Orlando, Florida | Info
FEBRUARY
3-6: GCSAA Conference and Trade Show, San Diego, California | Info
5-9: Club Management Association of America World Conference and Club Business Expo, Tampa, Florida | Info
To submit events for the calendar, please include the event name, date, location and informational link to info@firstcallgolf.com.
