7 – 10 DP World Tour/Sunshine Tour, Alfred Dunhill Championship, Leopard Creek Country Club, Malelyn, South Africa. Prize value: $1,500,000 Leaderboards
30 – 06 LPGA Q-Series, Magnolia Grove Golf Course, Mobile, Alabama. Leaderboards
10 – 12 Ladies European Tour Q-School, Marrakesh Prelims, Noria Golf Club, Palmeraie Rotana Resort, Smana Golf, Marrakesh, Morocco. Leaderboards
8 – 10 PGA/LPGA Tour, Grant Thornton Invitational, Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, FL. Prize value: $4,000,000 Leaderboards
7-10 PGA Tour Champions, World Champions Trophy, Privilege Golf Club, Bradenton, FL. grades
8 – 10 Live Golf, Live Golf Offers, Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Prize value: $1,500,000 Leaderboards
7 – 10 DP World Tour/Sunshine Tour, Alfred Dunhill Championship, Leopard Creek Country Club, Malelyn, South Africa. Prize value: $1,500,000
Let’s be brutally honest: it couldn’t get any better for the TV viewer on the DP World Tour. And at the end of the golf year, as usual, we enjoy a visit to the unparalleled Leopard River. Again, not with the toughest courses most golfers enjoy their off-season, but that shouldn’t spoil the fun, especially this week. Next week they will stop in Mauritius, before it is time for the tour’s mini-winter break.
unique
All the holes at Leopard Creek are very strong in terms of golf, and the location of the course, adjacent to Kruger Park, is unique. The most beautiful place on the site: The 13th green, which is a 508-meter par 5, located above the bank of the Crocodile River, from where you can look into the wildlife park and, with a little luck, the members of the group Stop it (Leopard, Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo). The course, designed by Gary Player, is owned by wealthy South African Johann Robert. According to Bloomberg, the businessman’s family’s wealth is about $11.4 billion.
Van Driel was alone again
During his safari through South Africa, Darius van Driel has had success in both championships so far and finished well in the top ten. A top finish at Dunhill had not been possible at a few shows in previous years. The man in the figure is undoubtedly Dean Burmeister. He has taken home back-to-back wins at the Joburg Open and South African Open, and is aiming to complete an impressive hat-trick.
Defending champion Aoki Strydom will be happy to play spoiler sport, just like Guido Migliozzi, Antoine Rosner, Dan Bradbury, Andy Sullivan and Johannes Ferman. Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace, Dylan Frittelli and Thriston Lawrence are other notable house favorites.
TV: Ziggo Sport Golf: Thursday and Friday 11am-4pm, Saturday 11am-3.30pm, Sunday 10.30am-3.30pm.
30 – 06 LPGA Q-Series, Magnolia Grove Golf Course, Mobile, Alabama
In Alabama, Dewi Weber is fighting for what she deserves in the Q Series. So far on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course, she has posted scores of 70-72-68-72 for a total of -4. She just made the cut on Monday. The third round on Saturday was postponed because the track was no longer playable due to heavy rain, delaying the event by a day. The final rounds will now be played on Tuesday and Wednesday, at the Crossings Course, which seems to suit Weber better.
Top 45 order status for the LPGA, with the best cards for the top 20. Some LET players who are in good condition at the moment: Diksha Dagar, Meena Harijai, Big Green Egg Open winner Trichat Cheenglab and Ana Peláez Trivino,
10 – 12 Q-School Ladies European Tour, Preliminaries Marrakesh, Noria Golf Club, Palmeraie Rotana Resort, Smana Golf, Marrakesh, Morocco
With Anne Van Dam, TeamNL currently only has one ‘full’ player on the Women’s European Tour in 2024. Will she have company? It won’t be easy, but eight players start the qualification process in Marrakesh this week with hope! A total of 234 players are spread across three courses in and around the Red City: Noria Golf Club, Palmeraie Rotana Resort and Samana Golf. There they play 54 holes of stroke play, without cuts. The big goal is to qualify for the finals next week. It is not yet clear how many players will qualify.
Eight chances
Pasquale Cova, Nicky Hofstede, Judith van der Voort and Lizzie Peters will race at the Noria track next Sunday. The route of Rumi Makers, Anouk Suhair and Marit Harifan begins on the Rotana route. Maika Hoegeboom is the only Dutch player to play in Samana. We’ll see how many Nationals can make their way to the finals. There’s a good chance most of them will have to settle for a starting ticket for next year’s LET Access series. Anyone who completes 54 holes with a score better than +54 will be granted Tier II status anyway.
