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| Monday Dec 16, 2024 |
The top six finishers at the PGA Tour Q-School Final at Dye’s Valley Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., secured Tour membership. While their names will soon be widely recognized, keep an eye on Kensei Hirata, Corey Shaun, Jin Chung and Christo Lamprecht. These rising talents earned 12 guaranteed starts on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour and could be the next stars to watch.
And Nick Watney at 43 years old is still grinding, and will push to regain his Tour card next year.
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 last week's 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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Colorado’s Flatirons gets the Dye Designs renovation treatment; Chris Wilczynski begins a bunker refresh at Michigan’s Country Club of Jackson
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The First Call readers express their opinions on the topic and offer possible solutions
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You hear the clock slowly ticking as the shopping days wind down. You’ve got most of your shopping done, but you’re still searching for that little something special as a stocking stuffer. Relax … we’ve got your back with this list
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Blue Tees Golf: Launches the Player Pack Go, a premium holiday gift bundle featuring three of the brand’s most popular and innovative products — the Series 3 Max+ rangefinder, Player GO GPS speaker and 6-in-1 utility divot tool. The bundle is now available at BlueTeesGolf.com.
Reebok: Announces a long-term partnership agreement to become the apparel and footwear sponsor of Bryson DeChambeau and his LIV Golf team, Crushers GC. In March, Reebok will tap DeChambeau, a two-time major champion, as the official face of Reebok Golf apparel and footwear offerings, including the introduction of Nano Golf — the brand’s new on-course performance golf shoe. Also, the official Crushers GC team kits will be available for purchase in March 2025 on Reebok.com and at LIV Golf events.
PGA Tour, Baycurrent Inc.: Announce a multiyear agreement for the Japan-based consulting firm to become the title sponsor of the PGA Tour’s Japan event — reimagined as the Baycurrent Classic. The FedEx Cup Fall event will also relocate to Yokohama Country Club in Yokohama, Kanagawa, in 2025. The Baycurrent Classic, which is co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour Organization, provides opportunities for JGTO players to compete with PGA Tour players.
Whoosh: Announces a strategic partnership with Foresight Sports, a Revelyst brand that manufactures optical launch monitors and golf simulation technology. Whoosh becomes the preferred partner for reservation and operations management across simulator facilities worldwide. The partnership builds on Whooshʼs recently announced expansion into full activity management, which introduced duration-based booking and resource optimization features to recreation facilities.
Blue Tees Golf: Launches its 5-foot premium interactive display. Designed to offer an immersive and educational in-store experience. The 5-foot interactive display features a 32-inch 4K touchscreen that allows users to interact with Blue Tees Golf’s ecosystem via touch, swipe and video functionalities, along with up-to-the-minute product information, reviews, and tutorials. The display also serves as an educational tool for customers and a training platform for retail associates, displaying simplified complex product features to make them easy to understand and communicate.
PGA Tour: Announces that The Ophelia Project, a nonprofit beneficiary of The American Express, has been named the 2024 PGA Tour Charity of the Year. The organization was presented the honor during the tournament’s annual Community Impact Celebration. The Ophelia Project, which is part of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation, is a comprehensive, five-year mentoring program that provides a supportive environment, training and education for 300 to 400 girls annually in grades 8 through 12. The Charity of the Year award comes with a $30,000 grant from the PGA Tour and will go toward helping support mentorship programs for local, middle, and high school aged girls.
PGA Tour: Honors Ken Hoffman, a volunteer with more than 45 years of service at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, as the 2024 PGA Tour Volunteer of the Year. With the award, the PGA Tour will donate $10,000 to the charity of Hoffman’s choosing — The Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation, the primary beneficiary of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Hoffman has been a volunteer at the Arnold Palmer Invitational since 1979, initially serving with the Status Board committee. After many years of chairing several committees, Hoffman served as a member of the Volunteer Executive Board for eight years before becoming the Volunteer General Chairman in 2017 and 2018. After his two-year term, Hoffman continued to support multiple areas of the tournament and was invited to serve on the Volunteer Executive Leadership Team (VELT) where he oversees the Scoring committees.
RELATED: Industry press releases | Industry press release videos
RELATED: The First Call / PR Newswire feed
> Meet the six players who earned their TOUR cards at 2025 PGA TOUR Q-School [PGA TOUR | Read]
> After both won on the same day in February, this long-hitting duo capped off the season with a Grant Thornton title [Jay Coffin | Golf Digest | Read]
> Which Woods will be worth watching [Alex Miceli| Morning Read | Read]
"I think most art comes out of poverty and hard times."
VIDEOS
THE MODGOLF PODCAST
5 tips to help women get into golf
Birdies Babes Golf founder Courtney Campbell joins host Colin Weston to discuss ways in which the first-timer's intimidation factor can be mitigated
[Watch | More "The ModGolf Podcast" edpisodes]
THE COACH MO GOLF SHOW
LPGA*USGA Girls Golf not stopping at 1 million
LPGA Foundation's Stephanie Peareth joins host Mo Gesualdi to discuss the transformative initiative for female junior golfers
[Watch | More "The Coach Mo Golf Show" episodes]
PODCASTS
DRIVER$: INSIDE THE GOLF INDUSTRY
Why branding is about so much more than a great logo
Derek Sussner, founder of Sussner, joins co-hosts Jon Last and David Klein to discuss how branding is playing a key role in the golf course industry
[Listen | More "Driver$: Inside The Golf Industry" episodes]
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.
