Ernie Els, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh among Golf Hall of Fame members to play at Timuquana
The field for next week's PGA Tour Champions Constellation Furyk & Friends will be finalized after the 5 p.m. Friday deadline for eligible players to enter.
But it's already got plenty of star power at the Timuquana Country Club Oct. 7-9, even without defending champion Phil Mickelson.
Players currently listed on the tournament website as committed to the tournament include seven members of the World Golf Hall of Fame, seven players who have won multiple major championships and six past Players Championship winners.
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The Hall of Fame members in the field are Davis Love III of St. Simons Island, Ga., Vijay Singh of Ponte Vedra Beach, Ernie Els, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, Retief Goosen and Jose Maria Olazabal.
Joining Langer, Els, Singh, Goosen and Olazabal as winners of multiple majors are John Daly, Lee Janzen and Padraig Harrington.
Janzen, Love, David Duval, Justin Leonard, Fred Funk and Stephen Ames have combined to win seven Players titles at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course.
The field currently has 27 of the top-30 players on the Charles Schwab Cup money list.
Horschel back across the pond
Billy Horschel of Ponte Vedra Beach will play his second tournament within a month on the British Isles.
Horschel, fresh off his first appearance in an international matchplay event last week at the Presidents Cup, is playing in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. The tournament will be on Golf Channel Thursday-Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon and Sunday from 6:30 a.m. to noon.
Danny Willett is the defending champion. Also in the field are Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington, Shane Lowry, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Louis Oosthuizen, Francesco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton.
Other Americans in the field are Talor Gooch and Sean O'Hair.
Taking it seriously
For anyone who believes American golfers view the Presidents Cup as an after-thought to the Ryder Cup, consider the testy nature of Sunday's singles match between a pair of past Players champions, Justin Thomas and Si Woo Kim.
They were the first twosome out and with the crowd at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., seemingly confused as to whether to cheer for the U.S. or for a rally by the International team to make it close, it got a little chippy.
It started when Kim didn't concede a 2-foot putt at the ninth hole, which Thomas made to go 2-up. Thomas was visibly upset at Kim when he didn't say anything as Thomas approached the putt, a moment not lost on social media.
Kim then responded with birdies on the next two holes to tie the match. At the 15th hole, Kim made a 7-foot putt for par to keep the match square, then shushed the crowd and gave a fist pump.
Thomas wasn't happy.
“Honestly, at the time, I was pretty p----d off,” said Thomas, who lost the match 1 down to remain winless in Presidents Cup singles. “No, it’s one of those things, I think when you’re in the moment when you’re on the other side of it, it’s something that gets you motivated, gets you pumped up a little bit. So I can say whatever I want about it, but he beat me. So he has the upper hand on me. But we won the Cup, so that’s all that matters.”
Coming to Jersey
The Korn Ferry Tour will launch a new event in New Jersey in 2023, at the Metedeconk National Golf Club in Jackson Township.
The Magnit Championship will be Aug. 17-20, with Magnit signing up as a title sponsor for four years. It will be the first Korn Ferry Tour event in the Garden State since the 1997 Laurel Creek Classic, won by Matt Gogel.
"This market is home to incredibly passionate golf fans, and we’ve been working hard to bring a tournament back here for some time," Korn Ferry Tour president Alex Baldwin said in a statement.
The tournament also will be the final event for which players can qualify for the Korn Ferry Finals. The Finals have been expanded to four events and 30 PGA Tour cards will be awarded.
PGA Tour player Denny McCarthy, the winner of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in 2018 at the Atlantic Beach Country Club, is a Magnit ambassador.
“I’m thrilled to see Magnit as a title sponsor on the Korn Ferry Tour,” said McCarthy in a statement. “The Korn Ferry Tour is where I earned my PGA TOUR card and it’s been an amazing journey since then."
PGA TOUR
Event: Sanderson Farms Championship, Thursday-Sunday, Country Club of Jackson (Miss.).
At stake: $7.9 million purse ($1,422,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner.
Defending champion: Sam Burns.
TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 3:30-6:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 4-7 p.m.).
Area players entered: Harris English, Patton Kizzier, Philip Knowles, Russell Knox, David Lingmerth, Trey Mullinax, J.T. Poston, Sam Ryder, Greyson Sigg, Davis Thompson, Michael Thompson, Carl Yuan.
Notable: Burns had weekend rounds of 65-67 and beat Nick Watney and Cameron Young by one shot.
LPGA TOUR
Event: Ascendant LPGA, Thursday-Sunday, Old American Golf Club, The Colony, Texas.
At stake: $1.7 million purse ($255,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Jin Young Ko.
TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 12:30-3:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m.).
Area players entered: Amelia Lewis.
Notable: Ko shot 63 in the first round but eventually had to hold off Matilda Castren by one shot.
Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @GSmitter
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: World Golf Hall of Fame members lead field for Furyk & Friends