8 – 10 PGA/LPGA Tour, Grant Thornton Invitational, Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, FL. Prize value: $4,000,000
Isn’t it time for a mixed tournament on the PGA and LPGA Tour? According to many, fielding women in, say, the Presidents Cup would be just an idea, but this Grant Thorton invitation is a good start. The invitational event, the first ever combined event since 1999 when Laura Davies and John Daly won the JCPenney Classic, is affiliated with the men’s QBE Shootout. This pairs tournament, which has also featured Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson in the past, has been played at Tiburon Golf Club for many years. The women know the course from their Tour championship.
Result, result, result!
To start the American year, sixteen mixed duos will try to reach the lowest possible level in three game formats, because you have to score to win here. The 32 golfers play a scramble on the first day, then foursomes and on Sunday a “modified four-ball.” Everyone kicks off before team members switch balls and continues to do so until they reach the hole.
Competitors
Let’s reveal some potential contenders. On paper, the Swedish tandem of Ludwig Aberg and Madeleine Sagström looks very dangerous. What about the other compatriots, like Nelly and Tony Finau, Charlie Hall and Justin Rose, Lexi and Rickie Fowler, or Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners? Or peripheral stars Lydia Ko and Jason Day? Harris English has won ‘Shootout’ three times and plays Frenchwoman Céline Pottier, while Rose Zhang and Sahith Theegala could be wildcards. So we actually had almost all of them…
TV: Ziggo Sport Golf & Discovery+: Friday 7:00pm – 10:00pm, Saturday 8:00pm – 11:00pm, Sunday 7:00pm – 10:00pm
7-10 PGA Tour Champions, World Champions Trophy, Privilege Golf Club, Bradenton, FL
Major winners, Hall of Famers and other top (former) golfers from Europe, America and the rest of the world will meet in Florida starting Thursday. The World Champions Cup is a new team competition in which old rivalries are revived. Captains Ernie Els (Internationals), Darren Clarke (Europe) and Jim Furyk (USA) have rounded up five golfers from the Champions Tour who will compete with them in Florida. Read more about the World Champions Cup, points distribution and more here.
appearance
At The Concession Club, golf is played in different formats, with the three teams always facing each other head-on. Each of the 24 matches is played over 9 holes. Six Balls is shown on Thursday and Friday mornings, with Scotch Sixsomes in the afternoon. The last alternative means that each player starts the match, after which the team selects one ball. From the corridor it moves back and forth. The event will of course end on Sunday with the singles.
International Team: Ernie Els (Captain), Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Stephen Alker, Stephen Amis, KJ Choi, Stuart Appleby (Vice-Captain).
Team Europe: Darren Clarke (Captain), Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomery, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Robert Karlsson, Alex Cejka, Jesper Parnevik (Vice-Captain).
Team USA: Jim Furyk (captain), Steve Stricker, David Toms, Jerry Kelly, Justin Leonard, Brett Quigley, Billy Andrade (vice-captain).
TV: Discovery+: Thursday & Friday 6:00pm – 10:00pm, Sunday 7:00pm – 11:00pm.
8 – 10 Live Golf, Live Golf Offers, Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Prize value: $1,500,000
One of the many criticisms of LIV Golf from the beginning was that there would be no path to the profitable circuit. That’s now changed at least a little, because through the LIV Golf Promotions tournament in Abu Dhabi, there’s now a way for gold seekers who haven’t received a $1 million bid (is Jon Rahm going?!) a “round” to play. Over four rounds in three days, you just have to get to the top three.
How it works? Initially, 59 golfers will start, and then the top 20 will move on to the second day. After that, everyone, including fourteen players who were “exempt” from the first round, will start again at even level. The results will reset again before Sunday. The top 20 will then decide over 36 holes to whom the three cards will go.
No top field: why?
You would think that this qualifying tournament, with all the LIV Golf League dollars waiting, would attract some nice names, also because the PGA Tour has indicated it won’t be difficult. However, that is disappointing. Why? The explanation may be that players on the American circuit must request an exemption 45 days in advance. However, this tournament was not officially announced until later.
Some golfers in this field that we know well however are Lucas Bérigard, Gonzalo Fernandez Castaño, Victor Dubuisson, Jason Dufner, Jazz Janwattanand, and former Ryder Cup player Jeff Overton. So that’s skinny.
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