Tiger Woods reaches another golf milestone: PGA Tour will play on one of his course designs
Tiger Woods will have a presence this week at the PGA Tour's WorldWide Technologies Championship in Los Cabos, Mexico.
He's not playing ... that's still a while away. But the field for the FedEx Cup Fall event will be playing on a Woods-designed course for the first time on the PGA Tour.
The El Cardonal at Diamante opened in 2014, the first course by Woods' TGR Design. The course is part of the Diamante Resort on Cabo San Lucas, which includes the Dunes Course, designed by Davis Love III of St. Simons Island, Ga., and the par-3 Oasis Short Course, designed by Woods.
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Woods joins player/architects in the World Golf Hall of Fame whose courses currently host PGA Tour events such as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tom Weiskopf, Love and Greg Norman.
Woods said on the course website that his design philosophy is to offer players from the pro to the handicap level options of playing each hole
“I set up the golf strategy to make golfers think and make choices,” Woods said. “There are going to be different ways to play every hole. Angles of approach are going to be very important and will dictate the type of shots you should consider. I love this kind of golf.”
The course is on 225 acres in the Baja foothills and features one elevation drop of 240 feet from the 17th tee to the third fairway. The course has views of the Pacific Ocean and winds through desert arroyos (steep gullies formed by the action of fast-flowing water in an arid region). The course is designed to play firm and fast, with Platinum Paspaulm grass, and wind off the Pacific Ocean or swirling among the arroyos can affect players even more.
The first five holes play through natural dunes, with the first three holes playing downhill -- the par-5, 582-yard first hole, the par-3-208-yard second hole and the par-4, 351-yard third hole that is drivable for long hitters.
The closing holes are the shortest par-3 on the course, the 154-yard 16th with a forced carry over two arroyos, the par-4 462-yard 17th, with the tee shot coming from the highest point on the course with views of the Pacific, and the par-5, 585-yard 18th.
The course measures 7,363 yards from the tips but with wide fairways and large greens (averaging 8,300 square feet).
LIV Golf will hold qualifier
The LIV Golf League will conduct a 72-hole qualifying tournament Dec. 8-10 at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates, with 36 holes played on the final day.
The top three finishers will be drafted onto one of the LIV Golf teams for next season. The tournament has a total purse of $1.5 million.
LIV is opening eligibility up to the world's elite amateur players and professionals from international tours and the Korn Ferry Tour.
Among the amateurs who are eligible are the winners of the U.S. Amateur, British Amateur, Asia-Pacific Amateur, Latin America Amateur, NCAA individual champion and the top 15 players from the World Amateur Rankings.
The four LIV players who were relegated -- Jediah Morgan, James Piot, Chase Koepka and Sihwan Kim – can play their way back into the League.
Players who finish among the top 20 plus ties in the first round will advance to the second and be joined by players who qualified for day two. The field will be cut to the top 20 again and then play 36 holes. The winner will earn $200,000, the runner-up $150,000 and third-place $100,000.
HBCU tournament set near Atlanta
The PGA Tour and Bridgestone Americas today unveiled the field for the inaugural Bridgestone HBCU Invitational Nov. 1-2, a 54-hole team and individual stroke play event at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Ga.
Schools in the field are Florida A&M, Alabama State, the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, Chicago State, North Carolina Central, Tennessee State, Morehouse College, Miles College, Southern University and Prairie View A&M.
The tournament is part of the Bridgestone Collegiate Development Program, part of the PGA Tour’s Pathway to Progression which seeks to achieve greater diversity in golf through increased focus on developing talent from diverse and historically underrepresented groups.
The winning men's and women's teams will earn a trip to the TPC Sawgrass for a two-day development camp. The men's champion will be invited for the Bridgestone Collegiate Invitational March 24-26, 2024, at the Silverado Country Club in Napa, Calif.
Hoffman, DeLaet named captains
PGA Tour veterans Charley Hoffman will captain the U.S. team and Graham DeLaet of Canda the International team for the Junior Presidents Cup Sept. 23-24, 2024 at the Blue Course at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac in Montréal, Québec, two days before the Presidents Cup begins at The Royal Montréal Golf Club.
The Junior Presidents Cup will be two days of match play with 24 of the world's top junior players 19 years and young. The teams will compete in six four-ball and foursomes matches on the first day and 12 singles on day two.
DeLaet had a 3-1-1 record in the 2013 Presidents Cup at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio.
Hoffman has four PGA Tour titles and played in 15 consecutive FedEx Cup playoffs from 2007-2021.
He played in the 2017 Presidents Cup and went 1-2 at Liberty National.
PGA TOUR
Event: WorldWide Technologies Championship, Thursday-Sunday, El Cardonal at Diamante, Los Cabos, Mexico.
At stake: $8.2 million purse ($1,476,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner).
Defending champion: Russell Henley.
TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Saturday, 4-7 p.m.; Sunday, 3-6 p.m.).
Area players entered: Tyson Alexander, Lanto Griffin, Patton Kizzire, Russell Knox, David Lingmerth, Keith Mitchell, Doc Redman, Sam Ryder, Greyson Sigg, Davis Thompson, Carl Yuan.
Notable: Henley beat Brian Harman by three shots in a battle of former Georgia Bulldogs. ... Leading the field are 2023 winners Lucas Glover, Nick Hardy and Saith Theegala, along with Brandt Snedker, Matt Kuchar and Cameron Young. ... There are three tournaments left in "FedEx Cup Fall," capped by the RSM Classic Nov. 16-19 at the Sea Island Club.
LPGA TOUR
Event: TOTO Japan Classic, Thursday-Sunday, Taiheiyo Club, Minori Course, Omitama, Ibarki.
At stake: $2 million purse ($300,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Gemma Drybaugh.
TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday, 11 p.m.-2 a.m.; Saturday, 11:30 p.m.-2:30 a.m.; Sunday, 11 p.m.-2 a.m.
Area players entered: None.
Notable: Drybaugh, a native of Scotland, shot 65-65 on the weekend and beat Kana Nagai by four shots.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
Event: TimberTech Championship, Friday-Sunday, Old Course at Broken Sound, Boca Raton.
At stake: $2.2 million purse ($350,000 to the winner).
Defending champion: Bernhard Langer.
TV: Golf Channel (Friday-Saturday, 1-4 p.m.; Sunday, 12-3 p.m.).
Area players entered: Vijay Singh.
Notable: The 54 remaining players on the Schwab Cup points list will be whittled down to 36 for the Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix next week. ... The top five on the points list are Steve Stricker (who is not playing in Boca Raton), Steven Alker, Langer, Stephen Ames and Ernie Els. ... Singh is 15th on the points list. The bubble player at No. 54 is Charlie Wi.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Tiger Woods' first course design will host PGA Tour event in Mexico
